If you’re questioning whether or not it is best to use a chronological resume format (additionally referred to as reverse-chronological resume format) or attempting to get assist with how to write it, then this text is for you.
And for those who’ve been instructed to use a purposeful resume since you’re changing careers or have a work gap, then this text will provide help to, too! (And my recommendation on this subject would possibly shock you).
Here’s what you’re going to be taught:
- What is a chronological resume? And what’s a purposeful resume?
- Why it’s NOT helpful to use a purposeful resume usually, and why the chronological resume format will get you essentially the most interviews
- How to write your chronological resume
Definition: What is a Chronological Resume?
A chronological resume is a resume format that lists your work expertise primarily based on the dates it occurred. Working downward from the start of your Work Experience part, it is best to begin itemizing your most up-to-date positions first. So the highest of the part will comprise your present or most up-to-date job. Below that in your resume can be your subsequent most up-to-date job.
This is how to write a chronological resume, which can also be generally referred to as the reverse chronological resume. (They’re the identical, simply totally different phrases. Always begin together with your most up-to-date job on the high of your Work Experience. Here are some examples).
What is Reverse Chronological Order?
As talked about above, reverse chronological order implies that your earlier jobs are listed so as of date, starting together with your most up-to-date place on the high. Your closing entry within the record needs to be your oldest or least-recent place.
Note that you just’re not obligated to record each job in your resume! You can select the place to start telling your profession story, or whether or not to depart a sure job off for strategic causes (for instance, if it was solely a three-month place, and isn’t associated to your present profession path).
So I’m not suggesting that you could begin with the primary job you ever held. However, when you’ve chosen a place to begin on your resume work historical past, it is best to record these positions in reverse chronological order as described above.
Chronological Resume Example:
If you’re nonetheless not 100% clear on what chronological order on a resume seems to be like, right here is an instance work historical past part from a chronological resume:
Work Experience
IBM (2019-Present)
Senior Product ManagerBrief paragraph describing the function. Don’t write an excessive amount of right here, since you ought to principally present your accomplishments and work by way of bullet points
- Accomplishment 1
- Accomplishment 2
- Accomplishment 3
Microsoft (2016-2019)
Product ManagerBrief paragraph describing the function. Two or three sentences excellent, and it is best to strive to put numbers and metrics every time doable.
- Accomplishment 1
- Accomplishment 2
- Accomplishment 3
Notice that the newest or present job is listed on the high of the work historical past, and you then transfer downward for every earlier job.
So now you recognize what a chronological resume seems to be like, together with an actual instance/template you need to use! Next, I’ll clarify why recruiters and hiring managers favor this format, and why it’s going to get you extra interviews.
Should Your Resume Be Chronological?
After recruiting for five years, I can say unquestionably: Yes, your resume needs to be chronological.
The first motive that your resume needs to be chronological format is that that is what hiring managers and recruiters are used to seeing.
When they’re studying your resume and attempting to get a way of your background, the very last thing you need to do is confuse them.
When I labored as a recruiter, I had a number of hiring managers ship a purposeful resume again to me, and inform me to have the candidate rewrite it in chronological format. They merely don’t need to learn a purposeful resume as a result of they can’t collect sufficient information from it.
(If you don’t know, a purposeful resume lists your expertise and previous work with none dates. It teams them by ability kind or purposeful space and never by chronological order. So that’s the definition of a purposeful resume).
This deprives hiring managers and recruiters of essential information and context. They’re not as ready to perceive your profession story or see how just lately, or for a way lengthy, you used sure expertise. Therefore, they’re much less possible to really feel assured in inviting you to interview.
(Hiring managers need to interview people who find themselves possible to find a way to step into the job and succeed. They need the required information to make that call earlier than occupying their time with an interview).
So, with every on-line job getting a whole lot of candidates, there’s no motive for a hiring supervisor to battle to perceive the one or two purposeful resumes they obtain. They’ll simply transfer on to a resume that’s written within the format they like – which is chronological.
When is a Chronological Resume Not Advantageous?
Many consultants will inform you {that a} chronological resume shouldn’t be advantageous while you’ve had gaps in your work historical past, while you’ve had a non-traditional or uncommon profession path, or while you’re making an attempt to change careers.
However, even in these instances, most hiring managers will favor a chronological resume if it’s well-written.
You can explain work gaps right in your employment history section.
You can tailor your work experience to present the items of labor you’ve achieved which are most related for the job you’ve utilized for now… even throughout a profession change.
For extra assist with this, now we have a full article on how to write a resume for a career change. If you click on that hyperlink, I clarify extra about why a purposeful resume isn’t excellent, and one of many profession coaches who I featured within the article confirms it. To quote her:
As a former company recruiter, I’m not a fan of purposeful resumes. Recruiters are taught to scan resumes chronologically. When you’re taking the expertise out of context or “order,” it typically provides the recruiter the impression you are attempting to conceal or fudge expertise.
The backside line is: Trying to conceal the dates and order of labor will solely frustrate and confuse hiring managers and value you job interviews.
So my reply to, “Should resumes be chronological?” is a powerful “Yes.”
Now that we’ve lined what differentiates a chronological and purposeful resume, and which you have to be utilizing if you need to get extra interviews, let’s speak about how to begin writing it!
How Do You Write a Chronological Resume?
To begin writing your resume, ensure you perceive the format and have reviewed the chronological resume instance from earlier on this article.
Then, listed here are the steps to write your chronological resume:
1. Enter firm names, dates of employment, and job titles
You can record dates by way of years, or months and years. Whatever you determine, hold it constant.
You can even record the town/state of every job for those who select. This can also be elective and is a private determination when establishing your chronological resume.
2. If you held a number of roles inside an organization, present every job title individually in your resume
This is essential in order that employers can see that you just superior/progressed within the firm. Recruiters usually love this!
Here’s one other instance of a chronological resume, the place you possibly can see two distinct job titles listed underneath one single employer. This individual was promoted from Sales Rep to Branch Manager.
3. Write bullet factors describing every function you’ve held
Each function ought to have a number of bullet factors describing what you completed and did for the employer. (Not simply saying, “responsible for ___”.)
It’s significantly better to begin with a verb like, “led six team members…,” or “grew our department revenue by…”)
This article has resume bullet examples to help you.
4. Write a quick paragraph to describe every function (above the bullet factors)
This is elective. As you possibly can see within the resume instance above, it’s doable to go instantly from job titles to bullets, with none paragraph content material.
However, for those who’d like, you possibly can write a quick paragraph about what you probably did within the function general. This can present extra context to the reader.
However, this paragraph needs to be concise, and it is best to by no means put it as an alternative of bullets. I like to recommend 2-3 sentences at most. The bullets are extra essential and can be learn extra intently.
5. Add metrics and knowledge when doable
You’ll get extra interviews by being particular and speaking about outcomes in your resume, fairly than tasks. So strive to pack your bullets with metrics… like greenback quantities, p.c will increase, variety of folks you led or skilled, and so forth.
You don’t want to be in gross sales to have metrics! (I hear this widespread objection quite a bit).
For instance, for those who’re an editor for an organization’s information weblog, you might write:
“Edited and published 30 articles per month for the company blog, which was read by 40,000 people each month and generated an average of 10 qualified leads for the business.”
The extra particular you will be in your resume, the higher. So for those who see a possibility to add info, knowledge, and metrics in any of the paragraphs OR bullets you’ve written, do it.
Here’s one other instance of how to write about outcomes fairly than tasks:
Which sounds extra spectacular…
A) “Responsible for leading the customer service team and handling all inbound requests for the company”
B) “Led the 22-person customer service team which handled 250+ inbound requests per day via phone and email”
That second possibility goes to seize consideration and get you extra interviews from high employers.
6. Add different vital resume sections
After you’ve written your skilled expertise in chronological order, you then want to fill your chronological resume out with the opposite key sections, together with:
- Your header/contact information
- A resume abstract paragraph
- Your expertise part
- Your schooling part
If you want extra assist understanding what order to put these in, and the way all the things matches collectively within the “big picture” of your resume, this article has more info on the important sections of a resume.
7. Consider including elective sections
You can even embrace a number of of the elective resume sections in your chronological resume:
- Volunteer work/group involvement
- Honors & awards
- Testimonials from previous coworkers/managers
- A secondary expertise part (generally it is sensible to separate your expertise into two sections. See picture beneath for an instance)
Conclusion
If you learn all the things above, you now know why the chronological resume (additionally referred to as reverse chronological resume) is the format that employers favor.
It reveals the essential info that they need to see in your work historical past, together with info that purposeful resume codecs don’t embrace – like how just lately you probably did every kind of labor, and for a way lengthy.
Without this info, many employers won’t be thinking about interviewing you.
They simply can’t presumably know sufficient to decide whether or not you’re a very good potential match for his or her job. So at greatest, they’ll ask you to ship a chronological resume as an alternative, and at worst, they’ll invite different candidates to interview and also you’ll by no means hear from them.
So that’s a state of affairs that we wish to keep away from, and you are able to do that by writing your skilled expertise in reverse chronological order.
By combining this with sections detailing your expertise, your schooling, and different key {qualifications}, you’ll get extra callbacks while you apply for jobs so yow will discover a brand new job quicker.
If you need to see extra resume examples and recommendation, this article has 3 more work experience examples that observe the recommendation above.
