{"id":295,"date":"2025-09-15T13:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/chapter\/12-4-types-of-resumes\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T14:19:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:19:45","slug":"12-4-types-of-resumes","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/chapter\/12-4-types-of-resumes\/","title":{"raw":"12.4 Types of Resumes","rendered":"12.4 Types of Resumes"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"12.4-types-of-resumes\">\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">You have three options for organizing a resum\u00e9\u0301 based on your situation and what the employer wants:<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"import-Normal\"><strong>Reverse-chronological resum\u00e9<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">For each experience section (Education, Employment, and Related), this resum\u00e9\u0301 lists your professional activities starting with the present or latest (most recent) at the top and your first (oldest) at the bottom. A key feature is a column with date ranges in months and years beside each educational program, job, and relevant activity you\u2019ve done. This presents the hiring manager with a snapshot of where you\u2019re right now in your professional development, how you got there, and where you came from.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"import-Normal\"><strong>Functional<\/strong> <strong>(a.k.a. competency- or skills-based) resum\u00e9<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">Rather than organize the resum\u00e9\u0301 around experience sections measured out in months and years, the functional resum\u00e9\u0301 makes important skills the subheadings. The bullet points that follow explain in more detail what each skill entails, how it was acquired through training or education, and how it was practiced and applied professionally. The functional resum\u00e9\u0301 is ideal if you have gaps or durations in your employment or educational history because it omits or de-emphasizes date ranges.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"import-Normal\"><strong>Combination<\/strong> <strong>functional and reverse-chronological resume\u0301<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">This is the most popular form and the basis for the guide on targeted resum\u00e9\u0301 parts given below. It uses the reverse- chronological format for the standard experience sections showcasing the applicant\u2019s educational and employment history but adds a Skills and Qualifications Summary at the beginning to highlight the applicant\u2019s abilities and credentials that match the job posting. See figure 12.2 for an example of a combination resume.<\/p>\n\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"711\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/09\/image2-2.jpg\" alt=\"Resume with three sections. Sections include qualifications, work history and education.\" width=\"711\" height=\"928\"> Figure 12.2 Example of a Reverse Chronological-Resume[\/caption]\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">This section is adapted from <a class=\"rId19\" href=\"https:\/\/ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub\/communicationatwork\/chapter\/9-2-resumes-and-online-applications\/\"><span class=\"import-Hyperlink\">Resumes and Online Applications<\/span><\/a> in <a class=\"rId20\" href=\"https:\/\/ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub\/communicationatwork\/\"><span class=\"import-Hyperlink\">Communication at Work \u2013 Simple Book Publishing<\/span><\/a> (2nd Ed.) Copyright \u00a9 2025 by Jordan Smith licensed under a\u00a0<a class=\"rId21\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\"><span class=\"import-Hyperlink\">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License<\/span><\/a>, except where otherwise noted.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"12.4-types-of-resumes\">\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">You have three options for organizing a resum\u00e9\u0301 based on your situation and what the employer wants:<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-Normal\"><strong>Reverse-chronological resum\u00e9<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">For each experience section (Education, Employment, and Related), this resum\u00e9\u0301 lists your professional activities starting with the present or latest (most recent) at the top and your first (oldest) at the bottom. A key feature is a column with date ranges in months and years beside each educational program, job, and relevant activity you\u2019ve done. This presents the hiring manager with a snapshot of where you\u2019re right now in your professional development, how you got there, and where you came from.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-Normal\"><strong>Functional<\/strong> <strong>(a.k.a. competency- or skills-based) resum\u00e9<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">Rather than organize the resum\u00e9\u0301 around experience sections measured out in months and years, the functional resum\u00e9\u0301 makes important skills the subheadings. The bullet points that follow explain in more detail what each skill entails, how it was acquired through training or education, and how it was practiced and applied professionally. The functional resum\u00e9\u0301 is ideal if you have gaps or durations in your employment or educational history because it omits or de-emphasizes date ranges.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-Normal\"><strong>Combination<\/strong> <strong>functional and reverse-chronological resume\u0301<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">This is the most popular form and the basis for the guide on targeted resum\u00e9\u0301 parts given below. It uses the reverse- chronological format for the standard experience sections showcasing the applicant\u2019s educational and employment history but adds a Skills and Qualifications Summary at the beginning to highlight the applicant\u2019s abilities and credentials that match the job posting. See figure 12.2 for an example of a combination resume.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 711px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/09\/image2-2.jpg\" alt=\"Resume with three sections. Sections include qualifications, work history and education.\" width=\"711\" height=\"928\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 12.2 Example of a Reverse Chronological-Resume<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">This section is adapted from <a class=\"rId19\" href=\"https:\/\/ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub\/communicationatwork\/chapter\/9-2-resumes-and-online-applications\/\"><span class=\"import-Hyperlink\">Resumes and Online Applications<\/span><\/a> in <a class=\"rId20\" href=\"https:\/\/ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub\/communicationatwork\/\"><span class=\"import-Hyperlink\">Communication at Work \u2013 Simple Book Publishing<\/span><\/a> (2nd Ed.) Copyright \u00a9 2025 by Jordan Smith licensed under a\u00a0<a class=\"rId21\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\"><span class=\"import-Hyperlink\">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License<\/span><\/a>, except where otherwise noted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-295","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":286,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/295\/revisions\/296"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/286"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/295\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=295"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=295"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}