Chronological Resume
In a chronological resume you have to list your job experience in date order, starting with the most recent first.
The sections of a chronological resume are
- Personal Details
- Personal Profile or Job Objective
- Career & Related Accomplishments :
- Work Experience
- Education
- Professional Affiliations & Interest
- References
When using this format you'll need to highlight your job experience. It's a good choice when applying for work with traditional organisations or when you held a post which had an impressive title.
Remember that you don't have much time (40 seconds) to impress your potential employer and convince him/her that you're the right match for the job advertised.
Essential Components of a Chronological Resume :
Personal Details :
Name, Phone, Email Address, Postal Address
Personal Profile or Job Objective :
A Your personal profile defines your career objectives. Three lines should be enough for this.
Career & Related Accomplishments :
A synopsis (summary) of your resume. It is important to use this section to mention your achievements and stress your value to the company. Keywords and action verbs show your achievements in a better light.
Education Details in your Chronological Resume:
If you have work experience, place this section just below it. If you're just out of school or university and have no work experience, place this section first in your chronological resume.
Include the schools you have attended and list any degrees, Diplomas, majors, minors, honours and awards you achieved.
Work Experience
Here you can include all your work related experience, even if it wasn't directly employment based. If you worked in the school paper or have written a major dissertation/thesis, this is the place to list it.
Focus on the benefits that the organisation had when you were employed there, avoiding the use of padding. The kind of details your work experience should include: the position held, the date the employment started/ finished and any achievements gained.
Use action verbs and keywords when describing your experience.
Professional Affiliations & Interests
Only include this section if there is enough space on your resume. If you are a member of any professional organisations, list them here. If you are in doubt as to whether any activity/membership will add value to your resume then its best not to mention it.
References
All you need to write is the following sentence: 'References are available on request.' It is better not to include the reference contact details.
Advantages
- Your job titles and the organisations you have worked for are clearly shown.
- Your career is 'show cased' and the progression can be easily followed by the recruiter/employer.
- Your last job/school will be at the top of your chronological resume. As long as this is something you want your employer to see, a chronological resume is the right choice for you.
Disadvantages
- Frequent job changes are clearly visible.
- Gaps in your career are clearly visible.
- If you held various functions in a company, this resume format is not your best option. Consider a functional resume instead.
