Resume Formats

Your resume tells prospective employers two things about you: who you are and what you have to offer. Statistics show that employers only spend 10 to 20 seconds looking at resumes at their initial viewing. It’s essential that your resume makes a strong, positive impression at first glance.

These are the following commonly-used resume formats and their advantages/disadvantages:

Resume Format / Advantages / Disadvantages / Best Used By

Chronological

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  • Widely-used format
  • Logical flow, easy to read
  • Showcases growth in skills and responsibility
  • Shows promotions and impressive titles
  • Shows company loyalty
/
  • Emphasizes gaps in employment and/or frequent job changes
  • Emphasizes lack of related experience
  • Points out demotions and career set-backs
/
  • Those with uninterrupted work record
  • Those with experience which relates directly to the position applied for

Functional

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  • Emphasizes skills rather than employment
  • Organizes a variety of experience (paid and unpaid work, other activities)
  • Disguises gaps in work record or a series of short-term jobs
/
  • Viewed with suspicion by employers due to lack of information about specific employers and dates
  • De-emphasizes growth/job titles
/
  • Those with no previous employment
  • Those with gaps in employment
  • Frequent job changers
  • Those who have developed skills from other than documented employment

Combination

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  • Highlights most relevant skills/accomplishments
  • De-emphasizes employment history in less relevant jobs
  • Combines skills developed in a variety of jobs or other activities
  • Minimizes drawbacks such as employment gaps and absence of directly-related experience
/
  • Confusing if not well-organized
  • Requires more effort and creativity to prepare
/
  • Career changers or those in transition
  • Those re-entering the job market after an absence
  • Those who have grown in skills and responsibility
  • Those pursuing the same or similar work as they’ve had in the past

Target /
  • Personalized to company
  • Shows research
  • More impressive to employer
  • Written specifically to employer’s needs
/
  • Time-consuming to prepare
  • Confusing if not well-organized
  • Should be revised for each employer
/
  • Anyone!
  • In actuality, every style should be targeted to the company/position

CLINTON BODIE

38 Buckskin Circle -- Walker, Massachusetts 02858

Home: (617) 622-1122 Cell: (617) 622-1004

SUMMARY

  • More than twelve years’ experience in all phases of the electrical field
  • Expertise in troubleshooting electrical circuits and providing necessary maintenance
  • Effective supervisor of trades people
  • Massachusetts Journeyman’s License #1123BB

EXPERIENCE

Master Electrician01/1995 – Present

VLW Management Company, East Dennis, MA

  • Total electrical renovation of apartments for new tenants: replaced wiring, fixtures, switches and receptacles
  • New wiring of single-family homes, townhouses
  • Commercial work on high-rise office buildings in the Central Massachusetts area

Electrician01/1990 – 01/1995

United States Army, Fort Bragg, NC

  • Installed, repaired, adjusted, modified, and tested electrical systems for 300,000 square feet of office and classroom space, including:

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  • electrical panels
  • fluorescent
  • magnetic starters
  • conduit
  • computer
  • switches, receptacles
  • motors
  • breakers
  • incandescent lights
  • ballasts
  • wire
  • telephone line

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  • Purchased material for 1,000+ electrical items
  • Trained two apprentices in electrical maintenance procedures
  • Supervised one to four trades people
  • Read and worked from blueprints and schematics for wiring of new equipment, new additions, and new buildings
  • Worked with voltages up to 480-volt three-phase systems

EDUCATION

Cape CodCommunity College, Hyannis, MA, Electromechanical Technology

Dean’s List with GPA of 3.68

Electrical Construction: 1,920 hours of study - certificate awarded

JOHANNA F. GARNER

One Maverick Way

Rockville, Connecticut 06780

(860) 948 –

Qualifications

  • Capable as a coordinator
  • Solid budgetary skills
  • Community leadership experience

Skill and Knowledge Areas

Coordinating

  • Coordinated fund-raising activities of the local Parent -Teachers Association (PTA), raising $8,000 for playground facilities
  • Initiated a relief center to meet clothing needs of the community
  • Met demands of five busy household members, including carpools, cleaning, cooking, and general house management

Budgeting

  • Managed $12,000 budget as Civic Association Treasurer for three years
  • Organized and managed family budget for 17 years
  • Effectively managed time through well-organized scheduling of community activities and family responsibilities

Community

  • Developed interpersonal skills during ten years experience with PTA
  • Influenced/persuaded adults to contribute time and money to community projects
  • Developed open communications between parties
  • Retained a sense of humor in tense situations

Memberships

  • Elected treasurer of local Civic Association, three-year term
  • Voted to Board of Directors for RockvilleMethodistChurch, two-year term
  • President of PTA, five years consecutively

Education

  • HS Diploma

MountainberryHigh School

Rockville, Connecticut


Helen Dale

5 Indian Way, Trail’s End, California 98880

(510) 888 –

Highlight of Qualifications

  • Over fifteen years professional experience with the public
  • Personable and persuasive in communicating creatively with thousands of customers from all cultures and economic levels
  • Proven skill in persevering to solve customers’ problems
  • Self-motivated and confident in making independent decisions
  • Very organized and able to meet deadlines
Relevant Experience

Sales and Marketing

  • Made direct presentations to retail store owners and buyers, marketing Christmas ornaments and gift items imported from the Philippines
  • Co-hosted sales seminars for potential real estate partnership investors
  • Oriented customers by answering questions regarding project details
  • Followed up by phone to verify their commitment to invest in the partnership
  • Co-led voter drive and personally persuaded 1,500 citizens to sign a petition in support of placing a community improvement initiative on the ballot

Organization and Customer Service

  • Organized the logistics of speaking engagements and investment seminars: location, catering, seating, literature, speakers, travel
  • Maintained extensive financial records regarding individual and corporate clients using Excel
  • Resolved wide range of customer problems, applying diplomacy and assertiveness, overcoming cultural and communication barriers
  • Successfully collected thousands of dollars in overdue or unbilled fees by thoroughly auditing billing records and persisting in telephone collection follow-up calls

Employment History

Office Manager / Bookkeeper01/1995 - Present

United States Navy, San Francisco, CA

International Flight Attendant 07/1981 - 05/1993

Transamerica Airlines, Oakland, CA

Philippine Import Sales 01/1990 - 07/1991

Self-employed, San Francisco, CA

Education

Bachelor of Arts, Speech / Theater Arts,

University of California, Santa Barbara

JERRY L. DURRELLI

10 Corfu Circle, New London, Connecticut04690

(860) 345 – 6789(860) 577 – 3257

OBJECTIVE: Account Executive

HIGHLIGHT OF QUALIFICATIONS

  • Excellent teacher- trainer; patient and effective when working with a wide range of personalities
  • Successful in identifying and solving computer-related problems
  • Project oriented, sticking to a task until completed
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

Bookkeeping

Reconciled loan payment records between servicing company and 150 lending institutions

  • Reconciled cash records to computer records for over 200 accounts on a monthly basis
  • Prepared monthly payroll, paid bills and processed tuition payments for private preschool

Teaching / Supervising

  • Trained nine people in investor accounting, most of whom had no previous experience
  • Wrote an Investor Reports Manual, minimizing training time for new employees
  • Maintained cordial working relations, while explaining and clarifying others’ errors
  • Interviewed and hired four staff members

Computer Usage

  • Worked with computer analyst in development of computerized specialty reports
  • Assisted in implementation of new program on a PC for accounts payable
  • Input monthly account records on a PC and generated trial balance

Problem Solving

  • Balanced seven months of critical reports (which had been neglected for five months) for a large Federal agency, involving $350,000 of equipment for six major divisions
  • Designed an account coding system to eliminate dual coding and time-wasting correlating reports
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Investor Account Supervisor 01/2003 – Present

Overseas Investments, Ltd., Avon, CT

Investor Accounting 05/2000 – 01/2003

Midas Investments, Pleasantville, CT

EDUCATION

B.S. in Business & Accounting, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

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