Making your resume look professional is easy. You just need to be realistic about your prospects and experiences. You need to realistically project yourself into the workplace you are trying to be in. You also and need to learn which types of professional resumes are for what purpose.
Depending on the depth of your work experience, you would choose different layouts. Furthermore, depending on how well you fit into the prospective workplace, you would also choose a certain type of resume. These are the most commonly accepted types of resumes:
- Functional resume: highlights your abilities, personal characteristics and experiences first. Work experience comes later. Functional resumes are a good choice for people who have not been transiting too smoothly from one job to another, and who have holes in their work history.
- Chronological resume: lists you work history starting with the most recent. Skills and education comes after. You would typically choose this type of resume to show your prospective employer that you’ve been needed in the workplace. People with chronological resumes usually have a strong working background and try to highlight their career progression. In fact, people who have gotten serious scholarships and who have moved around a lot (e.g., international students) would probably want to choose this type of resume as well. A timeline of their scholarships and educational institutions attended would look quite solid.
- Targeted resume: a custom resume that highlights the specific skills and abilities needed for a specific job. Typically, targeted resumes are one of a kind and you can’t use them more than once. Ideally, targeted resumes are for jobs that you think are a perfect match for your skills. If it’s not, creating a targeted resume might not be the smartest idea.
- Combination resume: lists your abilities first and your work history last. This type of resume is a good choice for people who value their skills and personal characteristics higher than their work history. A combination resume is different from a functional resume in that the work history listed is done in a chronological order. Combination resume is good for college graduates who could fit their education in between their skills and work experience. It is also good for entry-level workers who don’t have much work experience, but who feel that they got what it takes to do well.
- Non-traditional resume: a resume that graphic designers, artists and writers would typically have. Nontraditional resumes can be designed for both off-line and on-line use. They would ideally include graphic elements, charts and diagrams. Sending a nontraditional resume is sometimes a gamble (especially with big companies), but for some fields, it might be well worth the risk. If you are unsure whether creating a non-traditional resume fits you, try sending two – a traditional one and a non-traditional one.
There are many types of professional resumes and only you know which type applies to you. The first thing you do when you are trying to upgrade your resume to look professional is carefully examine your background and how it relates to the prospective job title. All other things are secondary and merely technical. Everyone knows that bullets points and indents have to be the same all over the resume. Inconsistencies are something that recruiters don’t want to see. Explore yourself, explore your prospective job responsibilities and project yourself into the workplace. That’s what writing professional resumes is all about.
