by Kodjo Adadevoh

Created on: May 16, 2008   Last Updated: January 17, 2010

A resume is a brief profile of your accomplishment and your qualifications. A resume should be short and concise; you highlight your skills, experience, career goals, and knowledge. There are three basic types of resumes. A chronological resume, a functional resumes and a combination resume, a hybrid resume is a combination of the functional and chronological resume. 

The chronological resume style emphasizes education and academic-related experience, past employment and extracurricular activities. Using this style, you list the most recently held position first, followed by your next most recent position, and so forth. 

The functional resume emphasizes your specific work accomplishments and the experience you have acquired on the job, and de-emphasizes where experience was gained and/or dates of employment. Unlike the chronological resume, the functional resume is a good resume style for those who have a wide range of experience or are changing career direction. 

The combination resume, utilizes parts of the functional and chronological styles to create a well tailored resume. The combination resume is a good style for someone who is seeking a position in which he or she will benefit from accentuating both their on the job experience, caliber of companies worked for and strong educational background. 

When possible, your resume should be one page. For those with more extensive experience, this might not be possible; however, your goal should be to make your resume very concise. The key is to create a positive impression in the employers mind within 20 seconds or less. Considering the number of resumes that are typically reviewed by employers, your resume should be written in a way that conveys your strongest points using the least amount of words. 

The header of your resume should contain your contact information. Include your full name, permanent and local addresses, phone number and email address. 

You should start your resume with your objective. Your objective should be a brief statement summarizing the type of work you want to do and a career field in which you are interested. Let the reader know your specific interests; provide a focus for the rest of the resume. Focus on skills; begin with active verbs such as "Seeking," "Desire" or "To obtain." 

List your educational achievements. Start with most recent degree awarded and work backward in time. Do not list high school or earlier education unless it is exceptional

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