Common Resume Questions Answered: Which Resume Format Is Best?

There are two primary resume formats — chronological and functional. A chronological resume is exactly what it sounds like — a resume organized by date. A functional resume is instead organized by skills or major accomplishments/career highlights. Often, functional resumes are used by people who want to minimize gaps in their careers — whether it’s because they were laid off, had a medical issue, opted to stay home to raise children, or for any other reason someone might have for being without a job for an extended period of time.

If you don’t have gaps in your job history, a chronological resume is a great choice of format for you.

However, many people do have some kind of gap in their job history. But I do not recommend using a true functional resume. Doing so makes it clear you’re trying to hide or minimize something. Instead, a hybrid of the chronological and functional resume formats is the right choice for most job seekers.

A hybrid resume format allows you to showcase — at the beginning of your resume — the skills and accomplishments that are a great fit for the specific job you’re applying to, with the chronology of your past jobs presented later in the document. A section of Career Highlights could even take up the entire first page of the resume — demonstrating your value and…