Resume is a document containing a summary highlighting the experiences and credentials and education usually written for the purpose of gaining an interview while seeking an employment. Since resume is the first thing that a potential employer encounters regarding the applicant, it carries a great significance.

A resume may be limited to one or two pages and can be organized in several ways.

A chronological resume highlights a candidate’s job experience in reverse chronological order, that is, the main body of the document shows the professional experience beginning from the most recent experience going chronologically backwards through a succession of previous experience. The main aim of a chronological resume is to give an impact of credibility through experience gained. This type of resume is the most common resume in use.

A functional resume highlights work experience and skills classified by skill area or job function. The objective of a functional resume is to focus on the skills particular to the kind of position being sought which directly gives weightage to professional capabilities and experiences as a backup. In contrast to chronological resume, functional resume will highlight these competencies and is most suited for jobs that require a particular skill or clearly defined personality traits.

A combination resume balances both the chronological and functional resumes, which typically leads with a functional list of job skills and then the chronological list of employers.

A resume is quite short and therefore contains experience directly relevant to the position and many resumes use precise keywords and action words that the employer is seeking for. Increasing number of job seekers and employers are using Internet based jobs and therefore an ideal resume should be long enough to provide a concise, adequate and accurate description of an applicant’s employment history and capabilities. Job seekers are now able to reach the employers through direct e-mail contact and resume blasting which is the mass distribution of resumes to increase personal visibility within the job market. The simplicity and complexity of the resume formats produce results varying from person to person, industry and occupation.

Since many employers find candidates through search engines, it is important to use appropriate keywords while writing a resume. And they must choose a file format to maintain their resume. Unlike regular two page resumes, which highlight only the recent work experience and education, Internet resumes highlight the candidate’s skill development over his or her career.

While writing a resume, emphasis should be placed on accomplishments, effective organization and more importantly the appearance of the resume. To achieve this, proper care should be taken to see to it that the font is plain and easy to read written on a resume quality paper, formatting the resume with simple bullets, highlighting the accomplishments and not taking away the attention.

While organizing a resume it is very important to start with an active descriptive action word, include numbers and percentages and restrict the resume to one page. The resume is nothing but an advertisement with the main purpose of winning an interview and to be an effective resume, it should stand out from the crowd.

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