How to Choose Chronological (physical labor jobs) Resume or Functional Resume

July 31st, 2008 admin Posted in employment |

By bozenaj

While there are numerous ways to format your resume, there are two main resume styles: chronological and functional.

A chronological resume is one that lists your experience and education in order, starting with the most recent jobs or achievements. This type of resume is sometimes also referred to as reverse chronological resume, because the order of the listing starts with your current employment. This type of resume preferred employers will want to know what job you currently hold so that they can better asses your qualifications for the job of your interest.

Listing your experience and education in reverse chronological order also shows your potential employer your overall career progress. It also helps in determining the length of employment at each organization, and indicates any gaps in your career (in case of gaps, make sure to address them in your cover letter as to not lead your employer to believe that you are omitting information on purpose). Chronological resume should list your current job, as well as two to four previously held positions. Dont skip any employment information on purpose; if your employment history is long, or if you have held jobs further in the past that align well with your current career objective, you can address these qualifications in your professional profile or in your cover letter. Chronological resumes are the most commonly used style, and work best for anyone who has had some professional experience.

Functional resumes focus on your qualifications, not your career timeline. This style of the resume highlights what skills you have, rather than where and when you acquired or utilize them. In other words, instead of listing your experiences by your job titles, your resume will contained sections titled by your skills such as verbal and written communication, customer satisfaction, project management, etc. This resume style is recommended for college students seeking internships or their first jobs out of college, for those with no professional experience, those who have not worked for some time, or for career changers. While potential employers will appreciate the overview of your skills, if you hold any professional experience, consider using the chronological resume, or a combination resume, over the functional format.

A combination resume, although not often discussed, has become a popular format in recent years. As its name implies, it is a combination of chronological resume style and functional resume style. This hybrid style allows professionals to highlight the qualification they have that are critical for the job of their interest, while at the same time listing employment and educational history in reverse chronological order. A word of caution, dont try to do too much when using a combination resume by going over board with the type and number of sections you include in your resume. It is best to keep the information listed, even in the combination format, to what is relevant for the job.

Same rules apply for each style. Don?t exceed two pages, tailor your resume to your career objective and put your best foot forward in order to get the interview, and eventually the job.

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Move From a Low Paying Job to a High Paying Career
By Murriano

But if you think it,Be a Salesman:

Why would you ever want to be a salesman? In order to profit more from your efforts. You could be working the 40 hour job. working barely above minimum wage. Or you could spend half that time preparing for the high paying career, and the other half creatively selling your services. Each of us has talents-we just use them differently. This isnt meant to sound general; it will be clearer with the following steps.

You need not go door to door to sell yourself, or make hundreds of calls. What you do need is a willingness to capitalize on all your talents.

Resume Dynamics:

Writing a resume is what many fail at. It doesnt matter what sites you submit to or the resume doctor you hire. It should be your words, your experience, and your ability to sell yourself as a quality person to hire. This becomes crucial when you meet with clients and know everything your resume highlights (because you wrote it). Some people will dash through the resume or just hire someone else to write it. The first solution is flawed, usually because of spelling errors and odd language. No one will hire you with a resume full of typos. The second solution is problematic because you can do all this yourself, and its a necessary tool for future careers.

Read some articles on quality resume writing (there are only a couple thousand). Ask others to read it, like friends or loved ones. Write multiple resumes to expand on each of your skills. Develop different objectives for each resume, focusing on the various companies you want to work with.

Consider the boss, Consider the Important Referral:

You are ready to quit the low paying job. You have sent out your resume and you are getting some bites. Its now time to consider what you will do with the current job. For one, you want to leave on a good note. Nothing sounds better than a pleasant boss who says you can use him as a referral. Nothing is worse than ruining a referral and months or years of work by leaving a job on a bad note. If you curse out your boss, all you really gain is a few moments of joy. A job you worked at for a year or more is good on any resume. It proves you are willing to work. If you want to keep moving up the ladder to higher paying work, referrals are crucial.

Build a Portfolio:

This is where the work gets tricky. You will need referrals to continue moving to higher paying jobs. Say you are a freelance accountant who works from home on most days. On odd days, when work is slow, you can do more than organize your office. Consider developing an expanded resume-a portfolio you can hand to potential clients. Much of the world is working freelance. If you arent, a portfolio can still help others see your skills from the outset. It also reminds you of what sells, and what companies value as important. Going to a job with a well-designed resume and plenty of referrals will get you a job. Whatever you do, document it, providing examples if possible. This provides a backup to your resume-proof you did this work and can do it again.

Focus, Focus, Focus:

Try to specialize in the beginning, learning just what you need to know. There is an old rule in many fields that specializing will get your foot in the door. If you know how to fix TVs, fix every kind of model you can. Then, move beyond your niche market-fix VCRs and DVD players. This is the way to get more profit: Specialize in doing one thing, while working on expanding into other fields.

Finish Line:

The last step is to sit back and really decide if you can do all this work, if you can juggle all these things in your mind. Maybe you should go back to school instead. Maybe another year of less pressure with the current job will work out. Otherwise, the beginning will often be tough. Look to the bottom line. Only become satisfied when you have less pressure, less hours, and more pay. You can be happy or sad at any time during this. It may be stressful all by itself. What is important is to think of doing it, and then actually taking that first step-doing it.

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