Resumes, as we know, are one of the vital tools for job seekers to land their dream jobs. It is an official document that summarizes one’s career trajectory, highlighting relevant skills, experiences, and other qualifications.
And since resumes serve as the first impression that job seekers can make on potential employers, it needs to be appealing, well-written, and properly formatted.
To ensure that your resume meets its purpose, you must understand the type of industry you’re applying to as different industries and jobs require different types of resumes.
Using the correct resume format and tailoring it to the job description and company culture can significantly increase your chances of getting shortlisted for interviews.
In fact, studies show that 75% of resumes are rejected by Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) used by recruiters to filter resumes due to poorly optimized resumes.
So what are the different types of resumes and which one is the right option for you?
Read on to get clarity on the same and related FAQs like the following:
- What are the 5 types of resumes?
- What are some functional resume examples?
- What makes an infographic resume?
- What are the best-targeted resume writing strategies?
What Are the Different Types of Resumes?
Essentially, there are 5 different types of resumes based on the formats and the industry, and learning about them can help you make a more informed decision as to which type of resume is best suited for your needs and situation.
The 5 different types of resumes are - chronological, functional, combination, infographic, and targeted resume. Let’s go through each one of them to get a deeper insight:
Reverse Chronological Resume
A reverse chronological resume follows a format that places your most recent experience or educational qualifications at the top, followed by the older ones.
This resume format is one of the most commonly used and recognized as it makes it easy for recruiters to scan through the candidate’s work history. It also supports the ATS-friendliness of the resume.
Having said that, there are also some disadvantages of reverse chronological resumes. Since it places your most recent work experience at the top, it is not suitable for candidates who have employment gaps or if your previous experience is not relevant to the role you’re applying for.
And given that professional experience is the focus of reverse chronological resumes, it is not suitable for freshers.
The primary sequence of sections followed in reverse chronological resumes is - contact information, summary, professional experience, skills, educational qualifications, and certifications.
Also Read: How to make a resume that follows the reverse chronological resume format?
Functional Resumes
Functional resumes follow a format that highlights your skills instead of professional experiences.
One of the key characteristics of functional resumes is that it includes a section for a summary of skills that lists various key skills as subheadings with bullet points that further substantiate those skills.
If you are a candidate with career change, employment gaps, or lack of experience, you can opt for functional resumes to showcase your potential.
However, one of the disadvantages of this type of resume is that it can hamper your resume’s ATS-friendliness. To ensure that this isn’t an issue, you can confirm with individual employers if they use ATS in their recruitment process.
Also Read: What is a functional resume format?
Combination Resumes
As the name suggests, a combination resume incorporates characteristics of both reverse chronological and functional resumes.
It lays emphasis on your skills and experiences equally, thereby adding more value to your resume. Combination resumes are also ATS-friendly and can be used by applicants who have employment gaps and career changes.
But, there are a couple of disadvantages to using combination resumes as they are time-consuming to make and are not suitable for freshers or candidates who don’t have adequate experience in the industry.
Also Read: What is a combination resume?
Infographic Resumes
Infographic resumes can be an excellent way to stand out from the crowd of applicants while showcasing your creativity and design skills as these resumes are visually appealing.
These type of resumes include graphic design and data visualization elements as it uses graphs, infographics, charts, icons, and illustrations to showcase information, making them extremely engaging for recruiters.
As opposed to traditional resumes, it contains a lesser number of words or written content and makes it easier to communicate complex information in a clear and concise manner.
However, infographic resumes are suitable only for candidates who belong to creative and non-traditional industries like design, marketing, advertising, media, and communication.
And since infographic resumes include a lot of design elements, you need to have decent design skills and be familiar with using design tools to create this type of resume.
Another disadvantage of infographic resumes is that they cannot be parsed by the ATS as most of these systems are not capable of parsing information from charts, graphs, or infographics.
Also Read: What are some great infographic resume design ideas?
Targeted Resumes
A targeted resume is a type of resume that is written with a specific employer and job posting in mind. The contents of this resume are tailored to meet the requirements and showcase skills for a particular job vacancy.
While most job seekers use the same resume to apply for multiple job listings, a targeted resume is made to cater to only one.
Since target resumes are highly customized, your chances of getting shortlisted by recruiters are increased threefold.
However, to make a targeted resume, you need to do ample research on the company and analyze the job description in the listing to understand the company’s culture, requirements, etc., making the process time-consuming and complicated.
Here are some tips to help you make a targeted resume with more ease:
- Identify the key skills and qualification requirements from the job listing and highlight them in your targeted resume.
- Use the same terminology used in the listing to match your increase the relevance of your resume and make it ATS-friendly for the role.
- Customize your objective statement or resume summary to express interest in the specific role and company.
- Include only the experiences, skills, and other information in your target resume that is relevant to the specific role, and skip the rest.
Also Read: What is a targeted resume and how can you make one in 2023?
Key Points from the Blog
- To ensure that your resume meets its purpose, you must understand the type of industry you’re applying to as different industries and jobs require different types of resumes.
- The 5 different types of resumes are - chronological, functional, combination, infographic, and targeted resume.
- A reverse chronological resume follows a format that places your most recent experience or educational qualifications at the top, followed by the older ones.
- Functional resumes follow a format that highlights your skills instead of professional experiences.
- A combination resume incorporates characteristics of both reverse chronological and functional resumes.
- Infographic resumes include graphic design and data visualization elements as it uses graphs, infographics, charts, icons, and illustrations to showcase information, making it extremely engaging for recruiters.
- A targeted resume is a type of resume that is written with a specific employer and job posting in mind. The contents of this resume are tailored to meet the requirements and showcase skills for a particular job vacancy.
Want to create different types of resumes in half the time? Use Hiration’s AI-powered resume builder with 24x7 chat support and write to us at support@hiration.com if you have any other queries.
