Resume formats for your career

When people say resume format, they usually mean structure: which section comes first and how your jobs are listed. Design is the look: fonts, color and spacing. They're separate choices, and making them in that order saves time, because the structure decides what a recruiter reads first and the design only decides how it looks.

Which resume format should I use?

Chronological suits most people, because recruiters can follow your career in date order. Choose by the story your work history tells:

• Steady work in one field: chronological, with your latest job right under a short summary.
• Changing careers: hybrid, opening with the skills the new job needs, each tied to something you've done.
• Coming back after a break: hybrid, with every date kept so nothing looks hidden.
• Student or first job: chronological, with education moved to the top.
• Freelance or temp work: chronological, with one dated entry per business or agency and the main clients as bullets.

What does each resume format look like on the page?

Picture the top third of the page, since that's where a recruiter decides whether to keep reading. In a chronological resume it holds your name, a two-line summary and your latest job with its dates. In a hybrid it holds your name, the summary and four to six skills tied to the job, with your latest job just below. In a functional resume it holds skill headings with bullets under each, while your jobs shrink to a short list near the bottom.

Resume format example: one history, two formats

Renee kept the books for a property firm for five years, then managed a bike shop. Now she wants accounts payable work. As a chronological resume, the bike shop leads and her bookkeeping sits halfway down the page. As a hybrid, a skills section under her summary shows invoice processing and account reconciliation first, while her jobs and dates stay exactly as they were. Same facts, a far better fit for the job. (Renee is fictional.)

Make My Resume

How do I match the design to my format?

Any clean design carries a chronological or hybrid structure, so judge it by how well it shows the section you put first. In a hybrid, the skills list near the top should read as a neat block of four to six items, not a crowded run of words. In a chronological resume, each job title, employer and date should line up the same way, so the reader can follow your career down the page. Your content carries over when you switch designs, so comparing two is quick.

Can I switch resume formats later?

Yes, in a minute. Format is only the order of your sections, so moving skills above your work history turns a chronological resume into a hybrid without retyping a line. Applying in two directions at once? Keep a second version: a chronological one for jobs in your current field and a hybrid for the career you're moving toward.

How do I set up my format in the builder?

Enter your content first and arrange it last, so the order follows what you've written:

1. Add every job with its employer and dates, latest first.
2. Fill in your schooling, skills and a brief summary.
3. Move sections until the top of the page matches your structure.
4. Check the preview: your strongest match for the job should sit in the top third.

For length, fonts, margins and the finer points of layout, read our resume format guide. Moving into a new field? The career change resume guide shows a hybrid built around transferable skills.