Chronological Resume Templates - Presenting Your Work History

The chronological format is ideal for seasoned professionals.

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(SALEM, Ore.) - A strong work history is the cornerstone of a chronological resume. This format showcases a career arc with no significant gaps or lulls, making it perfect for candidates looking to transition to a new role.

The chronological format is ideal for seasoned professionals with solid work histories who are seeking to advance their careers.

If you have a long professional history and you want recruiters to see your career arc, this is the best format for you. This is also a great choice if you are applying for a job in the same industry you have been working in.

However, this type of resume doesn’t work well for job-seekers in the early stages of their careers or looking to switch fields entirely.

For these types of job-seekers, or if your career change entails a move to an entirely new field, our functional and combination resume templates are better suited for your needs.

You can still include a work experience section in the other formats, but it will not be in reverse chronological order.

Start your career section with a searchable name and a professional email address. Then, list each position in reverse-chronological order.

It’s OK to skip any sections that don’t feel relevant to your application.

1. Work Experience

Generally speaking, this is the most essential section of a chronological resume. Recruiters place great importance on this section since it showcases your career progression.

Briefly describe your duties and accomplishments. Use action verbs and statistics to make the information stand out.

If you’re applying for a specific role, consider tailoring your work experience section by modeling the job description.

Suppose you’re applying for a position that requires a certain amount of experience in a particular area. In that case, it makes sense to start your resume with the most relevant work experience first.

This section is also the best place to showcase quantifiable metrics and personal achievements, so make sure you include as much information as possible that demonstrates your value.

2. Education

List all your formal degrees and any relevant certifications and training programs you have completed.

You can also add an extracurricular section to your resume. It's a good idea to keep education/extracurricular separate from your work experience section for consistency.

3. Skills

Recruiters place great importance on the information included in this section since it showcases your career progression.

This section is an opportunity to share hard and soft skills not mentioned in the work experience section. This is also an excellent place to highlight your training or educational credentials.

This section should be brief, highlighting no more than six to eight skills directly relevant to the job you’re applying for.

If you have many skills to list, you might want to consider using a combination resume instead.

4. Interests/Activities

If you decide to include them, ensure they are short and relevant. Otherwise, they will distract from the critical information on your resume.

Knowing which resume style is best for the particular job you're going after will make the creation of your document much easier, and less time consuming.

Happy Job Hunting!

Source: Salem-News.com Special Features Dept.