Resume Format Instructions: Chronological Style

Recent graduates or job seekers with little to no work experience use this resume style. It summarizes your work experience and includes the name of the organization for whom you worked and dates of employment. Your resume should either be one full page or two full pages.

Name and Address Section

Include your full name, address and telephone number where an employer can get in touch with you. You may also include your e-mail address, fax number or Internet homepage address.

Career Objective (Optional)

Include an objective if you know the type of position that interests you and/or the industry for which you are willing to work. A career objective should never be general.

Ultimately, you should include between two to three skills that you are experienced in performing. The following are examples of the same career objective stated differently:

• Manager
• A management position in Southeastern North Carolina
• A management position within the food service industry
• A management position with XYZ Corporation
• A management position benefiting XYZ Corporation through proven customer service and leadership skills.

Education

Include the institution name(s) for any degree or certification received. It is unnecessary to include high school education if you plan to receive or have received a higher degree. Include the degree you received or will be receiving and graduation date. Include your GPA if you have a 3.0 or above.

Work Experience

Include company name, location, job title and dates of employment. List skill statements to describe the type of work you performed. Skill statements are short, concise statements that begin with an action word. 

There are basically three types of skills that are beneficial to a particular employer:

• Marketable skills: These skills are the most beneficial to a particular employer and can be transferable to any industry from food service to pharmaceutical, for example.

• Industry specific skills: These skills are beneficial only to a particular industry. For example, if you have developed experience using specialized software designed for food service, then you could not market this skill to the pharmaceutical industry.

• Soft skills: These skills describe your personality or characteristics that you have developed throughout your work history. Most of these skills must be supported by a third party and usually are not included on a resume.

Optional Categories

With the exception of your address, education and work experience section, everything else on a resume is optional. Optional categories include:

• Interests
• Certifications
• Community service
• Professional affiliations, etc.

Tips

• Use heavy-bonded, conservative-colored paper (ivory, light blue, light gray, or cream).
• Eliminate grammatical and spelling errors.
• Incorporate measurable results whenever possible. Employers like to see numbers on a resume.
• Be honest and never misrepresent yourself.
• Use section headings and bullets so hiring officials can easily scan the resume.
• Make sure you list correct personal information and if your telephone number changes, inform any potential employers of that change.
• Be consistent. If you choose to center the section headings then continue to do the same throughout the resume. Do not have some section headings centered and others blocked on the left-hand side of the page.