As job hunting becomes even more competitive, having an impressive resume isn’t enough. It needs to be well-written, well-formatted and hyper-personalized. In your resume, you’re supposed to show your experience, skills, and achievements. What’s the correct format for? It puts everything together in a structure that’s readable and looks professional. It doesn’t matter what role you’re targeting. It may be a creative or technical one. It may even be a leadership role. You always need the right format.
In this article, we go over popular formats and help you choose the best resume format for 2025 and when you should be using them. We’ll explore the benefits and drawbacks of each. The goal is clear: your resume has to make a good impression.
Popular and Simple Resume Formats
There are three best resume formats that both recruiters and applicants find the easiest to use: chronological, functional, and combination. These three are also the most common submissions in recent years. But when and how do you use them?
Chronological Resume
The most common structure and the ideal resume format for experienced candidates is the chronological resume, commonly referred to as the reverse-chronological format. The work history part of a chronological resume highlights your listing of current and previous positions, beginning with the most recent.
It is best used by applicants with rich work experience when they apply for a senior role in the same industry. Starting with your current role, the chronological resume aims to highlight your experience in a role or industry. This is especially beneficial for recruiters since the roles alone will give them an estimate of your abilities. Unfortunately, a chronological resume may not be the best option for applicants with gaps in their employment or when you’re switching industries.
A chronological resume format has the following sections:
✅ Resume Summary or Objective
✅ Current Job Title
✅ Work Experience
✅ Skills
✅ Education
An important thing to remember when using this resume format is that it is not a CV. Limit the content to relevant work experience and eliminate anything too far back. Make sure to highlight achievements you’ve done in your listed positions, as that will be what recruiters focus on.
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It is straightforward. It makes your resume easy to navigate so recruiters can quickly evaluate your qualifications.
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It focuses on career progression. It shows your consistent career growth and accents your achievements.
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It’s familiar to all Applicant Tracking Systems.
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It clearly demonstrates that you’re a relevant candidate for the role.
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It does not work for employment gaps. Since the style focuses on work history, the gaps will be made even more noticeable.
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It does not work as a career change resume since it focuses on your past roles.
- It can overshadow your skills as it mostly focuses on work history.
- It does not work for recent graduates as they don’t have a substantial work history to highlight.
How to customize a chronological resume for different industries
Use industry-specific keywords. You can use them in the resume summary and job descriptions. These terms should be relevant to the target industry to improve the resume’s ATS compatibility.
Focus on your transferable achievements. A chronological resume works best when you apply for a position within the same industry. But if your application is for a similar industry, highlight the responsibilities that directly apply to the new role.
Adjust the skill section position for technical roles. The skill section should be prominent for a job in IT or engineering. That’s because your technical proficiency is just as important as your experience.
Include measurable outcomes. For example, in sales and marketing, quantifiable outcomes for revenue and growth matter more than length of employment or education.
The chronological format is not perfect for creative fields, but you can adjust it. Include a subtle design element or highlight projects that show your creativity. Still, the format should be kept professional.
Functional Resume
For functional resumes, work functions, skills, and abilities that enable you to accomplish your tasks are the main focus. This is the most appropriate format to highlight all of your qualifications and experience that match the job description. It's also an excellent option for first-time job seekers and college or entry-level applicants.
Some experts discourage the use of functional resumes, arguing that they can be confusing for recruiters. Another problem this simple resume format may have is that it isn’t usually optimized for ATS. However, this doesn’t mean that functional resumes are bound to be useless—in fact, it really depends on the job!
Transferable skills are the highlight of this resume format. One of the most important features is that employment dates are absent or minimal, which works in your favor in case of long bouts of unemployment.
The layout of a functional resume is structured around skills. Here’s what it looks like:
✅ Contact Information
✅ Resume Summary
✅ Skills (most elaborate part of the document)
✅ Work Experience (optional or briefly summarized)
✅ Education
✅ Certifications and Awards (optional)
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It focuses on skills over job titles and is perfect for candidates with limited or unconventional work experience.
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It highlights your transferable skills, which is a great way to present yourself as a relevant candidate, even if your experience comes from a different industry.
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It is a good way to cover employment gaps. Instead of focusing on the chronological order, it shows your achievements instead.
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It works well for entry-level applicants, so the lack of professional experience will be less of an issue.
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It can be confusing for recruiters. It lacks the clear chronological progression that they are used to.
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It is not the most ATS-friendly format. ATS prioritizes work experience and chronological structure, but you can overcome this drawback only by incorporating keywords in the Skills section.
- It is less impactful than the chronological format.
- It can leave the recruiter wondering about what you are trying to hide using this resume format. Be prepared to answer their questions during an interview.
How to customize a functional resume for different industries
It’s possible to adjust the functional format to make it more relevant to your industry. You’ll add something here and there, and you’ll come down to a great resume that shows your skills in perfect light.
Focus on skills that match the job’s requirements. Otherwise, you’ll make the resume completely irrelevant. Scan the job description to see what the employer is looking for.
Don’t write generic skill descriptions. Always include examples that prove those skills. Say you’re targeting a role in education. In that case, list skills like lesson planning and classroom management. In the cover letter, you’ll accompany those skills with relevant examples.
Quantify your achievements whenever possible - use numbers to make the functional resume more specific.
IT, engineering, and other technical industries require hard skills. However, management and other creative roles require soft skills, such as leadership and problem-solving. Always highlight the right set of skills for the type of job you apply for.
Combination Resume
To settle the debate between chronological vs. functional resume, the combination (or hybrid) format is precisely that - a combination of the two previously mentioned resume formats. The main purpose is to provide a concise overview of your skills in bullet form, each with supporting examples from your previous achievements and work experience.
Enumerate your abilities based on their relevance to the position you're applying for, and include up to four bullet points highlighting your career accomplishments that demonstrate your proficiency in each category. Focus on measurable and quantifiable results.
The combination resume format is great for a large variety of roles and industries. Still, it’s especially useful for job-seekers who are shifting industries for mid-level positions, applicants with noticeable job gaps, and those who want to highlight and contextualize their skills.
This is the specific layout to follow for a combination resume:
✅ Contact Information
✅ Resume Summary
✅ Skills and Accomplishments
✅ Work Experience
✅ Education
✅ Additional Sections, like Volunteering, Certifications, etc. (optional)
The combination resume is the perfect balance between a skills-focused and experience-focused approach. You list the skills upfront, but you support them with specific examples from your past roles. This format also includes a reverse-chronological work history. The dates are included, so the overall impression is more credible.
Ideally, the combination resume works for mid-level professionals transitioning between roles or industries. Candidates with diverse experiences can also use it, especially when they want to balance their skills against their job history.
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It leaves a lasting impression of both your qualifications and work history.
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It is perfect for career transitions since it brings your transferable skills forward and supports them through relevant work experience.
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It is the most customizable format, as it gives you space for tailored content.
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It works for employment gaps. Although it lists your experience chronologically, it still emphasizes your skills.
- It works across industries.
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It requires some heavy editing for each job application, which is time-consuming.
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It can get too long. Because it combines your skills and experience sections, it extends the standard resume format.
- It might prove difficult to strike the right balance between skills and work experience.
How to customize a combination resume for different industries
This is the most flexible format. If you have more time to work on it, you can make it work for any industry:
List the skills that matter in your industry. For example, if you’re in IT, you can start with data analysis. If you’re in healthcare, you can mention regulatory compliance.
Only list the most relevant accomplishments. If you get into details, the combination resume format will become too long. Focus on the achievements that matter for this position, and use metrics to make a stronger impression.
Use headers that are relevant to the industry. For example, you can go with “Leadership and Strategic Planning” for management roles.
Mention certifications and training. If you’re targeting a position in finance or tech, such specific credentials will be important.
Always use keywords from the job description so you’ll improve the resume’s chance to pass the ATS scan.
How to Format a Resume
Formatting a resume can be quite complicated. On one hand, you want to highlight your skills, experience, and accomplishments. On the other hand, you want to keep your resume sleek, compact, and aesthetically pleasing. Thankfully, you can do both without having to resort to rocket science calculations.
Whether you’re creating your resume from scratch or simply revamping an old one, here are a few rules to consider:
1️⃣ Stick to one page
There is no need for your resume to be more than two pages unless you have five or more years of relevant work experience. Oh yes, you will be tempted to include every single detail about your career. When you look back, it feels like each step of the way was important for where you found yourself today. But a potential employer doesn’t care that much. They only want to see the most relevant info, and they want it compressed to one page. Most recruiters will spend mere seconds scanning your resume. You want them to absorb the most critical information with a glance.
2️⃣ Pick a legible font
Your resume isn’t word art - nor is it a novel of 500 pages. While you are free to express your creativity in the resume format, it’s best to limit it to practical and professional options. For fonts, pt 11 or 12 makes reading through a resume easier. Pick commanding yet sleek fonts such as Cambria, Helvetica, Georgia, or Garamond for an elegant and powerful look.
3️⃣ Standardize readable parts in your resume
For instance, your job history should be referred to as simply "Professional Experience" and not in any other way. Be consistent with this, as well as other formatting (such as date formatting) in your resume.
4️⃣ Use bullet points
When listing down work duties, academic information, and work accomplishments, use bullet points to make your resume easier to read. Take it a notch higher and hire professional resume writing services to ensure that your bullet points are optimized and filled with buzzwords.
5️⃣ Maintain adequate line spacing
That one-page rule can backfire if you want to include as much as possible without going over. Don’t ever crowd the text with tight line spacing. The content on your resume shouldn't be too cramped or floating; otherwise, it will look extremely unpolished. Overly spacious content is a problem, too. It makes your resume look amateurish. Keep your line spacing between 1 and 1.5 inches, and pay attention to margins. In most cases, margins from 0.5 to 1 inch strike the balance between readability and content density.
6️⃣ Save a PDF version of your resume
It's the most secure option because it ensures that no matter what device opens your resume, its layout will remain untouched. The PDF format eliminates the risk of misaligned text or distorted fonts. Those layout issues can occur when files are opened on different operating systems or with incompatible software.
The PDF format also makes your resume look professional. It gives a polished final version that prevents accidental edits. Some ATSs may have difficulty scanning PDFs, so employers specify the requirement for a different format in the job description. Never, ever submit a JPG or PNG of your resume; only save it as MS Word if the job you're applying for specifically asks you to.
Beat ATS with Resume Optimization
Even with the catchy subject lines to use when submitting a resume, many applications don't get to a hiring manager because of the ATS. That's why beating the ATS is such a huge deal and guarantees an advantage. In general, an ATS program assesses your resume and determines whether it is relevant enough for the hiring manager to look at it at the beginning of the hiring process.
Larger businesses that get thousands of applications every day initially employed ATS software as a way to weed out unnecessary candidates. Nowadays, with the job market becoming more and more competitive, research indicates that most companies now use ATS. This is why optimizing your resume to beat the software is essential.
Here are some practices that you can employ to beat the ATS:
Put your contact information at the top of your resume. Include your name, phone number, email address, and LinkedIn profile (optional). Some ATS may not read contact details in headers or footers, so it’s best to write them as text at the top of the resume.
Your resume should contain keywords and specific terms from the job description. Applicant tracking systems scan for terms that match the position’s requirements.
Do not add graphics, charts, and images to your resume. While visually appealing, they can confuse the ATS, which is designed to read text, not visuals.
Keep a PDF or MS Word format of your resume. It’s the best way to ensure that ATS will see your resume as intended.
Maximize Your Chances with Resumeble
There are many resume formats and their corresponding examples out there on the internet. At this point, it’s easy to create a file that looks similar to what you see, but it’s another thing altogether to create an effective resume. This is where our services come in.
At Resumeble, we pair you with highly skilled and experienced resume writers to help you write, format, and submit an optimized resume to land the role of your dreams. Work with us today!
