Update your resume

Resumes give an overview of your career and educational experiences. They allow you to showcase your achievements and explain what skills you have developed. As you update your resume for your first job, your resume will focus more on work experience or relevant educational experience from college.  

Think of a resume as a commercial – attention grabbing, to the point, and memorable. Resumes are your first impression and can help you get an interview, so crafting a high-quality one can make a huge difference. 

There are three basic types of resumes. The type you choose will depend on the work experience you have available. 

Functional 

A functional resume focuses on strengths and skills important to employers. Omits the dates, names, and places. 

Who is this resume style good for? 

• New graduates with limited work experience 
• People changing careers 
• People who don’t want to focus on their age 

Advantages 

• Reduces focus on a work history 
• Highlights strengths and transferable skills gained through courses, volunteer activity, etc. 

Chronological 

A chronological resume focuses on the progression of jobs and assignments over time in reverse order starting with the most recent. 

Who is this resume style good for? 

• People with a history of steady employment and career growth 
• People who want to emphasize the name of a former employer 

Advantages 

• Easy to write 
• Emphasized steady employment 
• Highlights titles and dates of work history, which employers like 

Combination 

A combination resume merges the flexibility and strengths of the above types of resumes. 

Who is this resume style good for? 

• People with skills and experience that are equally important 
• People changing careers 
• People who don’t have a former employer recognizable to prospective employers 

Advantages 

• Highlights strong employment with upward mobility 
• Emphasizes transferable skills developed rather than positions held 

While there are thousands of different resume templates available online, most resumes have the same four or five sections. If you want a head start formatting your resume, try downloading a free resume template from The Balance Careers. Then follow these tips to write each of these sections.  

Avoid simply describing the activities you did when you write about your work, project, or volunteer experience. Your experience shouldn’t sound like a recap of your job description. Instead, focus on writing accomplishment statements. These types of sentences describe the impact you made and help you stand out.  

To help you write, try using the CAR method to arrange your sentences. Each sentence should contain these three components: 

• Challenge: a problem or opportunity 
• Action: what steps you took to meet the challenge 
• Results: what happened (using dollars, time, percentages, or amounts) 

Your achievement statements should be brief and always begin with an action word. For example: 

• Developed a new employee orientation program that 100 percent of the company locations adopted. 
• Responded to over 85 customer calls daily and solved 90 percent of their concerns. 
• Submitted over 500 construction bids annually and was awarded 90 percent of the contracts. 
• Served customers in a positive way, receiving two customer service awards in the past year.