Resume Structure & How to Organize a Resume

The way you structure your resume could mean the difference between landing an interview and rejection. But do you really know how to organize your resume in the most effective way?

Three Types of Resume Structure

There’s no such thing as the perfect resume structure. Your resume structure will look different depending on your work experience, career path, and the things you want to highlight. And, the chronological resume structure, the majority of space is taken up by experience. On the functional resume, the skills section is the largest. And the bulk of the combination resume’s real estate is occupied by skills and experience.

1. Chronological Resume Structure

The chronological resume is easily the most versatile and popular resume structure with job seekers and recruiters alike. That’s why a good resume structure is one that:

Lets the recruiters quickly laser on the most important information and, allows job seekers to format and organize resume information clearly.

Here’s how to organize experience on a resume:

List your latest position first and follow it up with the previous one(s).
Add your professional title, name of the employer, and dates worked.
Be consistent. If you bold a job title in one entry, let the others follow suit.
Let each entry consist of up to 6 bullet points describing your duties and achievements.
Start each bullet point with a strong resume action verb.
Show your real-life impact by adding numbers to as many bullets as possible.
Give more prominence to your key achievements by listing them in a dedicated subsection.

2. Functional Resume Structure

The functional resume structure puts your skills and qualifications in the limelight. That's why it's often referred to as the skills-based resume.

A typical functional resume structure comprises the following sections:

Contact Information
Resume Objective
Summary of Skills
Additional Skills
Experience
Education

The resume objective and the skills summary are the most important components of the functional resume structure. Make sure to get them right:

Use the resume objective to outline your top skills and explain how they make you a great fit for the position.
Link to your portfolio, or examples of your work (e.g. blog, personal website, etc.)
Focus on up to five of your most relevant skills in the skills summary section. But don’t just list them—be specific, refer to the situations in which you had to use them.
Don’t neglect your software skills. Say what you’re good at, and preferably put some numbers to prove it.
Stick to bullet points or write short paragraphs written in plain language.