There are different stages in career planning that need to be carefully handled. One careless move can upset your whole plan. Resume writing is the most important aspect of career planning. Today’s job market is pretty tough and competitive. A well prepared resume can make a positive impression on your would-be employer. A professional resume is a properly structured document, written in simple and meaningful words. Its objective is to give a summarized preview of a person’s experiences and qualifications. A quality resume helps a potential employer to decide, at first glance, whether the applicant deserves to be considered for a particular job.

Selection of the most appropriate style depends on your experience and the type of job applied for. Two most popular styles are Chronological and Functional resumes. Let’s discuss their salient features.

1. Chronological resume: It is most familiar and popular style. In chronological resume, work experience is listed in reverse chronological order, i.e. giving your latest job experience first. It contains short description about each job you held. You should start your resume, giving essential information about your candidature in the following sequence:

a) Your contact information, with your name, mailing address, telephone/cell phone number and e-mail address. Contact information should be correctly written, to enable the interviewer contact you when required.

b) Job objective: You should give a small description about how you consider yourself suitable for the post applied for.

c) Experience: Clear indication of different positions you held in your service career, in chronological order starting with your latest job details. Give name of employer, short description of the position held and the dates of joining and leaving the job.

d) Qualification: List different examinations passed and degrees obtained. Mention each qualification with name of college/university, year, degree/percentage of marks secured and special achievement, if any. Mention if you possess any additional skill to support your candidature for the post applied for.

e) References: Although it is not essentially required information, it can help making your resume more impressive.

2. Functional resume: This style of resume writing emphasizes on the skills and major accomplishments of the applicant. In a functional resume, you don’t list your work experience in chronological order. Here you focus highlighting your strength, your skills and major achievements. You mention about your specialization in a particular field like software development, sales, management or administration. This helps your potential employer to decide quickly if you are a suitable candidate he is looking for. You mention your job experience at the end of the resume, in a simple way, without much emphasis on each position you held.

Main objective of a functional resume is to invite attention of your employer to your major skills and areas of special accomplishments. This style is helpful to those who don’t have consistent job history or who frequently keep changing jobs. This may also be useful for persons with less or no job experience. Its main disadvantage is it lacks enough details about your work experience.

There are some more resume writing styles like targeted or combined resumes. You may try different styles and finally decide the one that suits you best.