Host: Now, that I have identified my skills and key words what do I do next when writing a resume?
Louise Kursmark: Well, I think one of the things to think about before you start writing your resume and we are almost there, the first thing to think about is what structure is the resume going to take and there are two kind of basic, fundamental structures for resume development and those are chronological and functional. The functional resume has a lot of appeal for people because it allows you to group your skills under common title. You might describe your leadership skills and then include those in a series of bullet points and your management skills and perhaps, your technical skills. It makes sense because you can pull from all areas of your life whether your work life, your hobbies, your schooling, to create a strong skill summary.
You think that employers are going too really like that because it shows that you have that, those specific skills that they are looking for. The only problem with the functional resume is that employers really don t like it because they can t tell where, when and how you actually, acquired those skills and used those skills. They like to know more specifically, the companies you worked at, the job titles that you held how long you were there, what your scope of responsibility was and then they can better understand those skills within the context of your job. So, the chronological resume in which you list each employer, current first, walking backwards is the most preferred by employers and I do recommend that in most cases. A lot of times, nowadays, we use what's called a hybrid resume. That means we include a strong summary or introduction that allows us to highlight key skills, key accomplishments, key Wow achievements of your career and then go into the chronology so that employers can determine in some detail where you worked and what you did in your position.
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