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When you’re panicking about your resume, it’s easy to want to search for the best free resume builder online. After all, what can be easier than simply inputting all the necessary information on the database of a particular software or website? However, depending too much, even on the best resume builder available in the market may not be the best option for you if you want to effectively highlight all your strengths and weaknesses as a professional.

You can use the best resume builder you can find online to probably compose the draft of your resume, but you should still understand the principles behind each resume format being used today. This will allow you to polish your resume writing strategy and regain better control of the competition in the job hunting market.

Chronological resume

The most basic resume format used today is the chronological resume. While this is a good choice for many executives because most of them have flawless work backgrounds, this may not be the best choice for applicants which have significant employment gaps. The chronological resume is a straightforward resume which details the applicant’s work background in reverse-chronological order. If you’re less fortunate and you’ve had to stop working at one point or the other, you’re better off using the functional resume format, or the combination resume format.

Difference between functional and combination

Both functional and combination formats highlight the skills of the applicant more than the work background or history. However, recruiters usually feel uncomfortable about the functional resume because it totally forgets about the applicant’s work history. The combination resume, on the other hand, fuses the best of the chronological and the functional resume formats. While it also highlights the skills of the applicant, it doesn’t forget about the work history altogether. The applicant’s work background is still listed, in chronological order, at the end of the resume, right before the list of character references.