Are There Certain Types of Resumes for Certain Types of Jobs?

Another good question from my students—and one I don’t blame them for asking. There are a lot of books out there with titles like, “Resumes for Government Jobs,” or “Resumes for Healthcare Jobs,” but in truth there’d little difference between these resumes—except for the content, and that’s the important part we’re covering here.

In truth most resumes look like resumes (it’d be hard to tell simply by looking at them what they’re being used to apply for) and only a small few look different. People applying for academic-type jobs, like research professors, create curriculum vitas that serve as their resumes, and these look different.

But for most of us, including me when I apply for jobs outside of the university, we need to make the good, old fashioned resumes we’re used to seeing. So, if you want to know what separates a resume for a government job from a resume for a healthcare job, simply look at employment ads for the desired position. As I’ve said before, they will give you every piece of information they’re looking for in those ads.

Types of Resumes and When to Use Them

Another important step in creating and submitting a successful resume is to pick the type of resume you’re going to send. To do this, it’s important to know what kinds there are, the differences between them, and when it’s best to use one or the other. The next two sections provide those explanations, discuss when and why to use each type, and then provide examples of each.

Though there are many different formats, there are only two primary types of resumes, and each does something completely different, so choosing the right one is essential to getting started. The first type of resume is the Experience-oriented Resume, and the second is the Attributes-oriented Resume.

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Last update: 27-03-2009 13:34