How to Write a Hybrid Resume to Handle Resume Gaps

How to Write a Hybrid Resume to Handle Resume Gaps How to Write a Hybrid Resume to Handle Resume Gaps 78hide the gaps. This is the also wrong approach. A functional resume is not a way in which to hide gaps in work experience. Instead, use a hybrid chrono-functional resume to highlight your qualifications for a role prior to explaining to the reader that you have gaps in your work experience. If you were to submit an entirely “skills-based” resume for a job without listing any employment dates, you most likely wouldn’t receive a callback from the employer because it is evident you are hiding something. Therefore, writing an effective hybrid resume is actually quite difficult- unless of course, you have a great how-to at your fingertips (like this one!) to walk you through it. Heres how to write a functional resume to handle resume gaps. 1. Start with a Headline or Summary of Qualifications Introduce yourself and your experience in a nutshellthe things that make you the best choice for this particular job. Tell the hiring manager things like how many years of experience you offer, your industry expertise, your academic background, and even previous job titles you’ve held. 2. Outline Your Core Strengths Review the job posting for important keywords that align with your technical proficiency and overall work ethic, and add these terms into your core strengths section to strengthen your resume. 3. Create a Selected Achievements Section If this were a chronological resume, this is where you would jump into your work experience. However, this is a hybrid resume, so instead we jump into your most relevant achievements. Job seekers with recent gaps in their experience often have great achievements to put on their resume, but they get lost listed under roles that were over five years ago. By creating a selected achievements section, you can highlight those achievements right at the top of your resume to show the hiring manager that you are qualified for the role. You can also expand the selected achievements section to break up your achievements based on skill sets such as “Project Management,” “Sales Marketing,” or “Customer Service.” You should only focus on skills that are directly related to the role you are targeting, and you should have no more than five bullet points under each skill. It is also important to attribute these skills to a role in your career history, volunteer experience, or even your academics. 4. Disclose Your Timeline Chronologically As mentioned earlier, a hybrid chrono-functional resume is not meant to hide your gaps. It is simply meant to draw attention to your qualifications to intrigue the hiring manager, prior to outlining your gaps. After outlining your achievements, you need to create an experience section. Here you will list your employment experience chronologically. If there are gaps spanning more than one year, you can choose to include a line explaining the gap such as “Maternity Leave” or “Leave of Absence to Attend to Family.” However, including an explanation for a gap is not necessary. Follow up your experience with an education section, unless your education is more recent and/or relevant than your work experience. In that case, you should begin your experience section with your academic information and follow it with your employment history. Honesty is the key- as it is with any resume. If you are turning to a functional format to hide your gaps, the hiring manager will see right through it. However, if you use a hybrid format to effectively handle your timeline gaps while still showcasing your qualifications, the hiring manager will see your value. Readers, have you ever tried to write a hybrid resume? What are your tips for handling gaps on a resume? ResumeTarget.com provides professional resume writing services for clients of all career levels across North America. We are the only resume writing company that offers a professionally written resume coupled with the guidance of recruiters, to guarantee that your resume will get results. Tweet us with any resume questions you have at www.twitter.com/ResumeTarget, we’re here to help!