Chronological Resume Guide: Template and Tips

Your chronological resume tells the linear story of your career, starting with your most recent position and working backward. In highlighting your accomplishments and responsibilities, each position will logically build upon the previous, showing how you’ve grown your skill set over time.

Chronological resumes are among the most common types of resumes for two main reasons:

1. They tend to be straightforward and easy for potential employers to follow, listing the information they’re looking for, like your work history, job responsibilities, and major accomplishments.

2. They incorporate the type of information that applicant tracking systems (ATS) are programmed to screen for. They filter qualified candidates by credentials such as job titles, company names, or role-related keywords.

Other common resume types include functional resumes, which highlight skills, or combination resumes, which mix elements of chronological and functional resumes. Learn more about the various types of resumes you may want to consider. In this article, we’ll walk through the chronological resume format and offer some tips as you write your own.

What is a reverse chronological order resume?

A reverse chronological order resume is another name for a chronological resume. Although they sound like they could be opposites, people use both phrases to refer to the same type of resume in which a person highlights their work history, starting with the most recent position.

Chronological resume format

If you have less than 10 years of work experience, you’ll likely aim to create a one-page resume, while your resume will likely be longer if you have more experience. Therefore, it’s important to be strategic with the information you include and keep it relevant to the type of job you’re hoping to get.

Your chronological resume will include several key sections:

• Header

• Objective or summary (optional)

• Work experience

• Education

• Certifications

• Skills (optional)

Before getting started, it may help to read through a few job descriptions for roles you are interested in. Highlight specific keywords, tasks, and skills and list ways you’ve incorporated each of them into your work experience. You’ll likely want to include most (if not all) of those list items in your resume, so keep that list nearby.

Chronological resume template

Use this chronological resume template to write your resume as we detail what to include in each section below.

Header

Your resume header is at the top of your resume, typically leading with your full name in a more prominent font than the rest of the document. You may choose to use a larger font size, bold text, or write in all capital letters.

On the line below your name, write key contact information, including your email address, phone number, city, and province or territory, and website or portfolio address if you have one. Try to keep this information on one line, separating each item with a vertical bar.

Objective or summary

Depending on your work experience and job search goals, you may decide to include an objective or summary below your header. You can use either type of statement to add context to your resume.

A resume objective is an introductory sentence expressing who you are, the value you bring, and what you want moving forward. For example: “Social media coordinator with agency experience looking for a position managing social media strategies, planning, and execution for a major health care brand.”

Resume objectives can be beneficial for people who recently graduated from university or college, or are looking to advance or change their careers. 

A resume summary is a brief synopsis of your career and accomplishments to date. For example, “Senior project manager with eight years of experience successfully leading large teams and identifying opportunities to reduce overhead and costs.”

Resume summaries can help people with some work experience, or varied work experience, succinctly state the common themes of their careers. 

Work experience

Your work experience is going to be the bulk of your chronological resume. For each position, you should include:

• Company name

• Job title

• Location

• Dates of employment

• Results-oriented list of accomplishments

You can also include one sentence summarizing your job responsibilities for each role before listing your accomplishments. You may decide to add this brief description if your job title doesn’t fully capture your range of responsibilities, or if you simply prefer that organizational style.

This is the section in which you’ll incorporate items from the list of keywords, tasks, and skills you created while researching job descriptions. Try to frame all of your tasks as accomplishments, focusing on the impact of your work rather than the routines. Use action words to show how you were an active participant in your work.

Be accurate, as your future employer may verify the information on your resume before finalizing your job offer.

Dealing with employment gaps

Since your dates of employment are prominently featured, chronological resumes can draw attention to gaps in your work history. There was a time when employers saw employment gaps as a red flag. Now, as these gaps have become increasingly common in the workforce, there are more ways to work around an employment gap on a resume.

If you took time off for personal reasons, which corresponds to your employment gap, you may be able to include an entry on your resume highlighting a valuable skill you learned during that time. For example, if you were caring for an injured family member or went on parental leave, you may want to add it as a communication skill you learned. If you were your household budget organizer, you might even include an entry showcasing your scheduling and prioritization skills. Similarly, you can also add an entry for a side hustle, contract, or freelance work you did during that time.

Your career story didn’t stop when you stopped working for an employer, so get creative as you outline your growth and contributions.

Showing promotions on your resume

There are a few ways to demonstrate promotions on your resume. The two most common ways are: (1) by stacking multiple job titles under a single company header, or (2) by creating separate entries, one for each new position.

If you want to optimize your resume for ATS scanning, it’s typically best to create separate entries for each position. This increases the likelihood the ATS will “read” your resume more accurately. If you’re submitting your resume directly to a recruiter or hiring manager, you can choose either format.

Education

Unless you just graduated, your education section should go below your work experience. If you have more than one degree, organize them with the most recent on top. For each degree or diploma, include:

• School name

• Location

• Degree or diploma obtained

• Major, minor, or field of study

If you are a recent graduate, you may also choose to include:

• Dates attended or graduation date

• Honours, awards, achievements, relevant coursework, extracurricular activities, or study-abroad programs

Learn more about how to list education on a resume.

Certifications

If you have relevant certifications or professional certificates, you could include a dedicated section on your resume. Alternatively, you can add certifications as a subsection within your education section.

For each certification, include:

• Certification name

• Awarding institution

• Date awarded

• Expiration date (if applicable)

• Relevant skills

Skills

It’s not always necessary to include a separate section for your skills, especially if you can incorporate job-related skills throughout your work experience section. However, if there are additional skills you’d like to highlight, include a section at the end of your resume and list your technical and workplace skills.

Getting started

Learn resume writing best practices with the project-centred How to Write a Resume course from SUNY Online, or further explore your potential with the Career Discovery Specialization. Sign up for Coursera today and begin a seven-day, full-access free trial to browse more personal development courses.