Learn about combination resumes, when to use this format, and some of the sections you may want to include.
A combination resume, or hybrid resume, exists between the traditional chronological resume and the more modern functional resume. You may find the combination format helpful if neither the chronological nor functional formats fully capture your professional capabilities.
Use this free combination resume template to start formatting your resume today. Simply log into your Google account and hit the “Make a copy” button to start.
A combination resume takes some elements of a chronological resume and some aspects of a functional resume to create a custom format. Recall that with your chronological resume, you build your resume around your work history, whilst with your functional resume, your skills are the star.
Often, this means detailing your work experience and the specific skills you’ve developed throughout your career. However, you’ll find several ways to present this information. This flexible format entirely depends on the story you’re trying to tell.
A combination resume can be a good option if you want a resume that emphasises your skills and is compliant with automatic tracking system (ATS) scanning.
You may want to emphasise your skills on your resume if the position you wish to pursue doesn’t perfectly align with the job titles you’ve held. For example, you may consider creating a combination resume if you are:
Seeking an entry-level position
Transitioning into a new field or industry
Pursuing a career advancement
Of course, you can incorporate your skills and achievements into your work experience section. Still, a dedicated skills section can help demonstrate that you have successfully used the high-level skills employers are looking for in ways that exceeded your previous job responsibilities.
As for the second criterion, unless you submit your resume directly to a recruiter, you typically want to use an ATS-friendly format. Generally, when applying for jobs through a company’s website, it’s safe to assume that an ATS will “read” your resume before a human recruiter will.
Programmers typically design ATS to read chronological resumes, scanning documents for crucial information about work history, job titles, and keywords associated with the open role. Functional resumes tend to lack the work history details that many ATS look for, so the ATS may interpret candidates who submit functional resumes as lacking the work history they require for a role.
With your combination resume, however, you’ll typically format your work history to align with ATS best practices whilst offering additional context about your enhanced skill set for the human recruiter who will read it after it passes the ATS scan.
The combination resume is a flexible format but should contain at least the following sections:
Header
Skills
Work experience
Additional optional sections may include:
Summary
Education
Certifications
Projects
Volunteer work
Before you decide which sections to include and how to order them, think about the story you’re trying to tell and the critical information you need to share to tell it. From here, you can piece together the most common format for your story.
Take a closer look at two prominent sections: skills and work experience.
A resume skills section can take several different forms. Some people choose to simply list their most job-relevant skills, whilst others expand on their skills with bullet points detailing specific projects, outcomes, and impacts—not unlike the skills section standard in functional resumes.
If you opt for an expanded skills section, be sure to avoid repeating the information that appears in your work experience section. You have limited space on your resume, so you want to ensure every line adds value.
Instead, highlight how you’ve demonstrated your skills beyond the scope of your work tasks. For example, you may list your volunteer work, side hustles, or projects you completed outside of your immediate responsibilities.
For each role in an ATS-friendly work experience section, include your:
Company name
Job title
Dates of employment
Core responsibilities and successes
List your experience in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent position. Here, you want to represent a timeline of your career path, showing how you’ve progressed from your earliest roles to where you are now with your unique series of job changes and promotions.
Remember to emphasise your impact as you detail your responsibilities. For example, “Analysed web traffic data to develop search engine optimisation (SEO) best practices guide, resulting in a 50 per cent increase in total web visitors” is more compelling than “Analysed web traffic data,” even though both bullet points address the same responsibility.
A quick formula for writing resume bullets that show impact is: Did [task] to achieve [outcome], which resulted in [impact].
If you don’t have an extensive work history, you may want to consider expanding other sections, such as your education or credentials.
A resume is an essential element of any job search. Keep learning with Coursera. Draft your resume with guidance from SUNY’s project-centred course How to Write a Resume, or map your desired career journey with the University System of Georgia’s Career Discovery Specialisation.
You can also develop job-specific skills with a Professional Certificate from industry leaders like Google, Meta, and IBM. Check out Career Academy to learn more about entry-level pathways in marketing, data analytics, software engineering, business, and more.
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