The chronological and functional resume forms are combined to create the combination resume format. The hybrid resume format, which incorporates elements of the other two styles, enables job seekers to highlight their greatest accomplishments and talents while simultaneously highlighting their career history. This article is an example of how to write a combination resume using the free template.
Combination Resume
The combination resume, as its name suggests, incorporates elements of both the chronological and functional resume formats. The combo resume presents your job history while emphasizing key accomplishments and responsibilities, much like the chronological style. Similar to a functional resume, it prominently highlights important talents.
For candidates with a few years of experience seeking to advance their careers, for job seekers with a gap in their employment history, and for those with relevant experience in their preferred area and transferable abilities, the hybrid resume format is excellent.
When to Use a Combination Resume
A combination resume is a great option for many job searchers because it includes a career overview as well as highlights talents and credentials. If you belong to any of the following categories, you might want to use a combo resume:
#1. You are Prepared to Advance Because You Have Some Experience.
Let’s say you’re a junior to mid-level job seeker with impressive qualifications. In that instance, the combination format might demonstrate how you’ve already picked up crucial skills and effectively applied them in your job so far.
#2. You’re Changing Careers From a Different Industry.
The combo format can highlight transferable talents and work experience from other positions that demonstrate your ability to handle the demands of your new career if you don’t have much expertise in the field of your new employment.
#3. You’re Returning to the Workforce.
A combination resume will highlight your pre-existing abilities and training, as well as work history that is relevant to the new position you are seeking if you are returning to the workforce after a break or have employment gaps in your career.
#4. A Senior Employee
Use a combination resume to highlight your talents and include a summary section that concentrates on your most significant employment experiences if you are an older worker who has held a variety of jobs during your career.
#5. An Employee With a Stable Employment History
The combo resume enables you to highlight consistency while emphasizing your most valuable talents if you have consistently held steady employment. This style of resume makes it simple for hiring managers to determine whether you’re a suitable fit for the position being offered because it is succinct and because the qualifications summary links your credentials with a specific job objective.
#6. New Graduate, Entry-level Job Applicant, or Student
The combination resume will work best for you if you have a somewhat recent job history. It highlights your skills and demonstrates to companies that you have prior work experience.
Elements That Make Up a Combination Resume
One of the main benefits of the combo resume is its adaptable structure, which can be used to highlight the most crucial information and minimize anything that can hurt your chances of landing a job.
A career brief that emphasizes the essential qualifications for the position you have in mind should come first. You can convince hiring managers to keep reading your CV rather than toss it aside by emphasizing your qualifications. Include the following information in your career summary, paying special attention to the most pertinent details:
- Job’s goal
- Essential skills
- Relevant education
- Experienced in
- Accomplishments
A brief, reverse-chronological employment history that begins with your current position or the most recent job you held and moves backward in time should be provided as a follow-up. If at all possible, avoid mentioning tasks unrelated to your professional aim in this area and instead concentrate on your most significant achievements.
Depending on your expertise and the position you’re applying for, a combination resume may include additional sections. These consist of:
- Training
- Education
- Languages
- Affiliations
- Additional pertinent information
How to Create a Combination Resume.
Before you write a combination resume, firstly, go through a template to see how to configure your own. However, here is the steps to creating a combination resume.
#1. Include Your Name and Phone Number First.
Always include a professional email address, a trustworthy phone number, your LinkedIn page, and any links to industry-related websites.
#2. Include a Resume Summary.
Under your contact information, put a resume aim or career brief. The Combination Resume format is best suited for those with a lot of experience, therefore a Career Summary may be more appropriate for it.
#3. Display Your Abilities.
List your most valuable abilities first. Limit the segment to five to ten points while including both hard and soft abilities.
#4. Describe Your Academic Background.
Include your educational background, starting with the most recent degrees you have earned. Any degrees, certificates, or diplomas that are pertinent to the position you’re looking for should be listed. Include information on any successes or achievements you achieved while earning your qualifications.
#5. Declare Your Professional Milestones.
Finally, list any honors or accomplishments you want to emphasize in a separate section at the bottom of your resume.
Advantages of Combination Resume
For candidates with experience looking for work as well as those looking to switch industries or roles, the combination resume style offers various benefits. These five, in our opinion, are the most essential:
- It keeps important talents in the spotlight while providing a thorough job history to potential employers that prefer a more conventional approach.
- Its structural flexibility is useful when tailoring your resume to various jobs. Additionally, you should categorically tailor your resume for each position you apply for.
- Putting qualifications upfront can make applicants stand out so that hiring them will have a direct positive impact on the organization.
- It appeals to businesses because it verifies a candidate has the required job experience, which is important for senior-level roles requiring highly specialized abilities.
- Due to its versatility and inclusion of reverse-chronological job history, it appeals to both traditional and atypical hiring managers.
Disadvantages of Combination Resume
Although some job seekers find the combination resume style useful, it does have some significant drawbacks:
- Writing it can be a little challenging. This is why you need to be very specific about how your qualifications and expertise apply to the post. Be precise and give examples of your achievements. Your experience is given more weight by numbers. For instance, “I provided 20 elderly and homebound seniors with excellent in-home nursing care, which helped me earn “Home Health Aide of the Year.”
- The length of this resume can easily exceed the suggested range of 1-2 pages based on your career experience. Use a smaller font size (but no smaller than 10 points), highlight only one or two of your most noteworthy accomplishments for each job, condense your experience if you have multiple jobs or more than 10 years of experience, and limit your skill lists to five bullet points in order to keep your resume concise.
- If it isn’t well-organized, it could be perplexing. If you have more than one ability section, use various headings, keep them brief, and list them in order. This facilitates the scanning of a combo resume, particularly if you utilize a two-column layout.
How Do You Write a Combination Resume’s Skills Section?
You should be sure to customize your combination resume for the position you’re applying for, just like you would with any other component of your application. You can get started by reading through a few job descriptions for the kind of position you want and noting the abilities and specialties they all seem to highlight. While it goes without saying that you should list the skills you actually possess on your resume, using this technique might help you decide precisely which skills to emphasize for specific positions.
Combination Resume Template
Below is an example of a resume template you can use in writing your combination resume.
- [Your whole name]
- [Your current position title, if any]
- [Your contact information] [Your business email address] [Your website or LinkedIn profile]
Career Summary or Resume Objective
[State your resume objective or career summary.Experienced candidates should use a career summary, which is an outline of all their talents and professional experience. New graduates or people switching careers may use resume objectives, which highlight the goals you have for your career.]
Skills
[A bulleted list of each of your most important qualifications for the job you’re applying for. Only include five to ten abilities on the list. Include both “soft” talents (personal qualities acquired through experience and interaction with people) and “hard” skills (skills that can be learned and assessed)].Experience
(Be sure to include the most recent position first.)
[Date of Hire with Month/Year – Month/Year][Title of Position][Company Name] at [Address] [Include 2-4 bullet points outlining all your duties and achievements][Date of Hire with Month/Year – Month/Year][Title of Position][Company Name] at [Address][Include 2-4 bullet points outlining all your duties and achievements]Education
(Years Begun to Year Ended) [Name of the Educational Institution | Location][Name of degree, majors, or other pertinent certification][Any noteworthy accomplishments or honors won]
(Years Begun to Year Ended) [Name of the Educational Institution | Location][Name of degree, majors, or other pertinent certification][Any noteworthy accomplishments or honors won]
(Years Begun to Year Ended) [Name of the Educational Institution | Location][Name of degree, majors, or other pertinent certification][Any noteworthy accomplishments or honors won]
Honors or Accomplishments
[Include any honors or accomplishments, along with the dates of each]Tips for Writing a Combination Resume
- When choosing what to include in your combination resume, as seen in the template above, exercise extreme caution. Don’t try to fit all of your education, credentials, and professional experience onto one page. Just mention the parts of your professional history that you think the hiring manager would be most interested in
- Select a font like Helvetica, Arial, or Times New Roman. Use only black ink and a 10- to the 12-point typeface. The headings might be bolded.
- If you are using a resume builder, take care to delete any colorful or flashy visuals.
- On your resume, do not add any false information(search for a combination resume template to avoid mistakes).
- Make sure your final resume is error-free by using Grammarly, but also have someone else review it before you submit it
Example of Combination Resume
The combination resume shown here follows the aforementioned best template practices. You might get ideas from this template or any other example of a combination resume.
Mary James
(123) 456-7891; mary.james23@email.com; Scranton, Pa.
Summary
A two-year veteran sales associate with a strategic mindset who works hard to raise brand exposure and sales.
Skills
Skills in sales and marketing include Intermediate Excel; Intermediate Tableau; Entry-Level SalesForce Administration; Team Player; Hardworking; Creative
Professional Background
Sales Associate at L&O Financial
Since August 2016
- Use SalesForce to handle customer accounts.
- Acquired knowledge of and utilized a variety of data analytics technologies, such as Tableau and Excel, to give data insights.
- Create fresh marketing ideas in collaboration with coworkers and supervisors.
Intern L&O Financial
June 2015—August 2019
- Knowledge of commercial financial systems
- Helped sales teams run their daily business.
- Acquired knowledge on how to sell and cultivate client relationships.
- After completing a successful internship, accepted as a full-time Sales Associate
Education Background
University of Pennsylvania
June 2019-August 2015
Communications B.A., 3.95 GPA
Awards include: Magna Cum Laude, the President’s Scholarship Award (2016, 2019), and Academic Honors (2015–2019) are among the recognitions.
Extracurricular activities Among my extracurricular activities are Habitat for Humanity (2016–2017), Debate Team Captain (2018), and Treasurer for Student Government (2016).
What Is a Combination Resume Used For?
One of the most crucial factors a prospective employer will consider when deciding whether to go to the next step of the hiring process is a combo resume. For a single document that should always be one page, that is a lot of weight. Writing a combo resume will therefore prompt you to want to be sure that it correctly expresses why you selected the position in the first place.
But what if recounting your professional background fails to paint a clear picture of you as a candidate? Your defeat is not inevitable. Most likely, all you need to do is skip the first episode of the role interview and think about creating a composite CV to make sure you stand out.
You have the choice to use a few different resume forms while getting ready to write one, including the chronological, functional, and combination styles. A combination resume places emphasis on your accomplishments and talents that are relevant to the position.
Should I Repeat my Listed Skills in the Work History Section When Using the Combination Resume Format?
It’s never a good idea to be redundant, so we strongly advise against repeating your talents that are included in your work history on a combined resume. Instead, use a compelling example from your experience section to demonstrate what you were able to accomplish by applying your talents in your prior roles when writing your combination resume.
Does Including Transferrable Skills in this Resume Style Make Sense?
According to our experienced resume writers, including transferable abilities in the combination resume style, in particular, if you are switching industries or positions, considerably increases your chances of securing an interview. Just be sure to include a list of the necessary transferrable abilities you are aware you possess when writing a combination resume, along with an example of when you have applied them. Depending on the position and your objectives, include a section for “transferable skills” in addition to one for “technical skills” or “leadership skills” to make them stand out.
Is the Combination Resume Format the Most Versatile One?
Yes! The most adaptable resume format is the combination format as seen from the example above. Compared to the chronological or functional forms, this format offers greater modification choices due to its relatively flexible structure. It is equally appropriate for mid-level employees who desire to switch industries or professions as it is for senior professionals with established career paths.
What Distinguishes a Combination Resume From Other Styles?
It comes down to focus. A functional resume focuses on relevant talents, a chronological resume emphasizes work history, and a combined style highlights both your skills and employment history.
Is a Combination Resume Good?
Yes, it is good because, it presents your job history while emphasizing key accomplishments and responsibilities, much like the chronological style.
Who Should Use a Combination Resume?
A combination resume is a great option for many job searchers because it includes a career overview as well as highlights talents and credentials. If you belong to any of the following categories, you might want to use a combination resume.
What Are the Disadvantages of a Combination Resume?
Although some job seekers find the combo resume style useful, it does have some significant drawbacks:
- Writing it can be a little challenging.
- The length of this resume can easily exceed the suggested range of 1-2 pages based on your career experience.
- If it isn’t well-organized, it could be perplexing.
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