Best Resume Format 2025: Samples for All Types of Resumes

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To get your dream job, you’ve got to stand out from the crowd. This means you need to think outside the box and get creative–but not too creative. What does this mean when it comes to your resume?

You still need to structure your resume properly and make sure it can be read by ATS software while captivating recruiters. You need a resume format template that makes your document look professional, visually appealing, and ensures it conveys information effectively. 

In this guide, we’ll outline all the need-to-know information about the format of a resume and making the best possible resume for your profession.

Want to start your resume already? Try our AI resume builder. Choose a template with your preferred format. Fill it with your unique information. Get help from our expert guidance whenever you need it and download your resume in minutes.

The Most Common Resume Formats

The old saying, “If you can’t beat them, join them” is applicable to selecting a resume layout. In the world of resume writing, it is always advisable to use one of the verified resume formats that have been proven to work time and again.  

There are three familiar resume formats that hiring managers expect to see. They also bring results more often than any other type of resume format for job seekers.

The most common resume formats on the market today are:  

• Reverse-chronological (also known as chronological resume format) 
• Functional (also known as skills-based resume format) 
• Hybrid (also known as chrono-functional or combination resume format) 

How do these formats differ? When and how should you use each one? Later in this guide, we will discuss each format’s particular strengths and weaknesses. For now, we’ll keep this simple. The primary focus of each format is as follows:

• The reverse-chronological resume format highlights your work experience.  
• The functional resume format gives more emphasis to your skills and abilities.
• A hybrid or combination resume format places equal importance on your experience and skills. 

Keep reading to discover which format is best suited to your unique situation.

What is the Best Resume Format for Me?

Which resume format will help you scale the mountain-like peaks of career success? 

Unfortunately, there is no one clear-cut answer. There are several variables to consider when deciding what resume format will bring you the most results.  We’ve compiled the most important of these for you below.

Your level of experience

If you have a lot of experience in your field, then a reverse-chronological format will help you emphasize it. 

Do you have less experience? Go for a functional resume format to draw attention to your skills instead. If you have a bit of experience and also a few skills that you obtained outside of your work experience, you might try out a combination resume. 

The field you want to work in

Are you looking for a creative position? Consider picking a functional resume format that focuses more on your skills and portfolio projects. 

If you’re applying for a more managerial or strategical role, then a reverse chronological format will do a better job of illustrating your expertise.

If it’s a specialized technical position for highly experienced senior candidates, then a hybrid resume will bring you the best of both worlds. 

Does one of the above stand out as the professional resume format you want to use? Access a pre-designed resume template in our builder. It will take the guesswork out of your resume setup and save you a lot of time.

Think you already know which professional resume format you want to use?

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How To Format a Resume: The 3 Main Layouts [+ Examples]

We’ve introduced the three most common and widely accepted resume formats: the reverse-chronological, functional, and hybrid resumes. Now, let’s take a deep dive into each one and look at a few examples.

1. Reverse-chronological resume format

Many hiring managers maintain that work experience is the most important section. Based on this, it’s no wonder that the reverse-chronological resume–which places emphasis on your work experience–is the most commonly used format.

Reverse-chronological resumes also score better with applicant tracking systems (ATS) than any other type of resume.

It’s a standard resume format, but it gets the job done, and it gets it done well.

If you’ve got some experience under your belt, the reverse-chronological resume is the layout for you. It is also simple and easy to master as a resume writer–even if it’s your first time writing a resume.

Reverse-chronological resume format: examples

The key part of any reverse-chronological resume is work experience. That’s also what most hiring managers care about. 

After your contact details and resume summary, you’ll start with your most recent or current job. List the name of the company, the dates you worked there, and the title you held. 

Then, write 3 to 6 bullet points underneath the position, focusing on achievements that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. Our AI resume builder can help by suggesting bullet points that are succinct and based on your individual work experience. 

If possible, quantify your accomplishments with metrics within the bullet points. You can do this by including numbers and statistics related to your accomplishments.

Using action verbs alongside keywords from the job description will score extra points with ATS systems and prospective employers alike. Then repeat the same for the other jobs you had, working your way back from the most recent to earlier positions.

As an example, consider this resume format sample of work experience from a reverse-chronological barista resume.

Reverse-chronological resume format: advantages and disadvantages

Not convinced yet? Check out the following helpful table of the advantages and disadvantages of the reverse-chronological resume. 

2. Skills-based / functional resume format

What if you’ve got the skills to pay the bills but not the experience to show for it? Sometimes, this happens when you’ve learned an important skill outside of your work experience.

Don’t worry; a functional resume format will take care of that for you. What is a functional resume?

With this design, your skills and abilities will be given the limelight, and recruiters (hopefully) won’t be too bothered about your lack of experience. Therefore, it’s a great, simple resume format for fresh graduates and students thinking about their first career moves. 

Functional resume format: examples

All functional resumes should begin with a contact details section. Make sure to include a link to your portfolio if you have one. 

Follow this with a resume objective, presenting your career goals and the most important skills you’ve gained so far. Don’t neglect to observe how these skills will benefit the company.

Then comes the pièce de résistance: your skills summary section. 

Here, you select the 4 to 5 skills that are most relevant to the position, as detailed in the job description. But don’t just list them. Give examples, too, and use bullet points or simple paragraphs as you would in the work experience section. 

You can then add additional skills, work experience, and your education section. 

Below, you can see an example of a skills summary from a full-stack developer functional resume that performed better than 92% of other candidates. 

Here’s a summary of the general order of sections for this type of resume:

• Contact Details
• Resume Objective
• Skills Summary
• Additional Skills
• Work Experience
• Education

Functional resume format: advantages and disadvantages

Still not sure if this is a good resume format for you? Check out the table of pros and cons below.

3. Hybrid resume format

You’re not just a jack of all trades, but you’re also the master of many.

You want to create a resume that glitters with impressive career progression, alongside a plethora of hard and soft skills.

How can you show off all these qualities in one beautifully-structured resume?

With a hybrid or combination resume format that places equal importance on your technical abilities and your experience.

Hybrid resume format: examples

Similar to functional resumes, the focal point of a hybrid resume format is still the skills summary, followed by a work experience section. Therefore, it’s also a good resume format for freshers.

Again, make sure to add up to 4 bullet points beneath each skill, outlining your professional accomplishments to back up your claims.  Our AI resume builder can help.

The work experience section should then include your title, the company name, the dates worked, and the location.

Under each job, list 3-6 bullet points presenting your accomplishments, responsibilities, and any related facts or figures.

Finally, you can include your education and some relevant additional skills.

This is how to expertly put this all together in a skills summary and work experience section from a hybrid health administration sample resume format:

Here, you can also check out the typical section order for this type of resume format:

• Contact Details
• Skills Summary
• Work Experience
• Education
• Additional Skills

Hybrid resume format: advantages and disadvantages

Not sure if a hybrid resume format is right for you? Scroll down for the main pros and cons of this format.

Reverse-Chronological vs Functional vs Hybrid Resumes

You’ve been waiting for this moment–a direct comparison between the three most common types of resume formats.

Why didn’t we share this earlier? Now that you understand the basic principles of each format, a comparison will help you see not only how each format works, but why it does. 

Reverse-Chronological Resume Format

• Main focus: Work experience
• Experience section: Top of the document
• Skills section: In the middle of the document
• Primary advantage: Universally accepted
• Primary disadvantage: Very common

Functional Resume Format

• Main focus: Skills 
• Experience section: Lower down in the document
• Skills section: At the top of the document
• Primary advantage: Hides employment gaps
• Primary disadvantage: Not all recruiters favor this format 

Hybrid Resume Format

• Main focus: Work experience and skills
• Experience section: In the middle of the document
• Skills section: At the top of the document 
• Primary advantage: Shows skills and validates them through experience
• Primary disadvantage: May not be favored by recruiters in some industries

Resume Formatting Tips

With so many format details floating around in your head, you may be wondering, how do I format each resume type? Next, we will examine eight major aspects of formatting that you should give attention to: the margins, font size, font style, bullet points, spacing, headings, order, and file format.

1. Margins

Unless you’re a professional writer or layout designer, you’ve probably never given margins much thought. Margins are simply the white space around the edges of a page and between the columns.

Why are margins important? The space around sections helps group information together. It guides the eye and makes the information easier to find. 

Typically, margins range anywhere from a quarter inch to one inch. You can adjust the margins to improve the look of your document or to make more text fit on the page. 

If you use a professionally designed resume template, you don’t have to worry about margins–our online resume builder will do this formatting for you.

2. Font size

The font size you choose should be easy to read. Typically, the body text of the resume should be between a ten and twelve-point font. Smaller fonts become hard to read, while larger ones will make your document bleed onto a second page. You can use slightly larger fonts for headings.

3. Font style

Selecting a font style is very important. Like the font size, the style can aid your document’s readability–or hinder it. 

Select a simple serif font like Times New Roman or a sans-serif font like Arial. Avoid cursive or cutesy fonts, as they can be difficult to read. Stick to the same font throughout the document rather than switching fonts. 

Typically, your type should be black; if you use other colors, make sure they are dark and contrast well with the background. Printing your resume in black and white is a good way to do this.

You can use additional font styles such as italics, bold, and underlining to highlight important keywords or headlines, but make sure you are consistent. If you select a pre-made template from our online resume builder, the font size and style selections will be formatted for you.

4. Bullet points

As mentioned above, your work experience requires bullet points. So do your skills in some resume types.

Most bullet points are simple shapes, such as circles, squares, or triangles. You might select an arrow or diamond-shaped bullet point for some pizazz, but avoid overly showy icons, such as emojis. 

When you use our online resume builder, appropriate bullet points will be put in place for you. You can even get suggestions on wording your bullet point descriptions from our AI-powered tools.

5. Spacing

Spacing is related to the margins discussed above. Ample “white space” between the text makes things easy to read.

Typically, you can rely on the character, line, and paragraph spacing programmed into your word processor or resume builder. Consider putting an extra line between the entries in each section (for example, between the bulleted list of one job and the title of the next) to separate them gently.

6. Headings

As mentioned above, headings should stand out. Use bold or slightly larger font sizes in your headings.

Also, select clear, appropriate titles for your headings. “Skills,” “Work Experience,” and “Education” are among the most common. 

7. Order

The order of sections in your resume depends on which format you selected above. For example, skills-based and hybrid resumes place the skills first, right after your contact information.

Chronological resumes may have a brief skills list near the top or side, but the Work Experience section is given prominence.

Give careful thought to which section holds the strongest, most relevant reasons why you are a good fit for the job.

8. File format

Don’t leave your resume’s file format to chance or as an afterthought. The file format you choose can make or break your resume. Why?

Word documents and similar file formats can lose the formatting you worked so hard to create when opened on a different device or using another program. PDFs, on the other hand, should appear exactly the same no matter how they are viewed.

When you use our online resume builder, you can select from several formats, but we recommend downloading it in PDF. If you need to make changes, you can always revisit your account, edit the document, and download a new copy.

You can also download an editable Word document and then export it to PDF from there.

Key Takeaways

You’re now an expert on resume formatting.

All you need to do is start your own resume and get cracking.

Here’s also a quick recap on all the most important points from this article:

• Craft a resume that’s easy to read by following our style guidelines: lots of white space, professional fonts, section headings, and one-inch margins.
• The best resume format for your job will depend on your particular career situation.
• If you are unsure which type to use, reverse-chronological is always a good resume format to lean on.
• Make sure your resume is ATS-friendly by using a basic resume format.
• Use a professional resume template.
• Download your chosen completed resume format in PDF or Word.