Best Resume Format 2025: Samples for All Types of Resumes

• Learn how to format your resume
• See example resume sections
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Reviewed by

Dr. Kyle Elliott

Tech Career Coach & Expert

Updated on December 10, 2025

Written by

ResumeGiants Team

Resume and Cover Letter Experts

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If you are looking for a job right now, you might be unsure how to format your resume to really grab a recruiter’s attention.

When writing or updating your resume, you need to structure it properly and make sure it can be parsed by ATS software while also captivating recruiters. It should look professional, visually appealing, and convey your skills and achievements effectively. 

In this guide, we’ll outline everything you need to know about resume formatting and how to create the best one for your specific needs.Want to start building your resume already? Try our free resume builder.

Choose a template in your preferred format, fill it with your unique information, get our expert guidance whenever you need it, and download your resume in minutes.

TL;DR: What’s the best current resume format?

Our experts say the best resume format is the reverse-chronological format. This is especially true for professionals with a long work history. It’s ATS-friendly, highlights your most recent experience first, and is widely preferred by recruiters.

✅ Prioritize clarity, simplicity, and consider if it can be read on any electronic device.
✅ Best for most roles:  Reverse-chronological remains the go-to for professionals and job seekers alike in around 9 out of 10 applications.

Other options
✅ Functional format: Can be a good option for career changers, entry-level candidates, recent graduates, or students.
✅ Hybrid format: Great for combining skills and experience on your resume.

Choose a format suited to your career stage. You’ll also need to consider whether you should use a format that is suited to an ATS scan.

What Are the Three Standard 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 a resume format that has proven to work time and again.  

There are three familiar resume formats that hiring managers expect to see, each proven to deliver results more often than other formats.

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 emphasizes your skills and abilities.
• The 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.

How To Format a Resume

Many hiring managers consider work experience the most important section, which helps explain why the reverse-chronological resume is the most commonly used format.

Reverse-chronological resumes tend to parse more easily with applicant tracking systems (ATS) than other resume types.

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Reverse-chronological resume format: updated 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 help your resume be parsed by the ATS and stand out to recruiters. Then repeat this process for the other jobs you held, working your way back to earlier positions.

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

Pros and cons of the reverse-chronological resume format

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

Skills-based / functional resume format

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 summary, 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.

Use our free summary generator to make sure you have all the most relevant skills mentioned in your resume intro. 

Then comes the all-important 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 can impress any recrioter. 

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

Hybrid resume format

Like 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 new professionals.

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.

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

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.

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 you 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. Adjust the margins correctly

Typically, margins on a resume should range anywhere from 0.5 – 1″. With ample margins, you can improve the look of your document or allow more text to 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. Select a font size that’s professional and easy to read

The font size you choose should be easy to read. Typically, the body text of the resume should be between 10.5 – 11 pt 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. Choose a font style that matches your industry

Selecting a font style is very important. Like font size, style can also aid your document’s readability. 

Select a simple 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. 

If you use any special colors for your font or resume, make sure they align with your industry. You can use additional font styles such as italics, bold, and underlining to highlight important keywords or headlines, but make sure you are consistent.

4. Take advantage of 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. Know what spacing is needed when formatting a resume

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. Understand how to format your resume 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 information on your resume correctly

Reverse 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. Select the right file format to save your resume

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.

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 half-inch to 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.
• Use a professional resume template.
• Download your chosen completed resume format in PDF or Word.

FAQs

What does an ideal resume look like?

The ideal resume will have a clean, simple format that is ATS-friendly. It should have clear headings, utilize bullet points, and have enough white space between sections to make it easy to read.

It should follow one of the three basic formats: reverse-chronological, functional, or hybrid format.

Tip: Move your skills section to the top of your resume, below the summary, to highlight your abilities, especially if you don’t have much work experience yet.

What is the most common style of resume?

Many recruiters prefer or expect to see resumes in the reverse-chronological format.

This lists the most recent experiences or qualifications first and works backwards. This demonstrates your progression at work or in education.

Tip: If you are a recent graduate with no experience in the workplace, you can move the education section before the work experience section.

What resume format works best for recent graduates?

For recent graduates with limited experience, the reverse-chronological or hybrid format works best.

Start with your education and any internships, volunteer work, or academic projects that demonstrate skills that are listed in the job offer you are writing your resume for.

Tip:  Include a skills summary at the top of your resume. This is a short, bulleted list of the skills developed through your education, extracurriculars, and other life experiences. It demonstrates that, even though you haven’t had significant work experience, you have skills that make you suited to the job.

What’s the best resume format for career changers?

Our experts always recommend the reverse-chronological format. You can always tailor the resume to highlight your transferable skills and achievements relevant to the job description.

The functional resume format is an alternative option for career changers. It emphasizes skills and achievements over chronological job history, helping highlight transferable capabilities while downplaying gaps or unrelated roles.

Tip: Whichever format you choose as a career changer, make sure you write about your experience in a way that fits with the job you are applying for. Keep relevant skills nearer the top of your resume.

What resume format is best for executives?

Executives benefit most from a reverse-chronological format combined with a strong executive summary and a results-focused achievements section that includes metrics.

Tip: Use clear sectioning for leadership roles, strategic impact, and quantifiable business outcomes.

How long should a resume be?

Common practices regarding resume length have changed in recent years. It’s a good idea to keep a resume to one page if you’re earlier in your career, but you can extend it to 2 pages if you have a lengthier career.