Combination Resume Tips
for Career Changers

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These combination resume tips are good if you have been unemployed for over a year or if you're considering a career change.

The following resume is useful if you have been unemployed for more than a year and want to deemphasize any unemployment gap. They are also beneficial if you're considering a career change and want to highlight relevant marketable and/or transferable skills.

So, learn this combination resume tips article below for your resume writing preparation.
 

Yesterday's Hero

Wonder Woman makes it looks so easy. She gets up every morning, fights the good fight, calls it a day, and starts the whole process all over again. This is the way most of us begin our workday. We work hard, accomplish lots, and get up in the morning for an encore presentation.

From childhood we were told that if we put 110% into our careers that we will be shoo-ins for promotions and raises. It sounded like an excellent plan and one that you easily bought into-hard work equals a big return on investment. Good deal.

Then one day you walk into your office only to discover that your position has been eliminated. Not through any fault of your own, but because the powers-that-be made an executive decision to reduce costs. At that moment, you quickly realize that not everything comes from hard work, and you are reluctantly thrown into the job search.

The Challenge

To your surprise, a search that you were convinced would take only a few weeks turned into a year-long process. You quickly realized that no matter how many awards you received and no matter how impressive your career progression, the old adage is true: "You're only as good as your last sale." And if you have been unemployed for a while, hiring managers may view your experience as being out of date.

Since the resume is the first meeting between you and a prospective employer, the way you position your skills is critically important. This is especially true if you want the reader to overlook your unemployment gap and focus their attention on your successes. If your resume fails to cleverly tackle red flags, the reader will eliminate your candidacy within seconds. With today's job market, it is rare to find a jobseeker who has a flawless work history, and a traditional resume doesn't always properly address the immediate concerns jobseekers are facing today.

The Solution

This is the reason why professional resume writers recommend a combination resume for those a) who have been unemployed for over a year who want to deemphasize an unemployment gap and b) those considering a career change who wish to highlight relevant marketable and/or transferable skills.

A combination resume integrates the best features of the functional and chronological resume formats. Similar to the functional resume, the combination resume emphasizes skills; and just like the chronological resume, the combination resume sequentially showcases your professional history.

Anatomy of a Combination Resume

The most basic format for a combination resume includes the following sections: Introduction, Accomplishments, Professional Experience, and Education. Below is a breakdown of each section.

Introduction
The opening of a resume serves as a teaser and is called a Career Summary, Professional Profile, or Summary of Qualifications. Whatever term you decide to use, the end result must sum up your value to the hiring organization. Let's take a look at an example:

Notice that the example above provides the reader with a checklist of the candidate's qualifications. From the onset, the reader has a feel for what the candidate can bring to the table.

Accomplishments
Since this section appears immediately after the introduction, it must keep the momentum going. This is your opportunity to showcase the fact that your experience is still relevant, you're still in the game, and you are a serious candidate. Let's look at a couple of accomplishment-based statements.

Notice that the statements are specific and target key achievements the candidate is most proud of.

Professional Experience
This section provides a chronological history of your experience along with a brief summation of your responsibilities. Here's an example of how your professional history can appear.

Education
The education section can include your college background, technical training, and/or professional development.

Best of Both Worlds

A combination resume will allow you to highlight your impressive accomplishments and grab the reader's interest right at the beginning while also providing the chronological work history employers are looking for. Now get out there and knock that employer's socks off!

More Articles On Combination Resume Tips

For more information on combination resume tips you may visit specific resume tips related article page on this site -- see the following resume tips link. Resume tips available here is career change resumes.

About The Author of Combination Resume Tips
Linda Matias brings a wealth of experience to the career services field. She has been a quoted in The Wall Street Journal, New York Newsday, Newsweek, and HR-esource.com. She is president of CareerStrides and the National Resume Writers' Association. Visit her website at http://www.careerstrides.com or email her at linda@careerstrides.com.