chronological resume in a sentence

Chronological Resume: The Best Format? (And How to Write It)

By Biron Clark

Published: December 4, 2023

Biron Clark

Writer & Career Coach

If you’re wondering whether you should use a chronological resume format (also referred to as reverse-chronological resume format) or trying to get help with how to write it, then this article is for you.

And if you’ve been told to use a functional resume because you’re changing careers or have a work gap , then this article will help you, too! (And my advice on this topic might surprise you).

Here’s what you’re going to learn:

• What is a chronological resume? And what is a functional resume?
• Why it’s NOT beneficial to use a functional resume in most cases, and why the chronological resume format will get you the most interviews
• How to write your chronological resume

Definition: What is a Chronological Resume?

Chronological resumes are resumes written in a format that lists your work experience based on the dates it occurred. Working downward from the beginning of your Work Experience section, you should start listing your most recent positions first. So the top of the section will contain your current or most recent job. Below that on your resume will be your next most recent job.

This is how to write a chronological resume, which is also commonly called the reverse chronological resume. (They’re the same, just different terms. Always start with your most recent job at the top of your Work Experience. Here are some examples ).

What is Reverse Chronological Order?

As mentioned above, reverse chronological order means that your previous jobs are listed in order of date, beginning with your most recent position at the top. Your final entry in the list should be your oldest or least recent position. This is why the term reverse chronological resume is sometimes used.

Note that you’re NOT obligated to list every job on your resume! You can choose where to begin telling your career story, or whether to omit a certain job for strategic reasons (for example, if it was only a three-month position, and isn’t related to your current career path).

So I’m not suggesting that you must start with the first job you ever held. However, once you’ve chosen a starting point for your resume work history, you should list those positions in reverse chronological order as described above.

Chronological Resume Example:

If you’re still not 100% clear on what chronological order on a resume looks like, here is an example work history section from a chronological resume:

Work Experience

IBM (2019-Present) Senior Product Manager

Brief paragraph describing the role. Don’t write too much here, because you should mostly show your accomplishments and work via bullet points .

• Launched a Groundbreaking Product: Led the launch of XYZ product, resulting in a 25% increase in market share within the first quarter.
• Implemented Strategic Partnerships: Fostered key partnerships that boosted revenue by 30% and expanded the product’s reach to new markets.
• Streamlined Processes: Initiated a process overhaul, reducing project delivery time by 20%, improving efficiency, and ensuring timely product launches.

Microsoft (2016-2019) Product Manager

Brief paragraph describing the role. Two or three sentences is ideal, and you should try to put numbers and metrics whenever possible.

• Product Revamp: Spearheaded a product revamp that led to a 40% increase in user engagement and a 15% growth in customer satisfaction.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Fostered collaboration between development and marketing teams, resulting in a 25% reduction in time-to-market for new features.
• Revenue Growth: Implemented pricing optimization strategies that contributed to a 20% growth in product revenue over the course of two years.

Notice that the most recent or current job is listed at the top of the work history, and then you move downward for each previous job. The resume date format can vary slightly, depending on what you think is best for your work experience, just make sure that you keep it consistent.

So now you know what chronological resumes should look like, including a real example/template you can use to figure out your own! Next, I’ll explain why recruiters and hiring managers prefer this format, and why it will get you more interviews.

Should Your Resume Be Chronological?

After recruiting for 5 years, I can say without a doubt: Yes, your resume should be in chronological format.

The first reason that you should use a chronological resume date format is: this is what hiring managers and recruiters are accustomed to seeing and prefer.

Why do Recruiters Prefer Chronological Resumes?

Functional resumes are confusing and difficult to gather info from.

When I worked as a recruiter , I had multiple hiring managers send a functional resume back to me, and tell me to have the candidate rewrite it in chronological format. They simply don’t want to read a functional resume because they cannot gather enough info from it.

(If you don’t know, a functional resume lists your skills and past work without any dates. It groups them by skill type or functional area and not by chronological order. So that’s the definition of a functional resume).

This deprives hiring managers and recruiters of important info and context. They’re not as able to understand your career story or see how recently, or for how long, you used certain skills. Therefore, they are less likely to feel confident in inviting you to interview.

(Hiring managers want to interview people who are likely to be able to step into the job and succeed. They want the necessary info to make that decision before occupying their time with an interview).

So, with each online job getting hundreds of applicants, there’s no reason for a hiring manager to struggle to understand the one or two functional resumes they receive. They’ll just move on to a resume that’s written in the format they prefer – which is chronological, with an easy-to-follow resume date format.

The Best Resume Format for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) have been the superheroes of the hiring game in recent years. It’s like a super-smart software wizard designed to make recruiters’ lives easier. 

What does it do, you ask? Well, it’s the maestro that scans, parses, and ranks resumes based on keywords, qualifications, and experience. Many companies use these systems for initial resume screenings, so if your resume does not align with the system you might be filtered out of the hiring process even if you are the best candidate for the job.

So should you be using chronological resumes to optimize for applicant tracking systems? Yes, definitely!

Chronological resumes present a clear and organized account of your career path. This straightforward format works well with ATS algorithms, ensuring a smooth and easily comprehensible read for the system to grasp your professional history clearly.

When is a Chronological Resume Not Advantageous?

Many experts will tell you that a chronological resume, or a reverse chronological resume, is not advantageous when you’ve had gaps in your work history, when you’ve had a non-traditional or unusual career path, or when you’re attempting to change careers.

However, even in these cases, most hiring managers will prefer reverse-chronological resumes if they are well-written and the resume date format is easy to follow.

You can explain work gaps right in your employment history section.

You can tailor your work experience to show the pieces of work you’ve done that are most relevant for the job you’ve applied for now… even during a career change.

For more help with this, we have a full article on how to write a resume for a career change. If you click that link, I explain more about why a functional resume isn’t ideal, and one of the career coaches who I featured in the article confirms it. To quote her:

As a former corporate recruiter, I am not a fan of functional resumes. Recruiters are taught to scan resumes chronologically. When you take the experience out of context or “order,” it often gives the recruiter the impression you are trying to hide or fudge the experience.

The bottom line is: Trying to hide the dates and order of work will only frustrate and confuse hiring managers and cost you job interviews.

So my answer to, “Should resumes be chronological?” is a resounding “Yes.”

Now that we’ve covered what differentiates a chronological and functional resume, and which you should be using if you want to get more interviews, let’s talk about how to start writing it!

How Do You Write a Chronological Resume?

To start writing your resume, make sure you understand the format and have reviewed the reverse chronological resume example from earlier in this article.

Then, here are the steps to write your chronological resume:

1. Enter company names, dates of employment, and job titles .

You can list dates in terms of years, or months and years. Whatever you decide, keep it consistent.

You can also list the city/state of each job if you choose. This is also optional and is a personal decision when setting up your chronological resumes.

2. If you held multiple roles within a company, show each job title separately on your resume .

This is important so that employers can see that you advanced/progressed in the company. Recruiters typically love this!

Here’s another example of a chronological resume, where you can see two distinct job titles listed under one single employer. This person was promoted from Sales Rep to Branch Manager.

3. Write bullet points describing each role you’ve held .

Each role should have multiple bullet points describing what you accomplished and did for the employer. (Not just saying, “responsible for ___”.)

It’s much better to start with a verb like, “led six team members…,” or “grew our department revenue by…”)

This article has resume bullet examples to help you.

4. Write a brief paragraph to describe each role (above the bullet points) .

This is optional. As you can see in the resume example above, it’s possible to go directly from job titles to bullets, without any paragraph content.

However, if you’d like, you can write a brief paragraph about what you did in the role overall. This can provide more context to the reader.

However, this paragraph should be concise, and you should never put it instead of bullets. I recommend 2-3 sentences at most. The bullets are more important and will be read more closely.

5. Add metrics and data when possible .

You’ll get more interviews by being specific and talking about results on your resume, rather than responsibilities. So try to pack your bullets with metrics… like dollar amounts, percent increases, number of people you led or trained, etc.

You don’t need to be in sales to have metrics! (I hear this common objection a lot).

For example, if you’re an editor for a company’s news blog, you could write:

“Edited and published 30 articles per month for the company blog, which was read by 40,000 people each month and generated an average of 10 qualified leads for the business .”

The more specific you can be on your resume, the better. So if you see an opportunity to add facts, data, and metrics in any of the paragraphs OR bullets you’ve written, do it.

Here’s another example of how to write about results rather than responsibilities:

Which sounds more impressive…

“Responsible for leading the customer service team and handling all inbound requests for the company”

“Led the 22-person customer service team which handled 250+ inbound requests per day via phone and email”

That second option is going to grab attention and get you more interviews from top employers.

6. Add other necessary resume sections .

After you’ve written your professional experience in chronological order, you then need to fill your chronological resume out with the other key sections, including:

• Your header/contact info.
• A resume summary paragraph.
• Your skills section.
• Your education section.

If you need more help understanding what order to put these in, and how everything fits together in the “big picture” of your resume, this article has more info on the important sections of a resume.

7. Consider adding optional sections .

You can also include one or more of the optional resume sections on your chronological resume:

• Volunteer work/community involvement.
• Honors & awards.
• Testimonials from past coworkers/managers.
• A secondary skills section (sometimes it makes sense to separate your skills into two sections. See the image below for an example).

If you read everything above, you now know why the chronological resume (also called reverse chronological resume) is the format that employers prefer.

It shows the important information that they want to see in your work history, including information that functional resume formats don’t include – like how recently you did each type of work, and for how long.

Without this information, many employers will not be interested in interviewing you.

They just can’t possibly know enough to determine whether you’re a good potential fit for their job. So at best, they’ll ask you to send a chronological resume instead, and at worst, they’ll invite other candidates to interview and you’ll never hear from them.

So that’s a scenario that we want to avoid, and you can do that by writing your professional experience in reverse chronological order.

By combining this with sections detailing your skills, your education, and other key qualifications, you will get more callbacks when you apply for jobs so you can find a new job faster.

If you want to see more resume examples and advice, this article has 3 more work experience examples that follow the advice above.

About the Author

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What Is A Chronological Resume?

A chronological resume, also known as a reverse chronological resume, lists a job seeker’s professional experience starting with the most recent activities and works backwards from there. This is the most common type of resume as it shows employers your career progression and growth. A hiring manager can immediately see your most recent position before they see earlier work, such as junior positions or internships. The chronological resume format is most commonly used by job seekers with a good deal of professional experience – ideally with few work gaps. A chronological resume isn't the best match if you have little experience, large work gaps, or are in the middle of a career switch.

Why Use a Chronological Resume?

Chronological resumes are the most popular type of resume, but there are still specific job seekers who benefit from them the most. You can get the most out of a chronological resume format if:

• You have several years' worth of professional experience in one field or industry
• You have consistent experience using similar skills or in similar roles
• You have very few gaps between jobs
• The job you’re applying for puts heavy importance on experience

Another reason to use a chronological resume is simply that hiring managers are accustomed to looking at them, making it comfortable for them to read.

Of course, nothing’s perfect and certain job seekers won’t experience the benefits of chronological resumes. Here are a few types of job seekers who may want to avoid using the chronological resume format:

• People who are career-switching
• People with large work gaps
• New professionals with little or no experience
• Expert generalists with skills in multiple fields

For these job seekers, a chronological resume may obscure their real skills and capabilities. For instance, a chronological resume would display that a generalist has a mixed work history in unrelated fields, instead of showcasing their myriad transferable skills.

“The chronological resume format is most commonly used by job seekers with a good deal of professional experience – ideally with few work gaps.”

What Does a Chronological Resume Include?

A reverse chronological resume follows a very standard structure, usually including the following sections:

• Contact information : You should always include your contact information at the very top, including your full name, phone number, email address, and LinkedIn profile.
• Professional title and summary : A quick summary of your professional experience, skills, and achievements.
• Work or educational experience : This is the main section of a chronological resume. This section should detail your professional experience, starting from the most recent position, and work backwards.
• Relevant skills : This section should list role-relevant hard and soft skills. 
• Optional sections : These sections can be anything relevant to you that makes your resume stand out, such as Languages and Volunteer Work.

Please note that this is the most common structure, but chronological resumes can follow a variety of formats as long as your reverse chronological experience is at the top after your professional summary.

How to Write a Chronological Resume: Step-by-Step Guide

Now let’s take those steps and use them to write a chronological resume step-by-step.

1. Add contact information: Start by adding your full name, phone number, email address, and location. It’s also common to provide a link to your LinkedIn profile.For people in creative fields, you should also include a link to your professional portfolio.

2. Build your professional summary: Now craft a professional summary – these are generally two to three sentences. Your summary is an overview of your experience and skills and gives quick context to the hiring manager so they can determine your fit.

3. Add your work experience: This is the most crucial aspect of a chronological resume, so it will take up the most space. Start with your most recent job role and include any relevant experience from the past ten years.

For each entry, list your job title, employment dates, and company name. Include your location if it’s applicable – it isn’t relevant to include if the role was fully remote. Detail your main responsibilities and achievements with bullet points to make them easier for the recruiter to scan.

4. Detail your education: Next, you’ll want to list your education in the same format as your experience, starting with your most recent degree and continuing in reverse chronological order.

Provide the full name of your degrees and the educational institution where you earned them. Please note that if you’re a recent graduate, this section should replace your work experience section.

5. Enrich your resume with relevant skills: In this section, list your hard and soft skills. It’s important that you choose highly relevant skills, so review the job ad and find which skills the employer wants.

Note: It’s also a good idea to use the same wording as the employer to make your resume ATS-friendly . For instance, if the job ad calls for a sales professional with persuasion skills , ensure you use “persuasion” instead of “negotiation.”

6. Consider additional sections that showcase your qualifications: The last sections are optional but useful:

• Certifications
• Volunteer Work
• Hobbies and Interests

If you have relevant achievements for these sections, we encourage you to add them. For instance, showcasing your passion for travel in “Hobbies” and your Spanish proficiency in “Languages” improves your chances of securing a tourism job.

Work Experience Section: Tips and Examples

Let’s cover some strategies for creating your work experience section, as it’s the most important part:

• Start with your job title, then list the company name and your start and end date. If you’re still working for the company, list the date as “ Present.”
• Under this, add three to five bullet points detailing your key responsibilities and largest achievements. Ensure you start each bullet point with an action verb like “planned,” “implemented,” and “increased.”
• If you’re adding achievements, use quantifiable data to describe them as this makes a greater impact, such as “ Increased profits by 15% .”

Here’s a quick chronological resume example for an elementary teacher:

Elementary School Teacher

Reed Valley Elementary, Knoxville, TN

October 2020 – Present

• Improved student test scores by 20% and pass rate by 25% from 2020-2021 school year to 2021-2022
• Organized a classroom and curriculum for a class of 30 children
• Collaborated with fellow teachers to design a new test structure

Here’s another example, this time for an administrative assistant:

Administrative Assistant

Golde Insurance, Eugene, OR

April 2017 – June 2021

• Provided administrative assistance for 6 senior executives
• Managed office schedules, coordinating events, meetings, and seminars
• Implemented and managed scheduling software, improving productivity by 20% and reducing no-shows by 15%
• Verified and processed 50+ client applications per week

These samples clearly display significant achievements and quantifiable data. Hiring managers have little time and you want them to see your qualifications quickly. We recommend using these samples as a quick chronological resume template so you can build your own.

Expert Tip:

Certain fields, like computer programming, focus heavily on the skills you know and your work experience. For roles like these, try a hybrid, or combination resume. These resumes prioritize both work experience and skills by placing them both at the top, usually in separate columns.

How to Tailor a Chronological Resume for Different Jobs

A chronological resume format is straightforward, but there are ways to personalize it depending on your industry. Modifying your resume to better suit the job you’re applying for is an excellent strategy and helps capture the attention of the hiring manager.

Here are a few industries and tips to tailor your chronological resume accordingly:

• Business and sales : Include measurable achievements, especially concerning company budgets and profits
• Computer engineers: Put an emphasis on all relevant hard skills and clearly list them
• Project managers: In your experience section, list responsibilities and achievements, but ensure to list completed projects and any details possible
• Web developers: Prioritize your highly specific coding languages and any specialty boot camps you’ve attended
• Medical professionals: List your relevant college degrees prominently, possibly in a nearby column to ensure recruiters can quickly glance at them
• People-centric roles: Positions like teachers and charity workers should list volunteer experience higher than other job seekers to show their experience helping people

Take some time to consider what’s important to your role. Review the job description and think critically about the related skills, hobbies, and interests. It might be worth your time to talk to other people in your industry and ask them what matters at their company to get another perspective.

Common Mistakes to Avoid on a Chronological Resume

Before we finish up, let’s quickly cover some common pitfalls when you write a chronological resume and how to avoid them. Here are the most common ones:

• Listing too much experience: Stick to your last 10 to 15 years of experience, keep it highly relevant, and try not to let it spill beyond one page (two pages if you have extensive experience)
• Listing irrelevant experience: Don’t list any experience that isn’t in the industry you’re applying for – even if it’s recent. 
• Listing too many responsibilities or achievements: Add 3 to 5 bullet points under each piece of experience and no more. Don’t overwhelm the recruiter.
• Listing irrelevant responsibilities: Ensure you list important, impactful responsibilities. Don’t list anything too obvious or commonplace.

Build a Winning Chronological Resume

The chronological resume is the most popular type of resume and it’s easy to see why. It provides recruiters with a concise view of your professional experience so they can make an informed decision faster. Use our tips above to avoid common mistakes, craft a well-formatted resume, and show employers your qualifications. Short on time? Grab a chronological resume template from CVwizard’s Resume Builder to get started now.

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Chronological Resume Examples

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Land that dream job

Now that you know what a chronological resume is and how to format one, let's take a look at an example chronological resume for someone with a solid work history and one for a recent graduate. In the first of the two chronological resume examples, employers are able to clearly and quickly see Anita's solid work history, as well as her career growth. If Anita was a recent graduate with little experience, she could move the education section above the work experience in order to highlight her degree. This can be seen in the second chronological resume example.

As always, it is imperative that your resume be error-free in order to make the best first impression. Let our resume editors review your document before applying for that dream job.

Chronological resume example #1: Strong work history

Anita Job 123 Spruce Avenue Anytown, MI 12345

555-123-4567

[email protected]

To obtain a challenging paediatric nursing position that specializes in intensive care.

EXPERIENCE 

Pediatric Care Nurse , January 2005–Present

Anytown General Hospital, Anytown, MI  

Anytown General Hospital

• Providing comprehensive care to children and their families
• Assessing necessary patient care
• Ordering additional testing as required
• Assisting in pediatric surgeries

Practical Nurse , June 2000–December 2004

Anytown Nursing Home, Anytown, MI

Anytown Nursing Home

• Provided basic bedside care
• Assisted with bathing, dressing, and personal hygiene
• Monitored patients and reported any adverse reactions to medication

Medical Orderly , September 1998–June 2000

• Assisted nursing staff in day-to-day duties
• Performed routine personal care

Bachelor of Science in Nursing , May 2004

Anytown University, Anytown, MI

Practical Nursing Diploma ,  May 2000

Anytown Technical College, Anytown, MI

High School Diploma , June 1998

Anytown High School, Anytown, MI

Chronological resume example #2: Recent graduate

[email protected]

Bachelor of Science in Nursing , May 2009

High School Diploma , June 2005

Pediatric Nursing Intern , January 2008–May 2009

Anytown General Hospital, Anytown, MI

• Shadowed pediatric nurses in their day-to-day duties
• Filed patient records
• Assisted in basic bedside care
• Provided support to children and their families

  Sales Associate , September 2005–January 2008

That Big Store, Anytown, MI

• Provided outstanding customer service
• Handled customer complaints and returns
• Merchandised products and stocked shelves

Camp Counsellor , June 2004–September 2004

Camp Happy Place, Anytown, MI

• Planned daily activities for campers
• Cooked nutritious meals

Image source: startupstockphotos.com/Pexels.com

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