Resume Format Chronological

Any resume you craft should follow an outline. This keeps the flow and pertinent information easy to find…. remember, managers will usually glance over resumes first.

Most importantly, your resume has the greatest impact in the job hiring process.  Get it wrong and you’ll never get the interview.

First you have to decide on a particular format for your resume. The two main formats in use today are chronological and functional format. Which one is best to use will depend greatly on your situation. We’ll use both so you can see the difference.

We’ll also provide you with some templates you can use and basically just fill in the blanks. Plus we’ll walk you through crafting your waitress resume.

The basic resume outline would include the following sections:

The Heading

Always start your resume with the heading. You list your basic details so the employer can contact you. You should include your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.

NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE NUMBER
EMAIL ADDRESS

Job Objective

This is a very important section. Managers, such as myself look here to find your goals and aspirations.  If it’s too generic, it means you lack clarity and direction.  So pay close attention when writing this section. This is where you let the manager know what position and most importantly – how you will benefit the organization. It also frames or supports the skills and experience you will be adding later on in your resume.

Example:

Seeking a waitress position with a medium to large restaurant.  Utilizing my skills while working as part of a team to efficiently and effectively serve our customers.

The “Body” is the largest section of your resume outline
This is where you can enter details about your education, work experience and additional information.

The body contains:

Education

Here you can list your educational background in decending order.
Educational Background Format:
College, Degree, Major, Honors, Relevant Courses, Dates
High School, Diploma, Major, Honors, Relevant Courses, Dates

Sample Education Section:
Boston University BA Educational Leadership, January 2004 – Present
Lincoln High School, Mathematics Major, 4.0 GPA Honor Roll, 2001 – 2004

Usually you don’t need to list your High School information if you have College information. UNLESS it contains information that directly applies to the job you are applying for. You can also list any honors for academic excellence in this section of your resume outline.

If you are a graduating senior or looking for an internship, you can add a relevant courses section to your resume outline. In this situation if you are obtaining a degree related to the food industry.

Employment History

This is an important part of the resume. This is where your past work experience or life skills come in. If you are using a chronological resume format, start with the most recent job and go back 7 years..

Example:

Block Buster Video, Dallas, TX
Cashier, June 2002- Present
Handled Video rentals and returns.
Handled the cash register
Managed and stocked merchandise
Handled Customer Service desk.

If you don’t have job experience, you can list other types of life related skills:
Chair person for Annual Church Fund Raiser
Organized teams for bi-monthly convalecent home visits.
Treasurer for youth club

Achievements

This section is where you list major achievements or special awards:
Cut down overtime by 5%, while increasing sales at Block Buster.
Voted Treasurer two years in a row at Heaven Valley Church
Class Treasurer, Lincoln High School 2003
Received Girl Scout ‘Gold Star” for organizing the most consistent Convalescent visits.

Special Skills

This section is your skills that will be a benefit to the company or makes you unique:
Bilingual – Fluent in Spanish, English
Won contest for balancing 20 glasses across a football field in shortest time without spilling a drop.
Created spreadsheets to track monies for Church and Youth Club
Created schedules for Convalescent visits for 50 participating members.

References

References are not required at this point.  Simply put

“References available upon request”

Additional Optional Sections

Adding additional information helps build your character.  This is where you would list group memberships you belong to, any organizations you are with that support your social activities, like church, sports and clubs.

You’ll want to use a layout that is consistent throughout, including your cover letter.  Use the same font throughout. Generally a 12point font is fine.  The font should be easy to read and easy to scan.  Sections should be bold, underlined or italicized and consistent.  Try to stick with fonts like Times New Roman, Arial, or Verdana.

You can also use bold or a slightly bigger font in the heading where your personal information is.

Remember, when a manager scans your resume, they will usually look at the first line of each section.  So you must put your most relevant information that relates to the position you are applying for.

As an example in the Achievements section. -
“Voted Treasurer two years in a row at Heaven Valley Church”
“Received Girl Scout ‘Gold Star” for organizing the most consistent Convalesent visits”

Being Treasurer means you are dependable, reliable, trust worthy, organized, honest, can handle money and responsible.
Receiving a Gold Star means you are, organized, a leader, caring, compassionate and so on

Both are important but “trust” is a high priority when obtaining your first waitress job.  You’d be surpirsed by how much theft happens in the restaurant business.

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