How To Incorporate Reverse Chronological Order In A Resume

Updated 28 August 2023

A well-drafted and formatted resume is an essential tool for a job search. Recruiters shortlist your profile based on your academic qualifications and work experience. Writing a reverse chronological order resume can help a recruiter notice these details easily. In this article, we examine what a reverse chronological resume is, its benefits and how to write one with an example.

What Is Reverse Chronological Order In A Resume?

When you incorporate reverse chronological order in a resume, you list your qualifications and experience in reverse order. That is, you list your current job first and move backward and mention your first job at the end of the list. Similarly, for education, you mention your highest education first and details of schooling at the end.

A resume contains your personal information, career summary, qualifications, work experience, technical skills and achievements. A chronological order resume lists the data in the order of events as they happen. You may list your academic qualification in the ascending order of higher secondary, bachelor's degree, master's degree or doctorate. You may list your work experience from your first job till your current or last job.

What Are The Benefits Of Incorporating Reverse Chronological Order In A Resume?

When you submit a resume by post or online, a recruiter or a team of recruiters may scrutinise them. They sort and shortlist resumes based on the guidelines given by recruiting managers. Highlighting your current job and your highest education at the beginning of a resume can ensure that the reader does not dismiss your resume.

Academic qualifications and your current job may be the first filters for a recruiter. It is important to place that information at the beginning of the resume, after the summary. If you are a fresher and applying for your first job, you can use a traditional resume format. You can initially highlight your qualifications, courses and skills in this format, as you may not have enough information to add to the experience section.

What Are The Components Of A Resume?

A reverse chronological resume is a popular resume format. It lists a candidate's work experience starting from their current or their last job. You can include additional sections if you need them. A resume typically contains the following sections:

Header with contact information
Summary or objective of the resume
Work experience
Education
Skills
Achievements and awards

How To Incorporate Reverse Chronological Order In Your Resume?

Note down all the points you want to include and highlight in your resume. Ensure that there is continuity while listing your jobs. If you had taken a break for one or two years for advanced studies or to set up a business, mention that in the experience section. Sort attachments and achievements that you want to highlight. Once you have the required information in hand, you can start writing your resume. If you want to write a resume in reverse chronological order, follow these steps:

1. Begin with a header

A header is a section that introduces you to the recruiter. It has your full name, current job title, phone number, email address and location. Communication details are important so that recruiters or potential employers can reach out to you without any delay. While some companies may prefer local candidates, some may prefer hiring exceptional candidates from any location. Including your location helps them to plan and decide accordingly. You can add links to your website, professional networking page, portfolio or blogs. Refrain from linking to personal social media handles and blog pages.

2. Create a summary

A resume summary contains four to five sentences that highlight your personality, skills and career goals. It can start with your Unique Selling Point (USP) in the first sentence. You can use words like motivated, result-driven or experienced team leader to describe yourself without being boastful. In the next sentence, you can describe your experience, your area of work or your technical skills that are relevant to the current job posting.

You can highlight your managerial skills or specific skills relevant to the job that you are applying for. You can complete the summary with a sentence that describes your significant professional achievements. The summary can be more than five sentences if you have more information to add.

3. List your work experience

In this section, you can give details of your jobs in the last few years in reverse chronological order, starting with your current or last job. List all the job titles you have held so far, ending with your first job as a fresher. Include the following information in the work experience sections:

Job title
Organisation
Location
Start and end dates
Responsibilities
Achievements

Under responsibilities, provide bullet points of the most significant and challenging responsibilities of each role. While mentioning achievements, be specific and include measurable achievements like percentage increase in sales, revenue or customer retention.

4. List academic qualifications

Once a recruiter has gone through your job profiles, they look at the next important eligibility criteria - academic qualifications. Some may consider equivalent diplomas or relevant degrees mentioned in the job advertisement, while some companies may be particular about formal academic qualifications. Hence, mention your highest degree or the most recent qualification on top and list the other qualifications under it in reverse chronological order. The list of academic qualifications can include the following information:

Name of the degree
Name of the institution
Location
Year of graduation

5. List relevant technical skills

Recruiters may consider a candidate's key skills for short-listing them for a call or an interview. Highlight your technical skills, soft skills and experiences as a separate section. You can highlight technical skills that you have gained through education, training, experience or certification programmes. You can mention IT proficiency, language proficiency and industry-relevant technical and soft skills in this section.

6. Include additional skills

If you have additional points that you want to include in your resume apart from experience, qualifications and skills, you can include them as separate sections. You can include any awards, speeches, publications, books, research papers or recognitions relevant to your career. You can also include memberships of communities, forums or professional networks relevant to your role and line of work.

Once you have included relevant details, proofread your resume more than once to look for any language, punctuation or grammatical errors. Use official fonts that are easy to read. You can ask a friend or family member, or use the help of online tools to help you edit your resume.

Template For A Resume In Reverse Chronological Order

You can use the following template to help format your resume:

[Your name] | [Job title]
[Phone number]
[Email address]
[Website]
[Professional social media/networking profile]
[Current location]

Profile

[In three to five lines of text, describe the qualifications that make you a valuable and unique candidate. These details may include a summary of your experience in the field, your key traits and skills or your more significant professional experiences and accomplishments.]

Professional history

[Current or latest job title] | [Start date of employment]-[End date of employment]
[Company name] | [City and state]

[A brief description of your most relevant or significant duties and contributions]
[A brief description of your most relevant or significant duties and contributions]
[A brief description of your most relevant or significant duties and contributions]

Educational history

[Degree] of [Field of study], [Graduation month and year]
[Educational institution]

Relevant coursework
Academic achievements and honours
Extracurricular activities

Skills

[Hard or soft skill that is relevant to the role]
[Hard or soft skill that is relevant to the role]
[Hard or soft skill that is relevant to the role]
[Hard or soft skill that is relevant to the role]

Awards and honours

[Name of award], [Issuing organisation] | [Date]

Published works

[Title], [Publication name] | [Date]

Memberships

[Name of professional organisation], [Role]

Sample Resume In Reverse Chronological Order

Based on the steps described above, here is a sample resume in reverse chronological order:

Viren J Verma
1234 Gandhi Street
Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh 474004
vjverma@email.com

Objective
I am a passionate and dedicated communications professional seeking a position with a non-profit organisation to apply my public relations skills and my passion for philanthropy.

Experience

Public Relations Manager
The Volunteer Foundation, 2017–Present

Plan and direct public relations programmes to create a positive public image for The Volunteer Foundation. Manage PR staff and act as a mentor to junior public relations personnel.

Public Relations Specialist
The Volunteer Foundation, 2015–2017

Worked alongside the PR team to ensure all fundraising efforts, local events and other special projects met the organisation's brand guidelines and upheld a favourable public image.

Communications Coordinator
ABC Company 2013–2015

Helped increase brand visibility through various marketing efforts, including social media campaigns and digital advertising efforts. Helped conceptualise and distribute printed marketing materials.

Professional Skills

Public relations management
Corporate communications
Team leadership
Interpersonal communications
Process streamlining

Education

Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2008–2012
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism

Volunteer Work

Indian Red Cross Society
Disaster Volunteer, Public Affairs
2016–Present

Please note that none of the companies, institutions or organisations mentioned in this article are associated with Indeed.