Combination Resume—Template, Examples & Tips for 2023

Whether during a career switch or planning to start a new professional chapter, you need a compelling resume that works like a magnet.

You’ll often hear about a reverse-chronological resume format as the one to go for, but be sure it’s not the only efficacious way to impress a recruiter.

What if we told you that a carefully prepared combination resume (also known as a hybrid resume) can go a long way, too? We’ll cover all its elements, so you don’t lag behind.

In this guide:

• A combination resume example that works.
• How to use a combination resume format to highlight your skills.
• How to create a combination resume template for your job application.
• Expert tips and examples to polish up your hybrid resume and increase chances of getting an interview.

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How else can you improve your resume? Check the articles below:

• ATS-friendly Resume Templates & How to Use Them
• Best Modern Resume Templates to Apply in 2023
• Career Change Resume Examples & Tips for 203 
• How are Chronological and Functional Resumes Different?
• How to Format a Resume (+ Best Resume Formats for 2023)
• How to Write a Captivating Resume Profile Summary?
• Most Useful Resume Keywords to Pump Up Your Application
• Proven Resume Tips and Mistakes to Avoid
• Resume Definition & How to Write It Wisely
• Target Resume: What Is It and How to Approach It?

Combination Resume Template

Now, let’s dig deeper into what a combination resume is and how to make a remarkable one:

What Is a Combination Resume Format?

A combination resume puts equal emphasis on professional skills and work experience. It gains from two resume formats: functional, which highlights skills, and chronological, which focuses on work experience. In this resume format, you can pin one distinctive skill to every job entry you include.

If you choose a hybrid resume, you display your resume profile first, followed by your most valuable skills that match the job description. If skills are your most significant assets, this is the best way to direct attention to them.

Is Combination Resume a Hybrid Resume?

Yes, both combination resume and hybrid resume terms can be used interchangeably. Whether it’s a word combination or a hybrid, it relates to the fact that this resume type blend elements of the chronological and functional resume formats.

Should You Use a Combination Resume?

A resume aims to present you in the best possible light and secure your desired interview. Consider the strong points that will empower your application when picking a suitable resume format.

A combination resume (or, call it a hybrid resume), is best suited for candidates who aim to highlight their skills and qualifications while also demonstrating their work history in a chronological order. 

To make it clearer, see examples of when you should opt for a combination resume:

• Career change: You plan to switch to a new profession in a different field or industry.
• Vast expertise: If you have a strong track record of professional accomplishments and an impressive skill set, a combination resume will be the best mean to showcase them prominently. 
• Employment gaps: If you had career breaks, a hybrid resume will help to redirect attention to your skills and explain any career lapses during an interview.

If your work experience is short or deficient, a combination resume can compensate for such shortages. Use it to highlight your key strengths and make your hybrid resume speak for you.

What Are the Benefits of a Combination Resume Format?

A combination resume aims to show employers how your professional experience and skills influence each other and make a strong candidate’s profile.

Here are some pros of using a hybrid resume:

• Balancing skills and achievements: A hybrid resume favors neither your abilities nor accomplishments. It’s fairly balanced, directing attention equally to your strengths and successes.

• Highlighting skills: If you have a rich skill set to show off in your resume, a combination resume format will help to underscore them as they’re placed at the top.

• Adjusted to any situation: A combination resume is simply a flexible choice since it allows you to adapt your resume to any work circumstances. 

• Attention-grabbing: Putting skills at the forefront of your resume makes it more appealing. While the work experience section is usually detailed and filled with specific information, the skills section is more concise and eye-catching.
• Preparing for an interview: Believe it or not, putting together your greatest traits and abilities helps you identify your strong points and prepare yourself better for an interview.

While a hybrid resume format offers numerous benefits, it also has some potential drawbacks:

• Too lengthy: If you add many details to your skills and work experience sections, your resume can get too long and overwhelm a recruiter. 
• Time-consuming: Hybrid resumes are usually more complex to create than chronological resumes. The structure and information in your combination resume must be well-thought-out to keep it effective. 
• Not for recent grads: Combination resumes are better for senior professionals. If you’re a recent graduate applying for a job, showcasing your skills and achievements effectively in a hybrid resume might be tough.

• Risk of misplacement: If you’re not acquainted with a combination resume idea, you might end up placing crucial information in the wrong sections, making your resume harder to comprehend.

• Less common: Most employers and recruiters are used to examining chronological resumes. They prefer this resume format as it is more straightforward and readable.

To decide if the combination resume format suits you, consider your circumstances, job history, and the employer’s expectations. While in some cases, a hybrid resume can upgrade your application, there are situations in which it may work to your disadvantage.

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How to Write a Hybrid Resume?

You’ve decided to create a combination resume so no one doubts your talents. You just can’t wait to fill in the space with your flairs. You’ve got a lot of those.

But how do you create a combination resume that is not over-combined? Which resume sections should you use, and in what order?

Follow these steps to create a flawless combination resume template:

1. Strive for a Neat Combination Resume Format

A resume imparts much more information than you think. A resume's layout, structure, colors, and way of writing can say a lot about you as a candidate and a person. Jumbled resumes aren’t likely to be associated with well-organized professionals.

That’s why you must be serious about your resume layout and resume formatting.

Here are some iron rules to follow when formatting your resume:

• Pick professional resume fonts like Calibri, Times New Roman, or Georgia.
• Use 10–12 pt font size to fit all resume content on one page.
• For the resume heading, keep the size of 13–14 pt.
• Set 1-inch resume margins on all sides of the page.
• Use enough white space between sections and paragraphs.
• Order your resume sections as follows: Heading, Profile Summary, Skills Summary & Achievements, Work History, and Education.
• Keep your resume within one page. It’s thought to be the best resume length.
• Save your hybrid resume in a PDF or Doc format.

Once done with your writing, pass your resume through a grammar checker. Clear structure and formatting go hand in hand with pure grammar and spelling.

2. Begin Your Hybrid Resume with a Header

Your resume might look like taken from TheBest Resume Practices handbook, but if it exposes an incorrect header, it all goes for nothing. Resume headers are used for reference, so they must be human-readable. And apparently, ATS-scannable, too (in fact, your whole hybrid resume template must be ATS-friendly to pass through the initial qualifications).

The resume header placement is universal to all resume formats. It always takes the primary place to provide critical information first. Ensure it contains everything from your name to a phone number, so a recruiter doesn’t have to comb through the document to find them.

Here’s what the header should look like:

• Name and surname
• Job title/education level
• Email address
• Phone number
• LinkedIn address
• Link to your portfolio/social media

See an example of a perfectly-formatted resume header:

Combination Resume Template—Header

Hiring managers disregard candidates who send resumes with messy headers or improper heading formatting. Sounds obvious? That’s cool if you know how to work it out. 

3. Make up a Stunning Resume Profile

So, you’re almost sure about your resume's success, knowing it will include all the information the hiring manager desires there. But how can you be confident they will read it?

Starting your resume the right way determines its positive reception. Would you read a book that has a bland blurb? Or watch a movie after a completely uninteresting trailer? Your resume profile should arouse the greatest interest and make a recruiter read it with a twinkle in their eyes.

When preparing a resume profile, consider a career objective dedicated to beginning candidates or a resume summary suited for experienced professionals.

Here’s how to craft a resume profile that grabs the attention:

1. Hit them with your most distinctive characteristics such as “energetic”, “result-driven”, or “customer-centric”.
2. Include your job title or education grade, followed by years of experience.
3. Throw a couple of skills that you think will fit the job description.
4. Recall 2–3 achievements that fit the job and that you’re proudest of.
5. Explain why you’re interested in the role and how you will reinforce the company.

Now, let’s put it into practice:

Combination Resume Template—Professional Profile

You see? It’s succinct and catchy. 3 to 4 sentences are enough to cover your resume highlights, so don’t talk over your resume. Instead of stuffing your resume profile, give a semblance of what a hiring manager will learn further.

Expert Hint: Though a professional profile introduces a reader to your resume, it’s easier to prepare it once your document is almost finished. Condensing all essential information into a few opening lines should go smoother at the end. 

4. Highlight the Most Valuable Skills in Your Hybrid Resume

Skills are what you’ve come here for. Shock a recruiter with a diversity of abilities you possess and can utilize in your future job. When writing a hybrid resume, don’t spare skills that might be decisive for your employment. Recruiters seek talents, not necessarily practiced hands.

When crafting a skills list, think of those that best align with the job profile. If you apply for a social media manager position, mention excellent writing skills or strategy planning instead of dexterity or physical fitness. Here’s an example:

Combination Resume Template—Skills

How to format skills on a combination resume? There are two common ways to do so:

• Use bullets and enumerate all your traits one under the other. Prioritize your most valuable skills and display them up top.
• Split your professional skills into groups and provide examples of how you utilized them. For instance, describe your technical and problem-solving skills separately.

If you’re writing a career change resume and still opt for a combination resume, think of transferable skills you can weave in. Examples of traits that can transfer from one job to another are communication skills, problem-solving, adaptability, and teamwork.

5. Expand on Your Work History

Imagine walking into a huge house and strolling through many rooms arranged individually. Each room has its theme and tells a different story, but they create a whole together.

A resume and its various sections follow a very similar scheme. Each part of your resume informs about crucial areas of your professional development, and they all correspond with each other.

While skills are the focal point of your combination resume, still, your work experience section should be no less than appealing and attention-grabbing. Use it to target your resume to the specific job that you want.

How? Just add the job titles, names of companies, and work dates. Then, list your key accomplishments and make sure they match the phrases used in the job advertisement. This is how you make an ATS-friendly resume, and how you and increases your chances of being qualified for the next recruitment stages.

This simple example shows how:

Combination Resume Example—Job Description

Note that you’re more persuasive when discussing actual actions and backing them up with numbers rather than just mentioning your regular duties. It’s tangible proof of your expertise and commitment.

6. Save Space for Education on Your Combination Resume

A recruiter has likely decided to contact you after learning about your skills and work experience. But with many candidates, you must do your best to convince them you’re the jewel in the crown. In that case, relevant education might be of added benefit.

Mention your college or university degree, the institution's name, and study dates. Additionally, you can provide information such as GPA, academic honors, relevant coursework, projects, etc.

Here’s how it should look:

Combination Resume Example—Education

The education section is worth expanding, especially if you’re writing a resume with little work experience. In this case, focus on what you’ve learned during your studies and how it prepared you for the first job. Starting your very first job search requires some strategic approach.

7. Include Additional Sections in a Hybrid Resume as a Bonus

Have you ever heard a weird question during a job interview? Like, what biscuit would you be if you were a biscuit? Or, what would I find in your fridge right now?

You don’t want a recruiter to make you confused. To increase the likelihood of getting more obvious questions, include additional sections that are often a subject of interest.

See below the example sections you can use:

• Certifications and licences
• Volunteering experience
• Personal hobbies & interests
• Resume references

You never know what a recruiter may ask, but if you bring up things you’re confident about, it shouldn’t cause you any disorientation. Ensure they correlate with your overall profile and the job you apply for.

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Key Points

Here’s what to remember when creating your hybrid resume for the first time:

• Apply the combination resume formatting rules. Use one of the recommended fonts and save enough space for readability.
• Prepare a captivating resume objective or summary that makes a hiring manager want to read further.
• Make a list of skills and provide relevant examples of how you used them in your previous roles.
• Follow this section order: header, resume profile, skills, work history, education, and added sections.
• Check your combination resume for grammar errors. No one likes to read sloppy documents.

Not sure whether a combination resume is the proper one for you? Questions on how to create one that wins interviews? Let us know in the comments!

About ResumeLab’s Editorial Process

At ResumeLab, quality is at the crux of our values, supporting our commitment to delivering top-notch career resources. The editorial team of career experts carefully reviews every article in accordance with editorial guidelines, ensuring the high quality and reliability of our content. We actively conduct original research, shedding light on the job market's intricacies and earning recognition from numerous influential news outlets. Our dedication to delivering expert career advice attracts millions of readers to our blog each year.