ATS-Friendly Resume Templates and Examples
A combination resume template should have clearly organized sections. It must include spaces for your education, skills (both soft and hard), career achievements, licenses, and certifications. A combination resume can have either a simple bulleted list of your work history or a more condensed version of the traditional work history. Each job entry gets one or two bullets. The template should be skimmable, with good use of formatting tools like bolding to break up blocks of text.
Your combination resume should include these sections:
The best resume in the world won’t help you if it’s not easy for the hiring manager to follow up. Ensure details like your phone number and email are present in the header of your resume. Consider including your LinkedIn, a link to a portfolio, or social media handles if they’re relevant to the job.
The profile is the introduction for your resume and goes at the top as the first section. Spend a few sentences highlighting the skills and accomplishments that make you a good fit for this position.
Combination resumes put a heavy emphasis on skills, so this should be a large chunk of your resume. It generally goes in the top half or the left column if you’re using a two-column layout.
| Hard Skills | Soft Skills |
|---|---|
| Adobe Photoshop | Collaborative mindset |
| Certified public accountant | Conflict resolution |
| Fluent in French | Contract negotiation |
| Jira | Customer service |
| Search engine optimization | Time management |
Action verbs are used at the start of each job description bullet and in your profile. These impactful verbs provide hiring managers with a better understanding of your role and accomplishments. Here are a few options for a combination resume:
| Action Verbs | |
|---|---|
| Collaborated | Cultivated |
| Educated | Fostered |
| Leveraged | Negotiated |
| Optimized | Researched |
| Revitalized | Transformed |
In a combination resume, your work experience isn’t usually as detailed as with more traditional styles. This can be a simple bulleted list of your past positions, including dates and companies. It can also be a simpler version of the traditional work experience, with just one bullet of duties and responsibilities per job.
A combination resume has a more compact work experience section. Use numbers, metrics, and other data points to make it as impactful as possible. Because space is limited, stick to just one bullet — two at max — for each position you’re including. You also don’t need to list every job you’ve ever had. Keep it to the last 10 years or most relevant positions, depending on your background.
Work numbers into your bullets to show the value of your achievements. For example, if you’re a professor, highlight your high student feedback percentage or low rate of safety incidents in the lab.
Check out our example for a better idea of how to do this:
A combination resume is versatile, but it’s impossible to make one resume that’s a perfect fit for every job you apply to. Tailoring your resume for each application is a critical part of the process. This involves mimicking the language in the job description and paying attention to what’s important to the hiring manager.
If a hiring manager lists “Blackboard expert” in the job description, use that specific term instead of “online learning platforms.” Should a master’s degree be required for the position, include that in your profile as well as the education section. Optimizing your resume for the specific position increases your chances of catching the hiring manager’s attention — and eventually getting a job offer.
If you don’t have formal training or work experience in an industry, focus on your transferable skills. This means putting your skills list after your profile and ending the resume with your education and work experience.
Pull out accomplishments from your previous jobs that line up with what would be valuable to the hiring manager in this role. For example, if you worked in retail and are applying for a front desk position at a hotel, highlight your customer service skills and ability to work well under pressure.
This section includes post-secondary degrees, licenses, and certifications. If you’re using the combination format because you’re changing careers, it’s okay to list a degree that isn’t directly relevant to the position.
Debra Nelson
(123) 456-7890
[email protected]
LinkedIn | Portfolio
City, State Abbreviation ZIP code
Results-driven bank teller with more than 10 years of experience, excelling in customer relations, institutional banking, and commercial finance. Recognized for effectively delivering banking solutions that help clients meet their financial aspirations. Bachelor of Science in Accounting.
Bachelor of Science in Accounting, August 2010 – May 2015
Boston University, Boston, MA
Lead Bank Teller, US Bank, Columbus, OH
June 2018 – present
Bank Teller, Chase, Columbus, OH
August 2015 – May 2018
Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach
A resume should be a forward-looking value proposition that showcases your most relevant accomplishments for a target role — not a rear view summary of your previous roles and responsibilities.
ResumeTemplates offers free, HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.
