Resume Format in the Philippines: Which One to Use

The three resume formats

A resume format is the order in which you present your information. There are three common ones.

• Reverse-chronological: work experience comes first, listed from newest to oldest. Skills and education follow. This is the format most employers expect.
• Functional: skills come first, grouped by theme, with only a short list of job titles and dates near the bottom.
• Combination: a short skills or highlights section at the top, followed by a full reverse-chronological work history.

Which format should you choose?

Choose reverse-chronological unless you have a specific reason not to. It answers the first questions a recruiter has: where have you worked, in what role, and for how long. It is also the layout hiring software handles most reliably, because each job title sits next to its company and dates.

• Fresh graduate or student: reverse-chronological, with education placed above experience.
• Steady work history in one field: reverse-chronological.
• Changing careers, or returning after a long gap: combination. Open with the skills that transfer, then show your full history.
• Freelancer with many short projects: combination, grouping clients under one heading such as "Freelance Virtual Assistant".

Be careful with a purely functional resume. When dates and employers are hard to find, some recruiters assume you are hiding something. A combination format gives you the same benefit without that risk.

How long should it be?

One page if you are a student, a fresh graduate or have only a few years of experience. Two pages if you have a longer history and all of it supports the job you want. Go beyond two only for academic, medical or senior roles where a full CV is expected. The difference is explained in resume vs CV vs biodata.

If you are a few lines over one page, cut older jobs down to one or two bullets before you shrink the font.

Photo or no photo?

Practices vary by employer. Many local companies still expect a photo, and some job posts ask for a 2x2 or passport-size picture. Multinational companies, BPOs and overseas clients often prefer no photo.

• If the job post asks for a photo, include one.
• If it says nothing and you are applying to an international employer or through an online portal, leave it out.
• If you include one, use a recent head-and-shoulders shot with a plain background, business attire and good lighting. No selfies or cropped group photos.

A photo is an image, and hiring software does not read images. If you add one, keep it small in the top corner and make sure your name and contact details are typed as normal text, not placed inside a graphic.

Personal details to leave out

Older Philippine resumes, and the biodata forms many people grew up with, list a full block of personal information. Most employers do not need it to decide whether to interview you, and it takes up space you could use for your work.

You can safely leave out:

• Age and date of birth
• Civil status
• Religion
• Height and weight
• Parents' names and occupations
• Government ID numbers such as SSS, TIN and PhilHealth. Give these after you are hired, never on a document you send to many people.
• Your full home address. City and province are enough.

The exception: if an employer or application form specifically asks for a detail, provide it. Some roles also have real requirements, such as a height requirement for certain uniformed or cabin crew jobs. Follow the instructions in the job post.

Paper size, margins and fonts

• Paper size: A4 or Letter (short bond paper). Both are fine. Pick one and keep the whole document in that size. Avoid long bond paper, which gets cut off when printed or viewed on standard settings.
• Margins: about half an inch to one inch on all sides.
• Font: a common, easy-to-read one such as Arial, Calibri or Helvetica, at 10 to 12 points for body text.
• Headings: standard names like Work Experience, Education and Skills, in bold.
• Columns: one column reads most reliably. Text boxes, tables and heavy graphics can scramble when software extracts the text.

These choices matter for hiring software as much as for people. See how to make an ATS-friendly resume for the details, or start from a ready-made layout in our resume templates.

PDF or Word?

Send a PDF by default. It looks the same on a phone, a laptop and a printed page, and nobody can change it by accident. Send a Word file only when the job post or application portal asks for .doc or .docx.

• Export the PDF directly from your editor. Do not print the page and scan it, because a scan is a picture that software cannot read.
• Keep the file small enough to attach easily, ideally under 2 MB.
• Use a clear file name such as Bautista-Camille-Resume.pdf.
• Open the final file on your phone before sending, to confirm nothing shifted.

When the file is ready, the next step is the email that carries it. Here is how to email a resume with a subject line and message you can copy.