What Exactly is a Functional Resume?
Instead of emphasizing a chronological order, a functional resume’s main purpose is to highlight your skills and past experiences. These resumes, typically used by those who have large gaps in their employment history, can also be used for those looking to transition into a different field or industry of work.
Here are our tips on how to write an effective functional resume.
1. Feature a Resume Summary
Consider using the beginning of your document to streamline the focus to summarize skills that would be relevant to the considered position. By summarizing your qualifications, you have started to set the tone of your professional abilities without revealing the gaps in your employment.
2. Organize Your Resume by Theme
Rather than using a chronological order, organize your resume by using your skills and qualifications as the theme. Group relevant skills together and highlight your accomplishments to let your potential employer know that you have the ability to succeed in the role despite your work history. Choose at least three accomplished skills and supplement them with three or four bullet points to serve as evidence. For example, group all “customer experience skills” together and use your big wins to showcase your competence.
3. Include Relevant Projects/Accomplishments
Demonstrate your successes during the time of your employment as well as after. Add in any personal accomplishments that would help demonstrate your ability to succeed in further development or completing tasks. Talk about previous projects or any additional education you had taken on during your times of unemployment to shift the attention. Awards or certificates should be highlighted in this area as well.
4. Remove or Filter Dates from Professional Experiences
Depending on your reasons, you could state your reasons for the period of unemployment. If you prefer not to share just yet, remove the months from the dates of your professional experience and just include the year of employment.
5. Add Your Education
Once again, share and highlight your education to cover the basics. Unless your education is related to the position you are applying to, all that is required is the school name, city and state, and the degree you received. Addition information such as the date of graduation and GPA are optional.
As for final steps, ensure your contact information is visible and placed at the top of the resume, check for any spelling and grammar mistakes, and be sure to include as many keywords relevant to the job posting to surpass Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).