Every first-time job seeker or career changer knows for sure how to prepare a resume. However, not everyone knows how to do it professionally. In fact, there are three types of resumes: chronological resume, functional or skill-based resume, and combination resume. All these types are used according to candidate’s work experience and employer’s requirements. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages.
For example, a chronological resume is the most popular format for resumes. It is useful for highlighting your professional experience. On the other hand, writing a functional resume, you should list your skills and abilities relevant to the desired job position. At the same time, combination resume represents the most significant part of your career as well as describes your skills and other accomplishments.
Once you need to highlight your skills and talents rather than chronological work history, choose creating a functional resume. The definition of a functional resume says that this type of resume emphasizes skills over career progression. Nevertheless, working on this kind of resume, you still have to summarize your job experience. However, this information is usually mentioned at the bottom of the document. Therefore, there is no need to panic as, by the time a hiring manager reads down to this section, he or she will be pleasantly surprised with your abilities. Let’s see how to make a functional resume in the best way and what benefits of this resume type are the most important.
When should you write a functional (skills) resume?
Therefore, what is a functional resume and why it’s so important when it comes to lack of professional experience? Functional resumes present the information in terms of imperfect work experience as well as a career transition. This type of resume is effective for showing transferable skills that are relevant to your new job position. For example, your job title and experience as a UX designer won’t be enough for preparing an impressive resume for the position of iOS Developer. However, your knowledge of different programming languages and understanding of software development will surely come in handy.
A functional resume is the best type of resume for fresh graduates as they don’t have enough work experience. It’s better for them to begin their document with a list of skills learned through course-related projects and volunteer experience. After that, they should briefly describe their academic achievements and employment history.
If you have any resume gaps, you should explain this period of unemployment in your resume. In such case, a functional summary is especially helpful as it makes the employer think that your professional background is as normal as possible. To understand how a skill-oriented resume can cover your work gaps, you should have a look at the structure of this format. What does a functional resume look like? Let’s see!
Typical structure of a functional resume format
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Contact details
Writing this section is the easiest part of the resume preparing. All you have to do is just mention your name, address, phone number and email. Also, if you have a personal website, you can add the link in this section.
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Summary of qualifications
For the candidate with a long period of unemployment, this part of the resume is a perfect way to begin with. In this section, mention at least four examples of your achievements. Make sure that they are relevant to the job you’re applying for.
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Skills
Apart from experience-based resumes, functional resumes emphasize the importance of relevant skills and abilities rather than work history. If you want to prepare effective skills section, choose 3-5 skills that apply to the position you want to obtain. For each skill, come up with several bullet points that prove your abilities and achievements.
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Work history
You may have different reasons for being unemployed. Perhaps, you were a full-time student doing an independent study or taking care of the ill parent. In any case, you should show that you did something during those resume gaps.
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Education
Writing a skills-based resume, include the name of educational institution, the degree you received, and date you graduated. Also, don’t forget about city and state. Keep in mind that you are allowed to ignore this section in case your education experience doesn’t relate to the position you’re applying for.
How to prepare a job-winning skill-based resume
- Determine your skills. First, look through the vacancy description and decide what to add in the skills section of your resume. Project management, communication, and leadership are the most popular skills. However, you can pick more specific categories. The primary key - described skills must be relevant to chosen job position.
- Create your bullets. At this stage of writing, you should focus on your specific achievements and describe your experience with each skill area. Don’t worry about previous positions. Instead, draw reader’s attention to the result you’ve achieved.
- Don’t forget about short work history. Even if your job experience leaves a lot to be desired, compose a short section where you’ll describe your work history.
- Add some extra headings. If you think that there are some sections that will highlight your experience, feel free to add them. However, make sure that all information included in your resume has a professional value. Remember that you’re trying to sell your experience, and a functional resume is the best way to do that.
Let professional provide you with functional resume example
When you can't cope with this kind of resume or simply don’t how to write a functional resume that stands out from the crowd, visit our website. At our website, you will find helpful functional resume sample that you can use as an example while working on your resume.
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