Want to highlight your skills, instead of just listing your work history, one job title at a time? The functional resume might be for you.
If we think of a chronological resume as a two-dimensional map, a functional resume is a 3D topographical globe, highlighting what you can do, rather than what you have already done. It’s a good choice for someone angling for a job that focuses on a skill they don’t always get to use in their current position, or anyone whose work history is a little baroque.
Christy Rakoczy at Money Crashers offers some great advice (and a template!) for folks who are thinking of switching to a skills-based resume:
“On a chronological resume, your job title and past employers are listed prominently, and information about what you did at each job is listed beneath the job title and employer name,” Rakoczy writes. “However, when you create a skills-based resume, you feature each skill you have acquired as a bold heading. Underneath each skill, you explain where and how you acquired that skill, including how you used it in past positions.”
Rakoczy recommend this type of resume to anyone who has stayed at one job for a long time, had a variety of jobs for short periods of time, has significant gaps in their employment history, or wants a job that requires a lot of technical skills.
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