Functional Resume

Functional Resume is a good format for applicants who wish to shift careers or for those who would like to recommence working after a relatively long period of time. This format is also suitable for new graduates, candidates with limited work experience, and applicants with mixed unrelated work backgrounds. The target of Functional resume is to stress specific key qualifications which have been demonstrated through a variety of work-related accomplishments.

The distinct feature of Functional resume is that skills of the applicant are presented in order of importance and relevance to the current job being applied. It gives emphasis on the applicant's appropriate skills to fit for the positioned being sought. Functional resume likewise permits candidates to align their accomplishments from previous work position to create more effective impact, since these skills might be mixed up in or might not be noticed in traditional resume. Functional resumes also minimize the chance of being asked about inexperience in the workforce or field, frequent job changes, and any gaps in employment history.

However, in functional resume, the presence of a clear career sequence is usually lost and prominent employers or impressive job titles are de-emphasized, which is a disadvantage if these are strong selling points in the applicant. Moreover, some interviewers and managers have an aversion to functional resumes because of perceived lack of logical flow.