The
Functional Resume
RESUME
BUILDING EXPERIENCES
A Functional
format may be useful for individuals who: have little or no relevant
experience, but do have qualifications for the job, have relevant experience
but these positions would be lost among the other jobs in a Chronological
resume and the Modified Chronological format would not be suitable, have
a number of similar work experiences which would require repeating the
same points under several job listings, have so much good material to say
that it would take over three pages to do it. The work experience
section is very different from that in the Chronological resume as it is
divided into two parts entitled Qualifications and Work History.
The Qualifications section comprises the individual points of the job descriptions
as organized by major functions or skills. Identify three to six
major areas required for the position being sought (e.g., Research Design,
Statistical Analysis, Report Writing). The Work History section comprises,
in reverse chronological order, a listing of your employment: date, job
title, company/organization, location (no job description details).
Process to
create a Functional Resume
It is essential
that you have a good Chronological resume from which to work as it is difficult
to think creatively and evaluate the information at the same time.
Ensure that each point starts with the appropriate action verb. Take
each point in the job description section of Work Experience and assign
a code for the type of function, e.g., planning, scheduling, debugging,
teaching, etc. In the Qualifications section of your Functional resume:
identify three to six major function/skill areas related to your Job Objective,
e.g., Supervision, Organization, Program Planning, etc. Be consistent,
use either all nouns or all adjectives. Take the related point as
it appears in the Chronological resume and place it with all the other
similar function/skill points in order of importance to your Job Objective.
Since the points are removed from the employers they were associated with,
you may have to add some generic information on setting, population, etc.
Example: under Parks and Recreation Department in your Chronological
resume you have "organized Friday afternoon drop in leisure activities
for seniors". In your Functional resume, add "in a recreational setting"
so that the reader will not wonder in what context (medical, psychological,
etc.). Try to combine points whenever possible to make clear, concise
entries. The number of points for e function/skill ranges from three
to seven. In formulating the points for each thematic qualification, you
can also draw upon your academics (projects, papers, etc.), extracurricular
activities, and volunteer work as long as the reader knows the setting
and does not think you have done the work in one of your paid positions.
Make sure there is no overlap in meaning when selecting the names for your
function/skill sections. As you take each point from your Chronological
resume, you will then find that it clearly fits in only one section.
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