Functional Resume for a Career Change

While traditional chronological resumes focus on an applicant's work history, functional resumes emphasize specific skills that are transferable between industries. Structurally, functional resumes begin by listing the worker's abilities and goals first and list education and work experience last.

Benefits for Career Changers

A functional resume is a valuable tool for a job-seeker who is changing careers because they allow employers to focus on an applicant's skills, abilities and talents rather than her career history.

Disadvantages of Functional Resumes

Chronological resumes are still the industry standard in most fields. Employers may be unfamiliar with the functional-resume format and miss crucial information about the applicant's qualifications.

Objective Statement

Functional resumes should begin with a one- to two-sentence objective statement that outlines what kind of position the applicant is seeking. This is an opportunity a person changing industries to explain the details of her career change.

Skills

Include a separate section that lists the worker's job skills in detail on a functional resume. Examples of transferable skills to include are customer service, writing, public speaking, research, analysis, computer programming, creative services, team-building and leadership experience.

Qualifications

A functional resume should include a section that outlines the worker's qualifications as they relate to his new career. For example, someone making a career transition from sales to finance would want to focus his resume on his retail accounting and cash-handling experience.

References

• Should You Consider a Functional Format for Your Resume?

Resources

• Sample Functional Resume