Functional Resume

The only way to keep pace with the neck to neck competition in the modern job scenario is to market your best self, replete with skills, talent and education. To do this, you need a resume format that can best showcase your plus points. A functional resume is a non traditional style of resume writing where the skills of the candidate are focused upon, unlike the chronological resume which emphasizes the positions held in the prior work experience. In this format, the candidate lists strengths and achievements under skill categories like Management, Administration, Leadership, Computer skills and others.

This is the most suitable format for people without much work experience and also for fresh graduates seeking their first job. The functional resume also caters to those who intend making a career change or to those who are getting back to their careers after a considerable gap. As it highlights your skills and tries to match them with the position you currently seek, it diverts attention from your past employment history which may have no relevance to the current placement. The flexibility of a functional resume allows you to show your transferable skills from previous jobs that are totally unrelated to the present position sought.

How does a functional resume work?

Functional resumes project the skills as the candidate's trump card rather than relying on strong employment history to catch the recruiter's attention.
Certain unconventional fields like fine arts, theater, psychology, history, music need a functional resume format to do justice to the skill sets, aptitudes and abilities as opposed to merely mentioning work history. The functional format can therefore bring out the finer nuances of the candidate's personality which would otherwise remain hidden
Functional resumes give the candidate the liberty to mention and take credit for achievements that have taken place long ago as they do not list work history in reverse chronological order.

The Advantages of a Functional resume

The greatest benefit of the functional resume is that it draws the reader's attention to what you want to emphasize. Conversely it allows the candidate to minimize the importance of the employment history which is almost always a chink in the armor of those who choose this format.
It enables the candidate to connect skills picked up from prior jobs to those that the prospective employer is looking for. These are called transferable skills and the resume can thus be easily molded to suit the needs of the desired job profile
In the functional format the candidate is perfectly justified in making a mention of unpaid, voluntary or honorary jobs undertaken which have contributed towards honing and refining valuable skills that could prove an asset to the employers.
It lets the candidate skip or do away with prior experience that has no bearing on the current position sought. Even if the last job happened to be unconnected with the current job profile, the functional resume format allows to reveal as little about it as possible
Another major plus point is that the functional format can keep the employer guessing about your age which is not really possible in case of a chronological resume where an estimation of the candidate's age can be made.

The Disadvantages

Most employers do not trust this kind of resume as they prefer to assess the worth of the candidate based on previous employment records. A strong, rich work history projects the image of a competent, trustworthy and successful individual and an absence of this very criterion becomes a barrier towards making it to the interview round
Not including dates and job titles also risks arousing the suspicions of the recruiters who wonder about the real reason behind leaving out such obviously pertinent details.

If you think that your skill sets outweigh your experience then the functional resume format could prove the ideal one for you. The articles ahead elaborate on the criteria that determine the use of the functional resume and also explain its exact format. Smart thinking and clever writing would help you design an impressive resume that strikes the right note.