A functional resume is one that mainly focuses on your skills and abilities instead of your work experience. It highlights your relevant accomplishments and qualifications, which makes it a perfect fit for those who are starting out or have a career gap.
Understanding the meaning of a functional resume is easy; however, crafting one from scratch can be quite tricky. It’s different from other resume formats, and it focuses on different aspects.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to easily create a functional resume through a step-by-step guide, as well as provide some tips on how you can use this type of resume to showcase your skills effectively.
Key Takeaways
- Instead of highlighting your work experience, a functional resume focuses on your skills and accomplishments.
- A great way to start your functional resume is to give a brief summary of your skills and qualifications. This is a great way to briefly show recruiters what you’re bringing to the table.
- Opt for using bullet points to highlight your skills. Be sure to use action verbs as well, as they can help you get more specific about your accomplishments.
Resume Formats
The three main resume formats are:
- Chronological. This is the most common resume format as it lists your work history in a reverse chronological order. This means it starts with your most recent job. It focuses on your work experience and highlights your career growth.
- Functional. The functional resume format focuses on your skills and accomplishments. Its main purpose is to highlight your abilities and job skills such as communication, leadership, as well as technical skills.
- Combination. The combination format is a mix of the chronological and functional formats. It begins with a skills summary and is then followed by a reverse chronological list of your work experience. The combination format is best suited for those who want to highlight both their experience and skills.
What is a Functional Resume?
As briefly mentioned above, a functional resume highlights your skills instead of your work experience. It emphasizes your transferable skills and abilities that can benefit a specific job or industry.
A functional resume usually includes a summary of qualifications at the top. It is then followed by sections that mainly focus on skills. It’s best to group these skills by category, such as:
- Leadership skills
- Communication skills
- People skills
This type of resume is a good choice if you plan on changing careers, have an employment gap, or are just getting started.
A functional resume looks something like this:
When Should You Use a Functional Resume?
A functional resume may be a good choice in the following situations:
- You are a recent graduate and have limited work experience. A functional resume can help highlight the skills you’ve gained from internships or volunteer work.
- You have experience in a specific skill set. If you have spent some time developing some skills (such as design or programming) you can use a functional resume to highlight them.
- You want to apply for a project-based position. If the role you’re applying for deals with a specific project, rather than an ongoing one, a functional resume is a great way to highlight skills that are related to said project.
- You are a freelancer. A functional resume can help you focus on areas of expertise and the successful outcomes you’ve had on previous projects as a freelancer.
Don’t use a functional resume if the job listing specifically asks for a chronological resume. If you don’t follow their instructions, your resume will not be considered.
How to Create a Functional Resume
Every functional resume should have the following sections:
- Summary or objective. This section gives a brief overview of your skills and career goals. It is placed at the top of your resume.
- Work experience (if any). Although a functional resume doesn’t emphasize your work experience, it’s still important to briefly mention it if there is some.
- Education. Here, you can list your educational qualifications such as degrees, diplomas, or certifications.
- Skills. The skills section lists your key abilities and relevant skills that can be useful for the job you’re applying for.
- Optional sections. This includes sections such as volunteer experience or language skills.
Functional Resume Contact Information
When you’re working with a functional resume, include your contact information at the top.
To format the contact information section, consider the following:
- List your name and job title in a larger font size than the rest of the contact information.
- Place your phone number and email directly underneath.
- Only include your physical address if you feel comfortable doing so. If not, list your state and city instead.
- If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can include the URL underneath your phone number and email address.
Here’s an example of a functional resume’s contact information section:
Joshua Hong
Social Media Manager
693-2278-2489
Los Angeles, California
linkedin.com/in/joshua-hongg
Functional Resume Objective (or Summary)
You have the option to include either a summary statement or an objective statement on your resume.
Here’s how you can decide which one works best for you:
A summary statement is a short and brief paragraph that summarizes your entire experience and qualifications. It needs to match the job description you’re applying for as well as highlight your main strengths.
Here’s what a summary can look like:
Highly experienced digital marketing manager with over 8 years of experience in managing and developing efficient marketing campaigns. Skilled in project management as well as teamwork and leadership. I have improved our product sales from 4% to 11% at GlowSta Inc.
On the other hand, an objective statement is a short explanation of your career goals and what you want to achieve in the future.
Here’s what a resume objective can look like:
In order for me to merit your consideration for the Digital Marketing position, I plan on applying my skills and experience in marketing to increase revenue for your company by raising brand awareness and finding a relatable selling point amongst the NJP clientele.
Functional Resume Work Experience
In a functional resume, the work experience should emphasize your skills rather than give a list of job titles and duties.
To add this section to your functional resume, consider these tips:
- Begin the section with a summary that showcases your key skills and achievements.
- Create subheadings for each accomplishment and skills you want to highlight. If you’re applying for a project marketing manager position, you can say “Market Researcher” or “Project Manager”.
- After each subheading, give examples of how you’ve used your skills. Keep using bullet points so that the information doesn’t look too messy or crowded.
- Give numbers, not only words. Quantify your achievements whenever you can. Instead of saying that you’ve “Increased website clicks” try saying “Increased website clicks by 40%”.
- If you have an employment gap or have recently changed your career, try to talk about how your experience can be relevant to the new position.
Here’s an example of this section:
Example 1:
Experienced digital marketing manager with a track record of managing teams and developing new marketing campaigns. Skilled in analyzing the market and managing both teams and projects effectively.
Example 2:
Content Writer
Bunnzie
June, 2021 – March, 2023
- Written over 250 pieces of content for Hbea and Vosal.
- Tasked with creating social media posts for our clients accounts, which helped increase engagement from 4% to 22%.
Example 3:
Digital Marketing Manager
XTY Co.
January, 2018 – December, 2020
- Tasked with conducting market research to identify demographics.
- Analyzed market trends which have helped find the right campaigns for the company’s services.
Functional Resume Education Section
When it comes to functional resumes, your education section needs to be brief. Try to focus on your relevant achievements while listing them in this section.
Here are some tips to help you out:
- Start with the most relevant degree first.
- List the name of the institution, the degree level, as well as the graduation date.
- If you’ve completed additional training that is related to the job you’re applying for, you can include that information as well.
Here’s an example of the education section in a functional resume:
Education
Computer Engineer Masters Degree
University of California
2013-2017
- Engineering and Programming department
- Graduated with honors
Additional Training:
- Cisco Certification, 2016
- JAVA Certification, 2014
- C++ Certification, 2015
- UX/UI Design Certification, 2018
Functional Resume Skills Section
The skills section is the most important part of your functional resume. That is because it is the key component that represents your competencies and strengths.
Here are a few things you should consider:
- Start listing the most relevant skills. Have a look at the job description and check what hard and soft skills they’re currently looking for.
- Use bullet points to list your skills. This makes the information easier to read.
- Categorize your skills. If you have any computer skills, group them into a section and name it “Technical Skills”, for example.
- Try to mention specific examples to prove your skills. For example, if you say that you have managerial skills, you can include a sentence saying that you managed a team of ten people to complete a campaign.
- Make sure to remain truthful about your skill level. A background check is highly common and you’re likely to get caught lying.
Let’s have a look at the sample skills section for a functional resume:
Skills:
Digital Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Content Marketing
- SEO and SEM
- Content Writing
- Editing
Technical Skills
- Microsoft Office
- Adobe Creative
- Airtable, ClickUp, Asana
Interpersonal Skills
- Communication
- Adaptability
- Leadership
Functional Resume Optional Section
Lastly, there are also a few optional sections you can add to your functional resume. This solely depends on the type of job you’re applying for.
However, here are some examples of optional sections you can add:
- Volunteer work. If you’ve previously volunteered for any organizations that are related to the job you’re applying for, include a section that shows what skills you’ve gained through volunteering.
- Publications. If you’ve written and published articles that are related to the industry, add a section that lists these accomplishments.
- Awards. Include an awards and honors section if you’ve been rewarded for something related to the industry.
- Professional development. Optional sections you can add are also courses, seminars, or certifications that are relevant to the job description.
- Language skills. If you know more than one language, add a section to show your proficiency level in other languages.
Functional Resume Example
If we combine the examples we’ve given for each section, here’s what a full functional resume example can look like:
Joshua Hong
Social Media Manager
693-2278-2489
Los Angeles, California
linkedin.com/in/joshua-hongg
Highly experienced digital marketing manager with over 8 years of experience in managing and developing efficient marketing campaigns. Skilled in project management as well as team leadership. I have increased product sales from 4% to 11% at GlowSta Inc.
Work Experience:
Content Writer
Bunnzie
June, 2021 – March, 2023
- Written over 250 pieces of content for Hbea and Vosal.
- Tasked with creating social media posts for our clients accounts, and helped increase engagement from 4% to 22%.
Digital Marketing Manager
XTY Co.
January, 2018 – December, 2020
- Tasked with conducting market research to identify demographics.
- Analyzed market trends which have helped find the right campaigns for the company’s services.
Education:
Computer Engineer, Masters Degree
University of California
2013-2017
- Engineering and Programming department
- Graduated with honors
Additional Training:
- Cisco Certification, 2016
- JAVA Certification, 2014
- C++ Certification, 2015
- UX/UI Design Certification, 2018
Skills:
Digital Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Content Marketing
- SEO and SEM
- Content Writing
- Editing
Technical Skills
- Microsoft Office
- Adobe Creative
- Airtable, ClickUp, Asana
Interpersonal Skills
- Communication
- Adaptability
- Leadership
Language proficiency:
German
- Spoken: C2
- Written: C2
- Listening: C2
Final Thoughts
The main focus of your functional resume should be your skills and achievements. This means that a functional resume is not supposed to highlight your chronological work history.
In order to write a functional resume, you need to start by stating a summary or objective paragraph, then create a skills section that emphasizes your most valuable skills.
When it comes to the work section of the functional resume, highlight your skills instead of just listing the job title. Remember to always tailor the information to the job you’re applying for!
A well-crafted functional resume can really help you stand out as a potential new employee. So, make sure to showcase your unique strengths and mention what your qualifications can bring to the table.
