Why a Functional Resume Won’t Work

Functional ResumeIf you are making a career change, be aware of what to put on your resume and the format. Before I explain why functional resumes won’t work when applying for a job, let me give you a brief explanation of functional resumes.

 

A job seeker who aspires to change his or her career might think of writing a functional resume. How? When a job seeker lists her accomplishments under several different skills and presents her career history in a non-chronological way, she is writing a functional resume. Rather than writing specific details about her past experiences, she writes responsibilities and accomplishments.

However, functional resumes do not work simply because recruiters and interviewers don’t fall for these tricks. They’ve been in this profession for a long time, and they’ve already seen every trick you have. Interviewers can instantly tell when you’re hiding something. They might not know exactly what you’re hiding, which can make them anxious and can cause them to move on to the next applicant.

If you want to change your career, changing your resume completely and covering up your flaws is not how you do it. A proactive and well-planned strategy and forceful networking arewhat you need, not a deceptiveresume or cover letter.

When you write your resume for a certain job, try to be honest, straightforward, and truthful as much as possible. That kind of approach is much better than making a clever functional resume or cover letter that tries to cover up the truth.

Honesty is the best policy—this is what your conscience knew all along. Always remember that the more you try to conceal your lack of experience, the more noticeable it becomes. Your tricks will be your downfall if you try to lie about your skills and abilities. Stand out from the other applicants by telling the truth. If you really want to change your career, there’s nothing wrong withgoing back to the basics and starting to gain experience again.So scrap that functional resume if you’re using it to replace good old-fashioned honesty, hard work, and persistence.

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Alan Carniol

Alan is the creator of Interview Success Formula, a training program that has helped more than 80,000 job seekers to ace their interviews and land the jobs they deserve. Interviewers love asking curveball questions to weed out job seekers. But the truth is, most of these questions are asking about a few key areas. Learn more about how to outsmart tough interviewers by watching this video.