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How to write a functional résumé

If you are changing careers, have gaps in your employment history, or your work experience is more varied, a functional résumé (also known as a CV) might be a better résumé for you.

Task: Read this article to learn how to write a functional résumé.

A functional (or skills-based) résumé focuses on your key skills rather than on your employment history. This is different to a chronological résumé, which focuses on your employment history and the responsibilities you had for each job.

A functional résumé typically includes the following:

1. Contact information

Your name, location (optional), phone number, and email. If you have a LinkedIn profile, then you can include the link.

2. Profile

This can either be a statement about your employment goals or an overview of yourself and what you bring to a job and employer. You can highlight your skills and strengths, any relevant qualifications or certificates, or any notable achievements. You might like to title this “Personal Statement", “Career Goal”, “Professional Profile”, “Summary”, or “Personal Profile". You can even leave a title out for section.

It should be three to four sentences at the top of the first page of your résumé.

3. Details of relevant skills

This is where a functional résumé differs most from the chronological format. To write a functional résumé, identify some of the skills you have, then list your responsibilities and achievements from any job you have had to demonstrate how you have applied those skills. You can also use relevant examples from outside your formal employment, for example volunteering, community clubs, or your education.

For a job seeker with experience in hospitality working as waitstaff and as a restaurant supervisor, this section of their résumé might look like the example below:

Customer service

  • Greeted and seated guests, took orders, delivered food and drinks for a section of 10 tables with over 40 guests per shift.
  • Answered all guest enquiries in a pleasant and timely manner. Maintained a 95% customer satisfaction rate over two years.

Communication

  • Answered the phone, took bookings, and managed emails, online enquiries, and bookings. Answered over 30 enquiries per day.
  • As a supervisor, communicated expectations with all team members. Informed staff of over 15 daily specials.

Teamwork

  • As a supervisor, led teams of up to 20 wait and bar staff to deliver excellent customer service, trained staff in all aspects of customer service.
  • Worked with kitchen staff to ensure the customers’ needs were met and all allergy and dietary requirements were catered for.

4. Employment history

The employment history section of a functional résumé is shorter and less detailed than that of a chronological résumé. You might like to title this “Work experience", “Experience”, or “Career history". If you don’t have any past employment, you can list volunteer or community work that you have done.

Here’s an example of what this section might look like for the same job seeker:

  • Restaurant Supervisor, Rob’s Steakhouse, 2016 to present
  • Waitstaff, Sam’s Seafood Restaurant, 2012 to 2016
  • Waitstaff, The Italian Oven Restaurant, 2010 to 2012

5. Education and qualifications

This is where you list details of your education, qualifications, and training courses you have completed. You should include the name of the course or qualification, the organisation where you studied, and the date the course was completed. If you are still studying, you can include an “expected completion date”.

The order in which your education, skills, and employment history appear in your résumé can change depending on the job you’re applying for and what you want to highlight. If your qualifications or education are more relevant to the role you are applying for, then place this section after your personal profile.

6. Licences and certifications

List any licences, checks, and certifications you have that are work-related. For example, Police Checks, Forklift Licenses, Working with Vulnerable People/Children Checks, Certifications for Working on a Construction Site, and First Aid Certificates.

7. Additional information (optional)

This is where you list any extra information you’d like to share with the potential employer. This could be interests, hobbies, volunteering, community work, or anything else that is relevant to your job application that isn’t included elsewhere in your résumé. What you include here is up to you but make sure it highlights who you are as a person.

8. Referees

Include referee details if requested in the job advertisement, or if it is standard practice or recommended for the role you are applying for. Otherwise, you can state “Referees are available upon request”.