Skills Based Resume Template

Functional Resume Guide: Template And Tips

Learn about the skills-based resume format and get tips for writing your own.

A functional resume, also known as a skills-based resume, is an alternative resume format that prioritizes your skills and how youâve used them over your work experience.

Some people choose this resume format when transitioning into a new career phase to better emphasize their transferable skills. However, itâs important to use this format strategically so that recruiters and hiring managers can easily find the information theyâre looking for on your resume.

In this article, weâll discuss when you might choose to write a functional resume and how to format a skills-based resume with a customizable template that walks you through the process.

How To Write A Skills

To write a skills-based resume, follow these steps:

To Transfer Into New Industries And Careers

Sometimes job seekers apply for careers in industries theyve never worked in before, while others may even go for roles they dont have experience with. But just because you havent worked in a specific position before doesnt mean that you havent gained the skills you need to get the job done. Often, skills from different industries are transferable. For example, management and communication skills are generally relevant regardless of whether you work in software or transportation.

A career change doesnt mean any previous work history you have becomes irrelevant it just means that you may need to format your resume to make your transferable skills apparent.

Functional resumes show hiring managers your relevant skills before your work history section, which can demonstrate that your qualifications go above and beyond a specific industry or job title.

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Group Your Cv Skills By Type

Your skills based CV highlights your skills section more than other CV sections, so listing the right skills is important. Follow these steps to list them correctly:

1. Before writing your CV, think of any transferable skills youve gained in your previous roles.

2. Then, read each job description carefully to find the skills employers are specifically looking for.

3. Next, write down 35 skills in your CV skills section that relate to the job youre applying for.

4. Under each skill, write 34 bullet points proving youre capable of this skill.

Remember to use action verbs to start each bullet point. CV action verbs like created, coached, and discovered convey what youve accomplished in each task and set a confident tone for your application.

Also, remember to use hard numbers and specific details to provide context to employers.

This is an example of a CV skills section for a community coordinator role at a tech company:

Transferable skills section on a skills based CV

TECHNICAL

• Utilised Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and InDesign to create personalised graphics and infographics for businesses as a freelancer
• Taught HTML and CSS to online audiences of 50+ using Zoom

INTERPERSONAL

CUSTOMER SERVICE

How To List Work Experience On A Resume

Work experience on a resume is one of those things thats easy to learn, hard to master.

Each work experience entry should contain the following:

• Achievements or responsibilities

Now, if you want to create a work experience section that stands out, you want to focus on quantifiable achievements. What this means is, instead of creating an entry like:

Carried out sales operations

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Layout For A Skills Based Resume

The ideal layout or format for a skills based resume would look something like this:

Your skills based resume may end up in a different order but let me explain my choices.

Writing A Professional Summary

Having the professional summary start off your resume is a great way to quickly summarize your professional qualifications. You let the employer know right away that you are a qualified candidate.

The professional summary should go right above the skills section.

Filling Out Your Skills Section

The summary is also a great way to lead in to your skills section. Your summary gives a general idea of your talents, while the skills section comes along and solidifies the individual skills that make you fit for the job.

How you organize your skills is a personal preference, but most people use a bullet point style of listing skills to make each one stand out. Its also a good idea to use a column type of structure to use as little space as possible to list many skills.

Laying Out Work Experience

On a skills based resume, the work experience section should include examples of you using the skills you listed above.

Writing Your Skills Based Cv

Hopefully the above guide and example CV has given you a good steer on how to write your own functional or skills based CV.

As I mentioned, I would only write one of these style CVs if you have been directly requested to by an employer.

Otherwise you should stick with a standard chronological CV, as they are most widely accepted CV format across the UK and probably the world.

Good luck with your job search!

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To Compensate For A Limited Job History

Have you been working in the same role for a long time with little career growth? Then a functional or skills-based resume might be ideal for you to use during your job search.

Even if youve held the same position for a long time either with a single employer or multiple companies that doesnt mean you havent expanded your skills along the way. Youve probably taken on a variety of responsibilities and worn many different hats because of how experienced you are.

In this situation, a chronological resume can make your career history look thin or stagnant. On the other hand, a functional resume can show off the additional skills and responsibilities that you have under your belt outside of your job description. This can help hiring managers to see that even though your title hasnt changed, youve still grown as a professional.

What Is A Functional Resume

A functional resume, also called a skills-based resume, has a skills section before the work history and education sections. The skills section in a functional resume comes after your contact information and professional objective and is typically divided into different skill categories. Under each skill heading, you list your specific skills or achievements related to that category.

A functional resume still includes your work experience, but the emphasis is on your professional skills and achievements first and your work history and education second. The skills sections can include achievements and job duties from a variety of previous roles. The skills sections in a functional resume may look like this:

• Developed social media campaign that increased engagement by 75%
• Conducted UX research to assist with the creation of new product manuals
• Increased regional online sales by 20%
• Experienced in analytical techniques for problem-solving

Management Skills

• Hired, trained, and managed a team of eight employees
• Conducted weekly meetings to review progress and set goals
• Organized monthly team-building activities to increase employee engagement

Work history in a functional resume is shorter and less detailed than in a chronological resume, only including brief details about responsibilities and duties.

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What Is The Functional Resume Format

Among the alternatives, one of the most popular resume formats is the functional resume. This resume format deemphasizes work history and puts skills and accomplishments front and center. After your name and contact information, you go straight into your most relevant skills and accomplishments. Your work history is listed with minimal detail at the bottom of the resume.

Here is a functional resume example:

Functional Resume Template. Click to Enlarge.

A functional resume may be appealing in the following instances:

• Youve just graduated and have no employment experience. Students can benefit from the functional resume because it focuses on skills listed in bullet points, rather than experience.
• Youre making a career change. If you have some work experience but it isnt relevant to the position youre going for, a functional resume might help you highlight how your abilities qualify you for the job.
• You have a long history of gaps between jobs. You can use the functional resume structure to hide your work experience gaps because it focuses on skills.

Unfortunately, for the same reasons the functional resume is attractive to some job seekers, it can cause suspicion in recruiters.

When To Use A Skills

There are a few situations in which a skills-based resume would be most appropriate when applying for a new job. These situations include:

• You are changing your career or the industry in which you work and have little to no experience in the new field.

• You have gaps in your work history that exceed several months or a year.

• You have recently graduated from high school or college and have little work experience.

• You have only held short-term jobs or internships rather than extended periods of experience in one position.

• You have several previous work positions that are similar.

• You have held the same position for several years.

If you are experiencing one or many of these situations, a skills-based resume is likely the best option. However, if you have a robust work history in several different positions in which you obtained increasing responsibility and advanced in ranks, you should consider using a chronological resume when applying to new positions.

Related:

The following is a skills-based resume template that you can use when formatting your own:

Qualifications summary: Use this section to highlight your best skills and traits as they relate to the job you are applying for. Include three to five relevant achievements or skills as well as any work or educational history that may emphasize your suitability for the position.

Relevant skills: Include three-to-four bullets that have as many specific and quantifiable examples as possible.

Skill #1

Skill #2

Skill #3

Sales

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Are Skills Needed On A Resume

Yes, absolutely! Skills are a valuable thing to have on your resume, no matter how you describe them.

For example, using a skills section wont always be the best way to describe your abilities. And just because you dont have a skills section doesnt mean you still wont have to describe your skills in a different way.

When To Use A Skills Based Resume

Here are some reasons to consider when you should use a skills based resume format:

• Youve served in internships, volunteer work or temporary positions
• You have large gaps in your employment history
• Youre switching to a new field or industry and have unrelated work experience
• Youre a recent graduate with little to no work experience
• All of your experience is from different positions within the same company

These are some of the most common instances when a skills based resume is the best format to use when styling your resume.

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What Is A Skills Based Resume

A skills based resume is a type of resume format that uses your specific skills and abilities to show how qualified you are for the job.

Your skills can come from many different places education & schooling, past work experience, hobby work, or self study. But regardless of where they come from, they need to be organized in a way thats quick and easy to understand.

Skills based resumes aim to show off your technical abilities above all else so that you can let the employer know that you know what youre doing.

What Is A Functional Resume Template

A functional resume template is a fantastic option for anyone whoâs starting their career or switching to a different field. The focus is on your professional skills rather than your work history.

Functional resume templates are a format that groups your experience under skill categories instead of job titles to emphasize transferable skills by listing examples of your abilities from both work and personal experiences.

Functional resumes are perfect for highlighting your experience and are easy to write with our already made template structure.

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Tips For Writing A Good Functional Resume

1. Use Quantifiable Achievements

Anyone can say they have soft skills like communicating well or being adept at problem-solving. If you really want to impress employers, you need to show them that you can get results. If you increased sales or customer engagement or saved your previous employer money, include the numbers in your skills section.

Whenever possible, use real numbers and achievements to prove your professional worth. Theyre much more impactful than listing soft skills and personality traits.

2. Tailor It to the Employer

Your resume isnt for you, its for the employer. You need to show them that youre the right person for the job. Try not to use it as an opportunity to tout all the skills youve accrued over the years. Instead, tailor them to the job description and employer that youre aiming for.

Use keywords from the job posting itself and stick to the skills and achievements that are relevant to the role.

3. Dont Try to Hide Information

Using a functional resume may get your foot in the door, but if you do get an interview, potential employers will probably ask you for more information about your work history, including employment gaps or job hopping. One way or another, youll have to address your job details at some point.

4. Use a Cover Letter

5. Include a Summary or Objective

6. Consider a Combination Resume When Possible

What Type Of Skills Should You Put On Your Resume

Professional resume skills are a combination of two different types of skills that will go on your resume.

But only the first set of skills, your technical skills, will actually require their own section.

Technical or Hard Job Skills

Your technical skills, sometimes called your hard skills, are professional skills that apply to a specific career path, industry, or job.

For example, a technical skill for a medical assistant would be an ability to draw blood from a patient. Only somebody in a medical field-related job would be expected to know how to draw blood. But specifically for a medical assistant, it is often a crucial and required skill.

If a job listing calls for lots of these type of job or industry specific skills then you will probably want to have your very own skills section.

Sample Technical Skills

So now that we know technical skills are the skills we will be listing in their own section, how can we know which of our technical skills to add? Lets take a look at a sample job listing to find out:

Sample Job Listing

Training will be provided for this position.

Essential Duties : * Searching websites for applicable IT information * Posting/data entry within our systems * Working with our applications and databases * Working with our spreadsheets to track production * Other Research projects as assigned

Lets go through and see which requirements listed would be good additions to our skills section.

Working with our applications and databases

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Who Is A Skills

• Job candidates with limited work history
• Job candidates with large employment gaps
• Job candidates pursuing a career change

In these situations, creating a resume that highlights your work experience section would show a lack of experience.. That can make it significantly more difficult to impress a hiring manager. However, if you have lots of skills, you can position those at the top and give recruiters a reason to want to continue reading your resume.

Why Recruiters Dislike The Functional Resume

Recruiters dislike functional resumes for two reasons. First, some job applicants use the functional resume to conceal information. For example, it may be used to cover up large gaps in employment or a lack of experience in general, since the main focus is on skills rather than career history. Second, it is difficult to read since the meat of the resume, the experience and education sections, is not featured at the very top.

Our recruiter contact told us a story from his own job search history, back when he tried using a functional resume to make the jump from sales to the HR industry:

I actually paid someone to do for me. Whenever I would hand it to someone who was screening at a job fair, I would watch their eyes, and they would skip right past everything at the top of the resume and go straight to my work history and look at the job titles. I would repeatedly watch them do this. Then I finally got myself into the HR industry where I was screening resumes and I do the exact same thing.

Why do recruiters hate this format?

Youre taking information out of context, said the recruiter. Its easier to BS your way through to make things sound glamorous. Within the context of where took place, it gives me a better idea of whats going on.

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