Before you go on to create a functional resume, it’s vital to know when you should actually use one. There are different types of resume, each suited to a different purpose. Jobseekers choose a functional resume format when they intend to focus on their skills, talents and achievements rather that their employment history. You should, therefore, write a functional resume when you have long gaps in your work history.

Given below are some of the most important tips that you can use to make an impressive functional resume.

#1. Make a List of Your Key Skills

Since the main goal of a functional resume is to highlight your skills, you should create a list of the skill sets that you carry. Don’t think which skills are going to be relevant and which one’s are not. Just write down all the skills and accomplishments. So, what can you actually include?

See these examples –

Volunteering experience

Computer proficiency

Language skills

Hobbies, passions and interests

Club memberships

Community affiliations

Academic qualification

There are multiple skills that happen to be transferable across a wide range of industries. For example, you can use your computer skills for multiple jobs. Language skills too will apply to several industries.

#2. Narrow Down the List of Skills to Make Yourself Saleable

What’s the next step? Well, now it’s time to narrow down the list of skills that you have prepared. Keep only those skills on the list that are relevant to the job position you’re applying for. The point is to make yourself as saleable to the employer as possible. Remember, you’ll need to highlight different skill sets for different job positions that you may seek. Depending on the specific requirements, you can also divide the range of skills into multiple categories to attract the employer’s attention immediately.

#3. Talk about Problems That You Solved

Now, it’s time to show the employer how you solved a specific problem or a set of problems. Since it’s a functional resume, you don’t need to mention the time (a chronological order). Just talk about your different experiences and how you achieved something extraordinary. Depending on your individual requirements, you can talk about your management experience, supervisory skills or customer service talents.

#4. Include Employment History at the End

The work history should be placed at the end of the resume. This is certainly not the main focus of the resume. That doesn’t however mean you should leave out this section completely. You can write about your work history at the bottom of the resume in a reverse chronological order.

James Tomerson writes regularly on career, education and latest job trends. To read more from him, you can visit Jobdiagnosis.com, which also offers jobseekers a free career aptitude test to choose a career which is in tune with their career, aptitude and skills.

For many jobseekers, writing the CV is the toughest thing to do during a job search. Since it’s never like one-size-fits-all, applicants need to create a customized CV each time they apply for a new job. But most of the candidates don’t bother to tailor the CV according to the specific requirements of a potential employer. And that’s exactly where they go wrong!

To save both time and energy, applicants pick up free CV templates to create their CV. Is it a right or wrong approach? That’s exactly what we are going to discuss in this article.

Free CV templates abound. You can find plenty of free templates that you can use to create your CV. Whether or not you should make use of free CV templates is a matter of concern. There are two schools of thoughts regarding this.

One school of thought believes that it’s never a best idea to use free templates for writing your CV. Since there’s stiff competition for scoring a job offer, applicants can easily reduce their chances of attracting the employer’s attention by choosing a free CV template.

Employers truly hate seeing similar CV formats or copies. Most of the employers reject an applicant’s candidacy when they see you have sent them a similar CV like others have done. Doing so, therefore, is never going to set you apart among the huge crowd of applicants.

And yes, there’s another school of thought that favors the idea of using free CV templates. Free templates can really prove to be of great help for jobseekers who have never applied for a job before or have never seen what a CV looks like. That means, free templates are a strong base for conducting some research on writing an impressive CV.

While browsing the internet, you’ll come across a wide range of CV writing services who claim to write the best CV in order to increase your chances of getting hired for a specific job. There are countless free templates that you’ll come across. The best idea is to use these templates to enhance your CV writing skills. You can learn a lot by analyzing the free layouts.

If you have never written a CV before, a free layout can be a good starting point. So, the best idea is to collect a couple of free templates and review them closely. Check out the major elements in these free templates. And find out how you can create a unique and better CV from these layouts, available to you for free.

In any case, you should always try to create a CV which looks unique to the employer. If you want to achieve success in wooing the employer, it is vital to attract their attention immediately. Therefore, find out what the employer is exactly looking for. And then create a CV which provides an effective solution to the employer’s problems. And you can easily beat out the competition, stand out in the crowd and increase your chances of landing a job before it’s too late.

James Tomerson writes regularly on career, education and latest job trends. To read more from him, you can visit Jobdiagnosis.com, which also offers jobseekers a free career aptitude test to choose a career which is in tune with their career, aptitude and skills.

The Resume is the First Step in Job Hunting

The resume plays an important role in the job hunting process. It serves as an employer’s introduction to a candidate, with highlights of the candidate’s work experience, education, achievements, and objectives. A well written resume will help to distinguish a candidate from other candidates seeking the same position. In today’s job market, competition for jobs is fierce, and the resume is a job-seeker’s first opportunity to gain an advantage over the competition.

The Resume is More Than Standard Prose

Resume writing is different from styles of writing used for most documents. It is far from verse, of course, and yet it is pointed prose. It serves the solitary purpose of establishing communications with a third party who will finally come to impersonally elevate the document into the group worthy of further consideration, with an interview likely to be offered, or reject it out of hand as not warranting any additional attention. The first status promises a continuation of the opportunity sought by the candidate. The second spells the end of that opportunity. Certain techniques of writing can be used to improve a resume’s chances of attracting continuing employer interest. A good resume benefits from a writer’s use of good resume writing techniques.

Perfect Spelling and Grammar are Expected

Perhaps most important of all is to ensure that the resume does not include any grammatical or spelling errors. A simple spelling and grammar check with a word processor such as Microsoft Word will identify most spelling errors and blatant grammatical errors. For grammar, though, a close reading and evaluation is needed. A second set of eyes can also lend a more objective point of view to the process, and someone who was not involved in drafting of the resume will be better able to detect more obscure grammatical issues. In many cases, too, words that are properly spelled are still not the words intended for use, such as manger included where manager is intended, and a spell checker will not detect this error. Resume reviewers will expect accuracy and correctness, and the writer must ensure the same.

Write in the Third Person

Resumes are always written in a formal style, and you must avoid the use of the first person when writing your resume. The writer should avoid using words that refer to him or herself, such as “I,” “me,” or “my.” A resume is a formal, narrative document and should not be in any way autobiographical in style or tone.

Show the Best Things First

A resume writer should include the most important details of the resume near the top of the first page. Reviewers of resumes, whether in human resources or at the executive level, are forced to skim resumes quickly, looking only for high points and appealing features that dominate pages. For that reason, the superior points of a resume must be made to stand out without the use of any special font features or formats. Placement at the top of the first page is the best way to accomplish this.

Jargon Should Be Simplified

Be careful to explain technical terms in less technical language. Even when a job being applied for requires specialized knowledge and skills, in many cases a resume will be read by someone who does not have that same experience or knowledge before it is ever passed on to someone who does have that experience. Terms must be comprehensible to the non-technical reader.

Sentence Fragments Are Allowed

One significant difference between resume writing and the composition of documents such as reports, articles, and essays is that in resume writing, sentence fragments are not only appropriate, but are expected. No one would include a statement such as “Developed five million dollars in sales leading to an increase in gross profits of 33%” in an article or report. This phrase could not stand by itself in a document, and would be rejected as a fragment. In a resume, however, this is perfectly appropriate and even especially effective. This is not to say that rules of grammar do not apply to resume writing, but just that they are secondary to accomplishment of the intended effect.

Reach the Top of the Stack

In many cases, employers receive voluminous applications for any available job, along with stacks of resumes of varying styles and quality. Better-written resumes, and resumes that catch the reviewer’s eye, go immediately to the top of the stack for further review, while others often wind up filed away or discarded. A candidate will never get the opportunity to meet with an employer for face-to-face discussion if the candidate’s resume isn’t even read by the employer. Getting a resume read is a candidate’s first objective when seeking a job, so writing, editing and proofreading your resume carefully and thoroughly are crucial steps you must take in order to get an opportunity to meet with your future employer and tell them in person why you are the right person for the job.

This guest post was written by Dunya Carter, a blogger from Australia who is currently working for Recruitment Agency Sydney as a consultant.

So, you’re reading through your one millionth (or so it seems) position description, clicking that Apply Here button, and wondering when you will ever get an interview. You’re feeling defeated and wondering what is wrong with you. Why can’t you land a job?

In today’s almost non-existent job market, an unemployed job-seeker faces gloomy odds. This is why you must ensure that you do everything you can to make yourself stand out from the hundreds of other applicants pursuing the same position.

Your first impression to a company during the application process is your resume. Your resume is your chance to show your FACE, convince the employer to contact you further, and to stand out over your fellow applicants.

To ensure your resume gets you that call for an interview, follow the rule of FACE – Focus, Advertise, Consolidate, Edit. Make your resume one that is notable and impressive – a face to remember!

Focus

A basic mistake that many applicants make is having only one resume to apply for all jobs. No job is exactly the same, so you cannot expect one resume to be relevant for all jobs. Read through the position description for the specific job you are applying, pulling out key words and requirements for which the company will be looking. Tailor your resume to these, so the employer will mentally match you with the position. Many times, employers will count key words in your resume that match the position description or even use a program that automatically scours your resume for related words. Be careful not to just copy and paste, though!

Advertise

Look at your abilities and experience as a product to market. Why does a company need you? What makes you better than your competitors? What can a company expect from you? You must represent yourself as a solution to their problem. They need a specific job filled, and you are the perfect person for that role because of X, Y, Z. Use quantifiable ways to describe results you’ve achieved in the past.

“Removed redundant processes resulting in a 75% reduction in production time”
“Increased ROI by 40% by eliminating superfluous departmental expenditures”
“Generated monthly revenue of $100k or more, exceeding minimum sales goals”

Consolidate

If an employer is reading through hundreds of resumes, they are not going to have the time to read through each one in detail. As a part of the “Focus” step listed above, be sure to consolidate your experiences and skills. List the most impressive first. Be clear and concise in your achievements and responsibilities. Limit your bullets to the responsibilities pertinent to the job for which you are applying. Use your space wisely to have the maximum impact with the fewest words. It is advised to keep your resume no longer than 2 pages, covering a maximum of 15 years’ experience.

Edit

Think about it – if you don’t take the time and effort to ensure your resume is free of grammatical errors, will an employer think that you care enough to make sure you do your job correctly? Whether you are someone who cares about the quality of your work or just someone who does the bare minimum is revealed by how you portray yourself in your resume. Take the time to read through your resume, correct any mistakes, and ensure that your resume reflects yourself in a way that will cause employers to take notice. If writing or editing isn’t your strength, then take advantage of an online grammar checking tool or hire a professional resume writer to help you. Taking this extra step will help guarantee that your resume isn’t tossed out simply because you didn’t invest the time to edit.

Next time you start to click that Apply Here button, first stop and take a look over your resume and see what kind of FACE you are sending out. Is it one an employer would want to see again or try to forget?

Dan Hinckley is a partner at Mangoco, a Virginia Website Design company. He also runs a number of blogs and can be found on twitter @dhinckley

I’ve never  been a big fan of resume writing. Truth be told, I dislike writing resumes and cover letters too. Some people write resumes for a living so if you’re like me and don’t like writing them, you can always farm the job out and pay someone to do it.

Having said that, you can save yourself some money over the long term and learn ways to better construct your resume and not only provide written information that helps you get interviews – which of course is the main goal of the resume in the first place – while also designing the resume in a way that is visually appealing too.

People often forget that your resume is your calling card and they often further forget that there are plenty of options available to not only write and design your resume in an appealing way but also to promote it and get it in front of the people who need to see it, namely hiring managers who are looking for people like you.

If you’re a visual person like I am, you probably want to actually see some sample resumes to help you put together a resume that works for you. In that regard, you can utilize resumes that you see online to mirror the best parts and incorporate some of the components into your resume too.

If you have a resume and it’s not getting the results you’re looking for – meaning that you’re not getting job interviews – and assuming you aren’t applying for the wrong jobs, perhaps your resume could use a makeover. There is no point firing off your resume to dozens or hundreds of companies if you’re not getting positive results and if that is the case you seriously need to consider rewriting and/or redesigning your resume to help you get the results you want.

Remember that there is both a visual component to your resume – how does your resume actually “look” – and of course there is the actual written part – what you’ve actually written about yourself and your background – and both matter. When I worked in recruitment I recall opening many, many resumes and often I could immediately tell  if the resume was going to be a good one or bad one based on the design and style. First impressions do count and the same certainly holds true with your resume.

While it was difficult if not impossible to tell if the resume had been professionally written by a resume writer or written by the person themselves, the point was that these nice-looking resumes provided the reader (the hiring manager) with a great first impression of the person and can influence whether or not the person will get an interview(s) for the job(s) they are applying for.

The best part is that with the Internet at your fingertips, you can search for options that enable you to see how other people – including professional resume writers – are designing resumes for themselves and their clients. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel and with a bit of time and effort, you can find resumes that not only suit your personality and background but also your industry as well, which is another key point that people often don’t consider.

If you’re a lawyer, you’re probably going to want to keep your resume professional and clean.

If on the other hand you’re a graphics designer, you can afford to be a bit more creative and show a potential employer your design skills that you’d actually if they were to hire you.

If you’re looking for some sample resumes to get you started, be sure to check out Resume Index which is a new website I came across that can help you get a resume look and feel that you’re happy with.

If you have trouble writing a resume, you might consider using a resume template. This is especially true if you’re not very good with styles and fonts and all the nice stuff you can use to format your resume and make it nice looking.

Part of building a great resume is the look of it. The content of course is key but the look and style that you pick can help to ensure it gets read. This is especially true if you are a graphics designer or are in another artistic profession where your graphics skills are necesary to promote.

In that regard here are some interesting resume templates you might want to check out if you’re looking at redesigning the style and look of your resume.

Work Awesome: This page has some really funky designs especially if you’re a graphics person or perhaps are involved in another field where a hiring manager would appreciate seeing some creativity when viewing your resume.

Job Mob: This site shows some professional looking templates and clean looks that organize the documents really nicely.

Job Mob II: Another page from Job Mob with some more really cool looking resume styles.

Lifeclever.com: If you’re looking for a more standard look but want a clean and professional look too, check this page out. It shows the before and after shot of how a resume can go from blah to yeah! Plus it shows you all the steps taken to get to the final product.

Blue Sky Resumes: Here is an example of a great looking professional resume from a professional resume writing firm. I just love the look of this resume. Plus they also have a button you can click to show you the strategy they used to design this resume.

I also wrote a page on Hubpages with some additional thoughts on using a resume template and some tips on what you need to remember in general terms when writing your resume.

Here's my resume in a new pocket-sized format

As the name would suggest, it’s a business card with a brief outline of your resume and work experience and can be used by job searchers who are looking for an interesting alternative to leave a positive impression when they have a chance encounter or perhaps a quick conversation with someone who could positively influence their job search.

Here’s the description and idea behind the product:

Resume Business Cards is a phenomenon which has recently aided people in obtaining employment. While traditional methods of applying for jobs, such as online job search engines, have been vital for people to find employment, innovative tools such as resume business cards have provided individuals with an additional means of leaving a lasting impression. A resume business card briefly details your professional profile, listing your prior employment, and discussing key achievements and accolades in your career.

Often, people have productive spur the moment conversations with people who might be useful in their job hunt. Whether the individual is a hiring manager, business owner, or executive, every contact that is initiated could potentially lead to a job. In normal business activities, it is quite common for people to exchange business cards, and the resume business card provides you with a way to exchange your contact information with someone. With an abundance of information on each resume business card, the person will easily be reminded of your prior work experience and have your contact information handy.

Personally I think it’s an interesting idea and could be something that you could use during job fairs, networking events or a chance encounter with someone when you don’t have a resume handy but want to exchange contact info and leave a great impression on the person.

In the old days before the Internet people often used interesting methods to get their resume in front of people. I remember hearing about a guy who tried printing his resume on coffee mugs figuring that hiring managers who received them would have to look at his resume every time they drank a cup of coffee and might eventually have a job for him.

It worked too.

He did get a job and perhaps his ingenuity was part of the reason he got hired by someone who received a mug.

If you want to read more about the Resume Business Card resume option that I referred to above along with other resume options like a Resume Website, check it out here.

You can see a description of the Resume Business Card product if you scroll down about 3/4 of the way down the page.

Their Resume Website is an interesting idea too especially if you work in a field where an electronic version of your resume might impress a potential employer or where originality is valued.

A few weeks ago I wrote on a free PDF that Jimmy Sweeney from Career Jimmy has created to help you write better resumes.

Today I’d like to share another free PDF that he’s written to help you with your cover letter.

Many people dislike writing cover letters and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they are perhaps unaware of how to write them well.

Check out Jimmy’s free PDF called Top Ten Secrets of The World’s Greatest Cover Letter and learn about some excellent tips he has written to write better cover letters.

Among other things he discusses the ideal length of your cover letter, the importance of properly addressing the person you’re writing to and probably most important the one thing that people often forget to ask for in their cover letter.

Jimmy Sweeney is the owner and founder of Career Jimmy, a company that has created online products to help you improve your career. Specifically he has written a free PDF called Top 10 Secrets of An Amazing Resume that you can download right now.

And it’s free!

I remember first finding out about Jimmy several years ago and I traded a few emails with him regarding his products. You can check his prodcuts out in more detail in the Tools section of this website.

Get the free Top 10 Secrets of an Amazing Resume PDF and start learning how to improve your resume and improve the chances you get the job interview.

The thing I think you’ll appreciate about Jimmy’s work is that it’s produced by someone who is a business owner who has received and reviewed hundreds of resumes, is a resume and cover letter guru and is also a copy writer by trade.

This person happens to be Jimmy himself.

Check out his free PDF and hopefully you’ll find the suggestions useful and ones that you can incorporate in your own resume.

Warning! Speed-reading zone ahead.

You’ve probably head the old adage (or a variation of it) that you have about 20 seconds to impress someone reading your resume or they’ll move onto the next person and throw yours out or hit the delete button, whatever the case may be.

It really depends on who is reading the resume I guess but in my experience I would certainly suggest that 10-20 seconds is a reasonable amount of time to expect that your resume will be seen by many of the people who might read it whether a hiring manager or recruiter.

This comes with a few provisos as least as far as I’m concerned…

If you have a special skillset or type of experience that is rare, I can say that I would spend a bit more time with someone even if their resume didn’t look great if candidates like this person didn’t grow on trees and there was a premium for people with the skillset or experience.

In IT we often found that experience with a certain platform or technology might help to put a person who would otherwise be considered average into the “must interview” category if they had experience that simply wasn’t easy to find.

In general terms though I would agree that when you have dozens or hundreds of resumes to read through, you’re most likely going to quickly skim most of them in less than 20 seconds and move onto the next one.

What eliminates you in 20 seconds or less?

There are a number of ways your resume typically gets eliminated in 20 seconds or less in my experience and here are the big ones:

1. Your resume itself: I can’t always quickly describe what a great resume “looks” like but I know what a crappy one looks like and they tend to go out the window and into the trash very quickly. We help people who help themselves and having a lousy looking resume doesn’t help anyone.

2. Your current job function: If you don’t immediately look like someone who fits the job you’re applying for, you’ll typically get eliminated because you not only don’t fit the job but apparently can’t read the job description and realize that you don’t fit. People don’t like wasting time with people who can’t follow instructions or who can’t apply for jobs that they’re qualified for.

3. Your education: I have dealt with employers who specifically won’t hire people who (for example) don’t have a university degree. Not a diploma. Not a certificate. A 4 year university degree. It might not be fair but that’s how they roll.

4. Your employers: Many employers want to hire someone who is working for a competitor and won’t settle for less. They typically won’t mention this in the job description of course but they’ll tell their recruiter(s) that this is what they want even if they don’t tell you. Some employers won’t hire people who are currently working for a big company or a small one, some won’t hire from certain companies or industries. It can get pretty confusing to be honest but it happens.

5. Your location: This is always a tough one for people to understand. I’ve had people from other countries emailing me their resume for a local job who get surprised when I tell them the employer is most likely going to hire someone local. And why wouldn’t they prefer someone local? Relocating isn’t something you do on a whim and employers know this so they tend not to put faith in people who live out of town, state/province or country. If you’ve already moved there, great. You’ll possibly be considered for the job but anyone can say “sure, I’ll relocate if I get the job” but if the hiring manager has been burned before by someone saying this, they won’t believe you.

6. Your writing: Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, even an ugly looking font can kill your chances and can often be the tipping point when you’re in the “maybe” pile but the hiring manager simply uses your lack of attention to detail to move you to the “no” pile. Your resume is your calling card and something the “little” things aren’t so little and can ruin your chances at a job interview. You might have the right experience that the hiring manager is looking for but unless you spell it out in a way that they can see, they might look past you if they don’t quickly that what you’re offering is what they need.