Page 78 - Complete Idiot's Guide to The Perfect Resume

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Part 1 ➤ Plan to Succeed

But since the early ‘80s, the rate of job and career change has increased
to such a point that it’s now typical for a professional to shift careers
three or four times during his adult life and to move to a new job once
every three years. In this new climate, job-hopping is now called diver-
sity, and many employers consider diversity an asset as long as the job
seeker’s rate of change is in line with the average for the industry.
Job-Hunt Hint How did this employment trend affect resume writing? It brought
about the need for a new format: the functional resume. As an alterna-
If you want to be defined by
tive to the chronological format, the functional format works wonders
your skills instead of your work
for adventurous professionals such as the following:
history, the functional format is a
wonderful one to use. ➤ Career changers
➤ Parents reentering the workforce
➤ People who took time off to travel or pursue a personal project
➤ Heavy-duty volunteers
➤ Students fresh out of school
➤ Survivors of recent or not-so-recent bouts of unemployment
➤ Entrepreneurs making the transition back into the corporate
world
Terms of Employment
➤ Folks who’ve had the same responsibilities for years and years at
The functional resume is also multiple job sites
referred to as the skills resume
because the body of the resume Do you fit into any of these categories? If so, read on to find out how
focuses on skill headings. you can present yourself in a functional resume that will float your
potential employer’s boat.

What’s Your Function?

The functional format presents your accomplishments under skill head-
ings (instead of under job-title headings, as in the chronological for-
mat), giving you the freedom to prioritize your accomplishments by
significance rather than by chronology.
Job-Hunt Hint Thus, the functional resume format enables you to show off your skills
to a potential employer. By placing your achievement statements front
To compare the structures of the
and center, you put your best foot forward. This format enables you to
chronological and functional for-
define yourself by your skills instead of your work history.
mats, look at the functional
template in this chapter and As you can see from the following template, Work History is a very
then flip back to the chronolog- concise section at the bottom of the resume, and achievement state-
ical template in Chapter 4, ments are placed in the body of the resume according to skill headings.
“Chronologically Speaking.”

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