What is a Functional Resume? [9 Examples, Templates and Tips]

Before you start your resume, make a list of your skills organized by category or job title. Be ready to provide examples of how you used each skill to achieve your career goals. If you want additional information on how to nail the writing of each specific section, check out our Ultimate Guide on How to Write a Resume.

Most resumes require the same contact information: full name, phone number, professional email address and general location. You can add information like job-relevant social media accounts or hyperlinks to your professional website or online portfolio as needed.

Sample functional resume contact information:

Most hiring managers spend less than seven seconds scanning your resume before they decide to read on or discard your application. A resume summary sits near the top of your resume to help you persuade hiring managers to review it carefully rather than toss it. Use a summary statement if you have over three years of experience in a related job field or a resume objective if you’re changing careers or have little related experience.

Example of a functional resume resume summary:

Talented Digital Graphic Designer with a strong focus on web page design, promo design and email marketing design. Skilled at creating visually appealing and effective digital assets. Seeking contract opportunities to leverage my expertise in enhancing online presence and driving engagement.

Here’s where a functional resume veers from a timeline-based format like the chronological or combination resume. Instead of tying your accomplishments to previous jobs, you’ll use an optional summary of qualifications to outline three to four major skills or accomplishments from your entire experience history, followed by additional skills sections.

Here’s an example of an effective summary of qualifications from a freelancing graphic designer.

Functional resume sample:

A summary of qualifications only covers a few job-relevant skills. You can create additional skills sections to highlight the rest of your skills, accomplishments and relevant responsibilities. You can list this information under skills sub-sections like interpersonal, soft, hard or technical skills. These skill sections will vary based on your career and relevant resume skills.

These two skills sections demonstrate how you can highlight additional accomplishments under job-specific sections to help promote your qualifications to hiring managers.

Functional resume examples of skills:

In the functional vs. chronological resume debate, this skills-based format helps you downplay employment red flags like short-term jobs, job hopping,and work gaps by only adding your previous job titles, employers and years of employment. Don’t add the months of employment or related job responsibilities. Instead, highlight your skills and job knowledge in the previous sections.

As you can see in the following example, this graphic designer shares their previous job titles and employers but reduced their employment dates to just the year.

The last section of your resume should include your academic degrees and certifications. You can see how this professional adds this information to the end of their functional format resume.

Sample functional resume education section: