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June 16th, 2019

6/16/2017

2 Comments

 

Why Functional Resumes Will Kill Your Job Search

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June 18, 2019 / Written by Phil Graves (President of 1-Day Resume - 20+ years in business and 18,500+ resumes written providing Professional Resume, Cover Letter, and LinkedIn Profile Writing Services - www.1dayresume.com)





















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​Sometime in your career, you have probably heard that there are several resume styles from which to choose. Although technically this is true, there is one style that you should avoid at all costs, unless you want your new resume to end up being deleted from the computer screen of every hiring manager. So before you decide on the best style for your resume – no matter who has “sold” you on a functional format – avoid it at all costs!

If you are not familiar with the functional resume, it begins with a long professional summary covering almost the entire first page that lists primary functional skills, such as administration, sales leadership, operations management, engineering, etc. This is followed by skills and significant achievements for each of the primary functional skill sets. Next is a simple listing of your work history with no achievements listed under the jobs.

The functional resume concept is thought to be a good idea because it focuses on your accomplishments and minimizes your work history. Job seekers are told to use a functional format to hide gaps in their employment record or to take the focus off of some issues with why they have been out of the workforce. The problem is, all hiring managers know this and so these resumes will generally be quickly deleted. One of the other problems has to do with how functional resumes are interpreted by Applicant Tracking Systems. The resume can be searched for key words, but the database system cannot match up the achievements with the dates because the functional format has the accomplishments listed in a section other than under the specific job.

The best format choice is a combination format, which includes a brief summary to highlight some of your most significant accomplishments and core competencies that match those mentioned for the types of positions you will be pursuing. Followed by your work history listed in a reverse chronological format with each job focusing primarily on achievements, awards, and recognition while minimizing a list of responsibilities and tasks. You want your job descriptions to tell a quick story about what was going when you were hired into the role and some significant accomplishments that made an impact on the success of the company regarding improvements in efficiency, time saving, cost control, organization, profitability, process improvement, revenue growth, etc.

When asked about functional resumes, a senior level hiring director with a Fortune 500 company said, “I always delete functional resumes because it looks like the job seeker is hiding something, and usually he/she is. Plus, it is difficult to see where the achievements happened because they are not listed under the jobs. In a way, a functional resume is very good; it tells the recipient that the candidate should not be considered.”
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We have been successful in helping job seekers transition back into the workforce after being out for several years, so having gaps in your employment is not a deal breaker. But trying to hide those gaps in a functional resume will torpedo your job search. Instead, use a combination resume, address the gaps in your work history, focus on accomplishments, optimize your resume with key words every time you apply to an new opportunity, and spend 80% of your job search time networking on LinkedIn and with people you know. 

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7/25/2016

8 Comments

 
4 Resume Strategies That Will Double Your Interview Results     ​

August 1, 2016 / Written by Phil Graves (President of 1-Day Resume - 23+ years in business and 16,500+ resumes written providing Professional Resume, Cover Letter and LinkedIn Profile Writing Services - www.1dayresume.com)
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​So what exactly is an ATS (Applicant Tracking system) and how is it eliminating you from potential job opportunities? Everybody has been in this situation. You see a new job opportunity that is a perfect match for your background, submit your resume, and rarely if ever are contacted for an interview. If you are a perfect fit for this opportunity, then the problem usually is not you, it’s your resume. 
Applicant Tracking Systems are simply specialized software screening applications used by most mid-sized and large corporations to screen resumes for keywords that match a specific job posting.  If you don’t incorporate the correct keywords that match a specific job posting into your resume, then your resume will most likely remain buried in a company’s database with all of the other unqualified applicants. Most job seekers never consider the impact of the ATS when it comes to developing the resumes. But understanding how to beat the ATS by using the appropriate keywords that are relevant to the position and your industry can make the difference in doubling your chances of generating interviews for the positions you are targeting.


Using keywords. There are two critical aspects to incorporating the most appropriate keywords into your resume. First, be sure to use as many of the relevant keywords from your industry as possible. If you are pursuing an opportunity in another industry, then look through several job postings and you will more than likely see many of the common industry keywords repeated in the “qualifications” section of these job postings. If you are targeting a specific job opportunity, then many times you will see the responsibilities and qualifications for the job mentioned in the online job posting, so be sure to use as much of that information as possible in your job descriptions or the summary section of your resume. When writing your ATS-optimized resume, you must use the exact keywords listed in the job posting for maximum results because ATS systems find what they’ve been programmed to identify by the hiring manager to eliminate the amount of time required to manually review thousands of resumes.

Keyword Placement.  In the past, job seekers were able to beat the ATS systems by using a strategy known as “keyword stuffing” by changing the font to white and burying keywords towards the very end of their resumes, or overusing the same keywords throughout the job descriptions, skills section, or summary. But through the years, the ATS software has become more advanced with the capability of not only identifying keywords, but also how the keywords are being used in the context of the resume.  Make no mistake about it, this concept will take you out of the game so don’t think you are tricking the system. The winning strategy is to try and work your keywords into the sentence structure of your resume as well as the skills section.

Formatting:  Creative formatting looks fantastic visually, but it will get you into trouble with Applicant Tracking Systems, so keep it conservative. When most of us think about creating a professional resume, we assume someone will be viewing it in the original format. When the resume goes into the ATS, only the text is pulled so adding pictures or graphics could cause scanning errors, resulting in your resume being knocked out of the screening process. Use popular sans serif fonts (Calibri, Helvetica, Avant Garde, Arial, etc) and try to stick with a 10-12 point font size.

Job Titles: Be sure and use a similar job title that matches the type of position you are pursuing. If you are applying to a Software Sales Representative job and your current title is Strategic Software Consultant, then often times you can put the Software Sales Representative job title in parentheses next to your formal job title. Another trick is to use the job title for the position you are pursuing as your objective. We encourage job seekers not to write the “old school” objectives, but to simply state the job title for the position you are pursuing as your objective like this, Objective: Software Sales Representative. Using this strategy will guarantee that you can incorporate the job title into your resume, giving you a competitive advantage with the ATS systems.

Always consider modifying your resume for each opportunity you are pursuing. Use these tips every time you apply to a job and you will have an ATS-optimized resume that will help you beat the computer system, outshine other jobseekers, and start getting a higher rate of callbacks for better opportunities. Always remember, it’s never the most qualified candidate that gets the job, it is the one who is best at the job search. And customizing your resume will help you get your resume past the ATS software and into the hands of the hiring managers.

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