[MUSIC] In the previous lesson, you learned about
the most widely used resume format. The chronological format. In this lesson, you'll learn
about two other popular formats. Remember, your resume is a marketing
document, not an autobiography. Choose the format that best
suites your marketing purpose. If you're changing careers, or
re-entering the job market, if your career has had setbacks or
includes jobs in different industries, if your current job is not as
impressive as your last one or if your skills and accomplishments are
more impressive than your career history, then a functional resume will
likely be the right choice for you. You start with your header section, including your contact information and
target job title. You then follow with your job objective or
a summary of qualifications. If you're changing careers or reentering the job market, your best
choice is probably the job objective. But if you've chosen this format
to highlight your skills and accomplishments then the summary
would be your choice. The next section is where the functional
resume differs from the chronological. The idea is to take your achievements and
competencies out of the work history section, and
put them together under accomplishments. This focuses the employer's
attention on what you can do and have done rather than on where and
when you have worked. That lets you emphasize
your competencies and demonstrate them through
your accomplishments. Only after impressing the employer
with your accomplishments and skills do you present your work
history in a brief format with dates. This chronological list of your wok
history comes after your accomplishments, near the end of the resume, but
before education or other sections. By that point in reading,
a reviewer will, you hope, be convinced that you are a candidate
worth inviting in for an interview. The functional format is
a good choice if you have had interruptions in your work history or
have changed fields. These resumes work well
if you're a consultant because you can emphasize your experience
in particular areas for potential clients. By putting your work history
later in the resume and putting the emphasis on your
accomplishments, you can also focus on competencies that may or may not surface
immediately from your work history. The writing style here is to
list accomplishments under each competency area. Begin with the most important
competency area for the position you are applying for. For example, here is a functional resume
entry for a candidate who's competencies in business development are a key selling
point for the position he's interested in. Notice the use of a bulleted list to make
it easier for an employer to read quickly. This style is by no means limited
to the functional resume. And in fact its recommended for
all resumes. In this example, you can see how
the candidates list of achievements, provided evidence of his competency in
marketing and business development. But perhaps he achieved
those accomplishments in different organizations or
in different fields. The functional format lets him
emphasize what he can do, not where or when he did it. Well, let's say you've been working
as a Quality Control technician for a pharmaceutical company. After a couple of years, you've decided that you want to be in a less
structured and higher growth industry. So you pick the computer field. You want to get a job
in Technical Support. Your resume should thus
emphasize the skills that will support your desire
to change careers. Now, in working through the question
presented in the first module, you note that along with performing technical
laboratory tests you also configured new databases, you upgraded and managed all
the computers for a 25 person staff. You also performed computerized tests
to ensure product uniformity and to debug product issues. Before your current job, you had three years experience as
a telephone medical sales representative. Your tasks included describing
product specifications to consumers, many of whom had very
little medical knowledge. You helped determine specific
medical products for over 500 customers, helping them select
the best products to meet their needs. In mulling this over, you realize you can show evidence of two
major competencies that are important for effective tech support,
computer know how and communications. Not only can you perform technical tasks,
but you can also communicate technical information over the phone to people
who know very little about the subject. So you position your experience so
as to make yourself a viable candidate for the job you want. You group your accomplishments
together in their own section, right after your job objective. You also order your
accomplishments in terms of their relevance to a tech support position. Computer skills are more relevant then
communication skills and upgrading 25 computers shows more hands on experience
than performing computerized tests. The work history that follows this
accomplishment section simply lists your job titles, the companies you
worked for, and the dates of employment. Remember, you choose the format
that highlights your most marketable information. A format that makes your competencies
jump out to a prospective employer during a resume scan. Your competencies are relevant so you're a
good candidate to select for an interview. The next format is a direct
competency resume. This is a newer resume style and
has a different look. The accomplishments
are listed by competency. Using a direct competency resume can be
a good choice, if you already work for an organization that uses competencies and you're applying for
an internal position in the organization. These resumes showcase accomplishments in
each competency area and the emphasis is focused on those competency requirements
clearly identified for the position. The writing style here is to list
accomplishments under each competency. Begin with the most important competency
for the position you're interested in. Then the summary and
accomplishment statements are written with a competency based focus as
you learned in the second module. A chronological list of past positions
is included at the end of the resume. Finally, a combined resume might
be the right format for you. This format could work for you if your
career history is quite linear and solid. But you also have a number
of relevant accomplishments worth drawing an employer's
attention to right away. The combined resume is like
the chronological resume, except that you include an accomplishment
section before your work history. This gives you a chance to point out your
significant accomplishments early on. Examples of these formats
are included in the readings. In the next lessons you'll learn about
special formats that may be more suitable to your job seeking purposes. [MUSIC]