Dear Cindy – Functional or Chronological Résumé?

How do prospective hiring managers view a functional résumé vs. a chronological résumé? Aren't they going to ask the dates and names of firms one has worked for in the past? Also, what do the majority of the hiring firms prefer?

Sincerely,

Wondering

Hiring managers rarely ask for a specific type of résumé. However, in speaking with a few recruiters and hiring personnel in healthcare, executive search, and other fields, the preference is for chronological or combination résumés over functional résumés.

Why? Two main reasons. First, since a functional résumé's role is to emphasize what you did (i.e., groups of skills), not when and where you did it, the résumé can be misleading about the currency of your skills in a particular area. Obviously this wouldn't matter in the case of something basic, but it does matter in the case of technical or high-end skills. For example, it doesn't really matter if your telephone reception experience was 20 years ago or last year, but it does matter whether your experience in caring for critical care patients was 20 years ago or last year. Second, a functional résumé often ends up too vague, general, or filled with jargon and/or buzz words rather than useful facts, so the person hiring has to follow up. And if someone is busy, and s/he receives several résumés, some of which are factual, clear, and decently presented, while others are vague and general, they may not even bother to pursue the latter. And if person does follow up with the applicant, and perceives that the applicant used the functional style to mislead, rather than simply foreground skills, that applicant is dead in the water. (Indeed, more than one recruiter said that the first thing they think of when they get a functional résumé is: "What is this person trying to hide?")

So if a chronological format doesn't work well for your specific situation, such as because you want to enter a different field from that which you're in now, or you're entering the workforce from school, etc., you may want to consider using the combination style. This employs features of both the functional and the chronological – it includes a listing of skills, as well as of education and a brief listing of past employment in reverse order (from most recent to oldest).

Good luck in your job search!