How to Repackage Your Experience on Resumes

What do you really want to do? Is your desire obvious on your resume? Do you show experience in one line of work but you're applying for another?

Do you have a lot of experience in a lot of areas, but the experience related to the job you're applying for is near the bottom of your resume?

In short, are you confusing hiring managers with your resume?

If so, you need to repackage yourself and your experience on your resume. Those transitioning to new fields, begin linear careers and/or aren't getting the interviews they want should consider repackaging themselves with functional resumes.

Traditional, chronological resumes start with the most recent experience, then go back in time. Chronological resumes are what most think of when resumes are mentioned. They're great to use if you have a linear career - if you have had the same kind of work for an extended period.

Functional resumes, by contrast, highlight skills, achievements and experiences rather than where you've worked. They're great to use when changing careers or settle into just one line of work.

Many have benefited from functional resumes. You can take advantage of the strengths of functional resumes to repackage your experience, too. Here are a few ways:

Categorize. Grouping your experience - no matter where you gained it - is a key strength of using functional resume. You may have, for instance, gained some leadership and management experience as a cashier, some as a call center representative, and maybe even some working on a committee you're on outside of work. If so (and you're looking for a management position), then group those experiences together under the category "Management." The same technique can be used for nearly any field you're applying to.

Amplify. Functional resumes allow you to highlight certain experiences and bring them front and center. But an important part of repackaging your experience is to pump up the actual words you use to describe your achievements, accomplishments and experience. This demonstrates that you have a professional vocabulary, and functional resumes can help your restated bullets grab employers' attention.

Edit. An important part of repackaging your experience on functional resumes is trimming out the fat. Editing out the unrelated fluff actually helps highlight your achievements, accomplishments and experience even more. It's also a good way to reduce the impact of lesser jobs. When repackaging yourself with a functional resume, you'll be able to highlight your professional capabilities even more by cutting the weaker sections out.

IN A NUTSHELL: Functional resumes are a great way to help repackage your achievements, accomplishments and experiences.