Functional CV Overview

This type of CV is designed to emphasise your main skills, competencies or expertise that you may have in a specific area (e.g. IT, Finance, Project Management) rather than concentrating on employers and dates. In a lot of cases it would be used to demonstrate your expertise in a particular skill, functional area or field of business.

Functional CVs are a lot more adaptable to certain circumstances, such as a lack of specific experience in a particular field, or gaps in between job changes which you may find difficult to explain. You need to be aware however that because of these reasons functional CVs are often viewed with suspicion by many recruitment personnel because they often appear to hind some information which often has the effect of making them difficult to follow.

The functional CV may irritate those people who are doing the initial screening of applications for a role because they appear to conceal information and they are often not what they are accustomed to looking for. If you really need a functional CV you will probably be aiming at a different target anyway, such as the decision maker.

Consider using the Functional CV if:

• You wish to sell yourself on competencies and skills not reflected in your recent job history.
• You have been a regular job or career changer.
• You have an inconsistent work history that you do not want to be obvious.
• You are at entry level, having just left school or university or reentering the job market after significant absence.

Click here for an example of the layout of a functional CV. Click here to download a Functional CV template in MS word