About This Resume

If you spent the last few years raising children, caring for a parent or changing fields, a standard resume puts the hardest part of your story at the top. A functional resume moves your skills up front and your dates lower down, which gives your strongest work the first word. Although many recruiters distrust the format because it can hide gaps, it still works well when you pair it with an honest, dated work history.

Recruiters reading a functional resume look for two things. Skills that match the posting come first. Then comes proof behind each skill, with a place attached, such as "as PTA treasurer" or "at a family business," so the reader can tell where it came from. The work history then settles the dates in a few lines. If your history has no gaps and no change of field, a chronological or combination format will usually serve you better.

What to Include

  • A headline that names the job you want, since your last title may point somewhere else
  • A two- or three-line summary that connects your past work to the new job
  • Three or four skill groups matched to the posting, such as Budgeting, Scheduling or Customer Service
  • Two to four results under each skill group, each with a place attached: a job, a volunteer role or a class
  • A short work history with titles, employers and years, including unpaid roles
  • A one-line note for a long gap, such as "Career break: full-time parent, 2019 to 2025"
  • Recent training or certificates that cover a skill the new field expects

Functional Resume Sample

Sample resume. The person, employers and contact details are fictional.

Rosalind Vandermeer

Office Manager
Grand Rapids, MI | rosalind.vandermeer@example.com | (555) 015-7731

Summary

Organized office and bookkeeping professional returning to full-time work after six years as a parent, PTA treasurer and part-time bookkeeper for a family business. Keeps budgets, schedules and records in order for busy groups and knows QuickBooks Online and Excel well.

Skills and Accomplishments

Budgeting and Bookkeeping, PTA treasurer, family business and accounts payable work, Grand Rapids, MI 2014 to 2025

  • Managed a $46,000 yearly budget as PTA treasurer; closed every month on time and passed two volunteer audits with no findings.
  • Kept the books for a family landscaping business in QuickBooks Online, including payroll for 6 seasonal workers.
  • Processed about 300 vendor invoices a month as an accounts payable clerk and matched each one to its purchase order before payment.

Scheduling and Office Organization, School volunteer programs, Grand Rapids, MI 2019 to 2025

  • Scheduled 120 volunteers across 14 school events a year with a shared calendar and online sign-up sheets.
  • Set up the PTA's shared drive and filing rules, which the next board still uses.
  • Collected vendor quotes and ordered supplies for events, staying under budget five years running.

Customer and Vendor Communication, Family business and accounts payable work, Grand Rapids, MI 2014 to 2025

  • Answered customer calls, gave estimates and booked jobs for the landscaping business during the spring rush.
  • Settled vendor questions about late or short payments by phone, usually on the first call.
  • Wrote a monthly newsletter for 600 school families and answered parent emails within a day.

Education

Associate of Applied Science, Accounting, Thornapple Community College, 2013

Skills

QuickBooks Online, Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, lookups), Accounts payable, Budget tracking, Scheduling and shared calendars, Google Workspace, Vendor quotes and ordering, Newsletter writing

Work History

  • Treasurer (volunteer), Maple Hollow Elementary PTA, Grand Rapids, MI, 2020 to 2025
  • Part-time Bookkeeper, Vandermeer Lawn and Garden, Grand Rapids, MI, 2019 to 2025
  • Career break: full-time parent, 2019 to 2025
  • Accounts Payable Clerk, Riverbank Office Furniture, Grand Rapids, MI, 2014 to 2019

Certificates

  • QuickBooks Online Certified User, 2025
  • Microsoft Office Specialist: Excel Associate, 2025

Tips for Your Functional Resume

  • Keep the dates. A work history with years, even a short one, answers the first question a recruiter has about this format and keeps you from looking evasive.
  • If you took time off to care for family, say so in one line and move on. A plain "Career break: caregiving, 2019 to 2024" reads better than an unexplained gap, and you do not owe anyone more detail than that.
  • Attach a place to every result. "Managed a $46,000 budget" leaves the reader wondering where; "Managed a $46,000 budget as PTA treasurer" answers it.
  • Count unpaid work as real experience. Volunteer roles, a family business and freelance projects belong in the skill groups, where they carry the most weight.
  • Experience running a school fundraiser could lead to an events job. A short course in the new field's software may also help, and it belongs near the top, because it shows you have already started closing the gap.
  • Fill in every online application in full. Some screening systems expect a job-by-job history, so complete their forms even when the resume you upload is functional.
  • Consider a combination format once you have a steady recent job in the new field. It keeps the skills summary and adds full job entries, which some recruiters trust more.

Next steps: the resume writing guide covers every section in detail, and the template library has layouts for other fields and career stages.