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How to present major headings in your functional resume
Don't write lengthy skill headings in your resume. Limit them to no more than three words each. Other wise they become too difficult to read in the employer's typical initial eight-second scan.
| Business Management | Office Management |
| Accounting | Operations |
| Accounts Payable | Order Fulfillment |
| Accounts Receivable | Organizational Development |
| Administration | Personnel |
| Advertising | Presentation Coaching |
| Benefits | Presentations |
| Budget Management | Product Development |
| Business Development | Production |
| Client Relations | Project Management |
| Community Relations | Promotions |
| Conflict Resolution | Public Relations |
| Consulting | Purchasing |
| Copy Writing | Quality Assurance |
| Corporate Giving | Re-engineering |
| Customer Service | Recruitment |
| Executive Management | Retail Management |
| Financial Management | SalesHuman Resources |
| Shipping | Insurance |
| Speech Writing | International Relations |
| Strategic Planning | Inventory Control |
| Supervision | Inventory Management |
| Training | Investor Relations |
| Vendor Relations | Leadership Writing |
| Legal | Education |
| Management Consulting | Administration |
| Marketing | Admissions Evaluation |
| Media Relations | Classroom Management |
| Mediation | Committee Leadership |
| Meeting Planning | Counseling |
| Negotiations | Curriculum Development |
Bonus Check
A thesaurus is a great tool for coming up with just the right word. One of my favorite sources is The Synonym Finder by J.I. Rodale (Warner Books). There are also some excellent thesaurus software applications that you can buy for your computer.
Job-Hunt Hint
Visit your industry's Web sites to learn what skill sets are sought after in your field.
Bonus Check
College career centers are happy to help alumni with their job searches. Call or visit yours to get help in defining the skills required for the type of work you seek.
Career Casualty
All caps are hard to read when used in skill headings that have long words. If a heading contains two words, and one of those words has more than eight letters, use upper and lowercase letters so that it's easy to grasp at a glance.
Getting Down to Business
Are you ready to declare the two or three skill headings for your functional resume? Great! Here's a worksheet to help you out.
Functional Skill Headings Worksheet1.
- My Job Objective :
__________________________________________________ - The two (maybe three) skills required to perform my Job Objective:
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Having stated your skill headings, you're ready to move on to creating dynamite achievement statements for each heading.
Dynamite Achievements
Nab the employer's interest right with away an achievement-oriented resume. By writing about your experience in terms of achievements, not job descriptions, you'll convey three things:
- You have the experience and skills to do the job.
- You're good at this work and at using these skills.
- You like your work. (You must! There's pride in your statements.)