Graduating from college is probably one accomplishment you can take pride in. All your hard work has finally paid off. You are aching to enter the job market and put what you have learned to good use and finally earn that first paycheck. Eventually, you find out that looking for a decent job is not as easy as it seems. Most employers are looking for someone with experience. And you have no professional experience to speak of.

As a fresh graduate, it is best to target entry-level jobs as employers will generally expect not too much from you in terms of work experience. They do expect, however, that you have a degree majoring in a subject related to the role you are seeking. They will expect you to have some general experience learned from summer or part-time jobs and other community or volunteering involvements. So, how do you best present this information? This is where a functional resume format plays an important role.

It is applicable if you have just graduated and have no professional experience. Using a functional resume format, you can put more emphasis on your skills and competencies rather than a chronological order of your employment. As such, a functional resume format is popular among college students and fresh graduates keen to enter the corporate world for the first time.

Making a Functional Resume Format

1. Start your resume with a clearly defined career objective. Ensure that your career objective is relevant to the position that you are applying for. Your career objective must also indicate what you can offer to the company in terms of the skills and experience that you bring.

2. Your educational attainment is listed next on a good functional resume format. Include the university name, location, year graduated and subjects you majored in. List honors and achievements you received as this shows excellence in what you commit to. Trainings and courses undertaken can also be listed in a functional resume format as long as it supports the requirements of the role.

3. An important part of a functional resume format is the section for skills and competencies. Rather than listing work experiences in order, use the required skills and competencies as subheadings. If a role requires someone with an experience in customer relations, then you can use “Customer Relations” or “Customer Service Skills” as subheading. Then list duties and tasks that support and validate this competency. You will have a lot to work out from by considering your part-time or summer jobs, volunteer works, school projects you headed and the like. If you have good proofreading skills acquired from working for the school paper, then highlight it if you want to be employed as a proofreader. A functional resume format can work wonders if done right.

4. Include a section for references in the last part of the resume. As a recent graduate, you can use teachers and professors as references. However, you need to let them know beforehand.

Now, that you have a basic idea of the structure of a functional resume format, put that knowledge to good use. If you need some samples of how it is presented, the internet is a good place to search for. It offers plenty of useful samples of a functional resume format to use as a guide in making your own.

By: Mike Woods

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