You know that functional resume that you were advised to use by a career coach, author, or outplacement firm? Or the one you paid a professional resume writer to create for you?
How upset will you be when you learn that employers don't believe your functional resume?
As a recruiter and career coach, I see both sides of this issue. On one hand, I talk to age 40+ job seekers who are surprised when I tell them that employers don't believe functional resumes. But as a recruiter, I can tell you that employers almost never accept functional resumes, because they don't believe them.
Here's why employers don't believe functional resumes, especially for age 40+ candidates:
- The Entire Purpose Of A Functional Resume Is To Hide Things That Employers Won't Like:?The reason you've gotten advice to use a functional resume is to try and hide your age, career gaps, that you're applying for a job you haven't done in many years, etc. Employers realize this, so they don't want to consider functional resume - They don't believe them.
- They Hide Recency:?A functional resume also hides how recent your relevant skills and experience are, and you're competing against candidates who are making lateral moves from their current jobs. Functional resumes hide if your relevant skills/experience is 20+ years old, while your target hiring manager doesn't remember what they had for lunch last week.
- They Don't Build Trust:?When the purpose of a functional resume is to hide unflattering facts, don't you think employers wonder "What else are you hiding?". How can you possibly build trust this way?
Good thing there are much better ways to beat employment age bias than using functional resumes. Let me show you a few during my next free webinar.
I help people solve the most difficult job search problems, including getting past ATSs, ageism, remote positions, product/job function/career/industry/ geographic change, job search acceleration, unemployment, "bouncy" recent career path, job search turnaround, seeking raise/promotion, industry in decline/consolidation, long term gaps, family leave, or other of the most challenging job search issues.
