
Struggling to get interviews?
What is a skills-based resume?
A skills-based resume (also called a functional resume) is a resume format that organizes your qualifications under job-relevant skills instead of presenting a timeline of your previous jobs.
For example:
City, State โข (321) 456-7890 โข madeleine.smith@email.com
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Detail-oriented professional with strong organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills. Experienced in managing projects, improving workflows, and supporting team operations. Seeking to apply transferable skills in a project coordinator role.
CORE SKILLS
Project Coordination
- Managed 5โ8 projects at once, consistently meeting 100% of deadlines
- Coordinated schedules and resources across teams of up to 10 members
- Improved workflow efficiency by 25% by streamlining task tracking processes
Communication & Collaboration
- Handled 40+ daily communications with clients and team members to align on goals
- Resolved issues quickly by identifying problems and proposing solutions
- Delivered clear updates and reports to stakeholders
Data Management & Organization
- Maintained 1,000+ records with 99% accuracy
- Organized large sets of information for easy access and reporting
- Used Excel and project management tools to track progress and performance
WORK HISTORY
Administrative Assistant
InnoTech | City, State | 20XXโ20XX
Customer Service Representative
Smithe Consignment | City, State | 20XXโ20XX
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts in Communication
Riverbrook University | Riverbrook, Indiana
If you’re struggling to highlight your relevant qualifications and transferable skills in a standard resume format, the skills-based resume might be for you.
Free skills-based resume template
Here’s a template you can download and edit that uses a skills-based format:
Find skills for your resume
Try our AI-powered skills generator to find the right skills for your target job.
Make a high-impact skills section for your resume in seconds with our free software. Simply enter your job title and youโll be matched with the most impactful skills for your industry.
Use these job-specific skills to make a resume that lands you interviews.
Is a skill-based resume right for you?
A skills-based resume is most appropriate if you:
- have a non-traditional career path
- are changing industries
- have a long gap in your employment history
Otherwise, you should stick to the chronological resume format. It’s the most widely accepted resume format, and straying from the norm can make employers think you’re trying to hide something.
To build trust, remain transparent about your history and use your cover letter to explain why the skills-based format best highlights your qualifications for the role.
If you think highlighting both competencies and work history would strengthen your application, consider a hybrid (combination) resume. This format balances skill clusters with a visible timeline to mitigate the risks of a purely functional layout by providing recruiters with clear chronological context for your achievements.
Make your resume in minutes
Chronological vs. skills-based resumes: Key differences
The primary difference between a chronological and a skills-based resume lies in their focus and layout.
A chronological resume acts as a professional timeline, emphasizing your career progression by listing your work history in reverse-chronological order. Conversely, a skills-based resume prioritizes your specific competencies, grouping your achievements under categorized skill headings rather than specific job titles or dates.
These formats direct the readerโs attention to different parts of your professional story. A chronological resume highlights growth and stability by placing your job experience front and center.
In a skills-based resume, your work history is typically condensed into a simplified list at the bottom of the page, allowing your technical or soft skills to serve as your primary professional narrative.
Tips for writing a resume that highlights skills
Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing a skills-based resume:
1. Choose your most relevant skills
When deciding what skills to include on your resume, take into account both the needs of the position and what you consider to be your greatest personal strengths. Striking the right balance between these two is key to landing the job you want.
If you’re not sure where to start, one good approach is to carefully read through the job description and highlight all the skills the company mentions. From there, shortlist the skills you have and begin to note examples of your experience applying those skills in work or life experience.
After a bit of brainstorming, you should see the basic structure of your skills section coming together. Choose roughly 3-5 skills to serve as subheadings for your skills section.
Here’s an example of how the skills section of a skill-based resume should look:
Lesson Planning
- Write comprehensive reports to regular teachers regarding lessons and student progress
- Collaborate with regular teachers in developing long-term plans for struggling students, as well as designing new activities to enhance learning engagement of students
- Designed and implemented lesson plans that increased student engagement by 20%
Student Development
- Regularly engaged students in open discussions and other team building activities that increased class morale and created a more energized learning environment
- Effectively helped three struggling students to improve their reading ability, all of whom achieved grade-level targets within the first year
Teaching
- Instruct Math, Art, and English to classes ranging between 13 and 24 students, Grades 2 to 5
- Incorporate digital technology for learning activities, including software applications and a SMART board, leading to implementation by the full-time teacher
- Adhered to strict school policies and procedures regarding students with disciplinary issues
2. Give specific, action-oriented examples
Remember when using the skills-based resume format to give detailed examples of how you applied each skill you listed on your resume. This approach lets employers know you’re not making empty claims.
Under each skill category, write a few bullet points describing how you’ve used this skill in a professional capacity.
As you normally would in the work experience section of a standard resume, start off each bullet point with an action verb rather than something passive like โresponsible forโ.
Here’s an example of how a candidate described their sales experience on a skills-based resume:
- Exceeded sales goals by an average of 10% for 5 months straight
- Upsell customers by recommending products that meet their specific needs
- Process 30+ customer transactions a day using Square POS and regularly update system to factor in promotions and sales
To make your own relevant skills bullet points more effective, take a cue from the above example and add details like the type of project, any software or tools you used, and how your efforts helped reach a desired result.
Employers also love to see hard numbers on a resume, so mention the following metrics whenever relevant:
- Budget size
- Number of clients served
- Revenue generated
- Success rate
- Reduction in expenses
- Customer satisfaction rate
3. Include a concise professional experience section
In a smaller section, list some basic information about your employment history. For each entry, include these details:
- Company/organization name
- Position title
- Dates of employment (usually just the years)
Here’s an example of a condensed work experience section from a skills-based resume:
Substitute Teacher
Broadway High School
San Jose, CA
January 20XXโPresent
Substitute Teacher
Britton Middle School
Morgan Hill, CA
February 20XXโMarch 20XX
If you have lots of sporadic work experience, pick what you think employers will most want to see or what gives context to the experiences you mentioned in your skills section.
4. Select a clean, well-organized template
When using a non-traditional resume format, it’s especially important to make sure the other elements are in line with employer expectations.
To make sure your resume passes applicant tracking systems, choose a professional resume template that avoids tables, text boxes, or graphics and uses standard section labels like โSkills,โ โExperience,โ and โEducation.โ

Resume examples for different industries
Not sure what your resume should look like? The best way to learn is by taking inspiration from resume examples written by other candidates in your industry.
Additional skills-related resources
Below is a list of skills that are highly sought after by employers that you can add to your skills-based resume.
About the Author
5
Years of Experience
197
Articles Written
Lauren Mastroni is a Digital Content Writer at Resume Genius, where she creates data-driven career content and actionable job search advice. With a background in academic research, she brings a research-focused approach to topics like resume writing, interviewing, and career development. Lauren is dedicated to helping job seekers at all stages navigate the hiring process and present themselves more effectively to employers.















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