Help creating a Functional Resume

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Hi,

I'm newly diagnosed, and starting to think about going back to work (or at least trying to). My work history is like Swiss Cheese, tons of gaps, and short assignments. I'm a computer programmer. I'm thinking that as I start applying for jobs, having a functional resume would be the way to go. I've attempted to write one myself, but it's confusing. If anyone has experience creating a functional resume, or would be willing to help a fellow Aspie out, please reach out. If this is something that someone does, I could be talked into paying you for your help.

Thanks,
Sitko

read the book What Color is Your Parachute

use a 'reverse-chronological' resume format instead as you aren't fooling anybody with a functional format - show confidence with what you have!!

https://work.chron.com/resume-writing-t ... -8148.html

My post chronological resume is what is causing me problems. Swiss Cheese:

Work some place for 3 months, get fired, take 9 months to find my next gig. Repeat. For the last 30 years. One job was 2 weeks.

I feel that a chronological resume will make getting work impossible for me.

Thanks.

I can't give advice on resume styles.

But I have another suggestion that may or may not be helpful, if you aren't already doing the following:

To minimize the impact of any further gaps in your resume, now and in the future, I would suggest that you spend at least a few days a week, on average, working on free open source projects whenever you are not gainfully employed. See the articles listed on this page of my website for explanations of why this is a good idea. It may also help with finding employers via personal networking, which would probably be a more effective way to find a job than just sending a resume of any kind, much less a "swiss cheese" resume, to total strangers.

My apologies. I did not know that. Maybe list just the year you held the job. This may be relevant:

"Use your cover letter to explain your work history and put a positive spin on your circumstances. Also, indicate your interest in a long-term position.

What about a functional resume?
Many hiring professionals say they prefer chronological resumes to functional resumes. They are often suspicious of functional resumes, which are usually used to hide something. Select a functional format only if you have an extremely poor work background with extended gaps or a terrible history of job-hopping."

The idea of a functional resume is to group things you have actually done for a job together under category instead of "when I was at xyzzy." You can actually make a combined functional and chronological resume. At some jobs I have had I wear a lot of hats. A functional resume lets me talk about what I do with each hat.

So - if I were going to make a functional resume from scratch today I would start by googeling "sample resume".
When I found one that I liked I would start changing things to go with my work.

Another trick is to talk to people who know you and ask "what am I good at". Often other people are better at seeing your strengths than you are. Another way is to make two lists - things I am proud of and things I am not proud of. Get it all out on paper - then the first list is the one you use for your resume - the second one is one you can talk to friends, your shrink, your mother about.

You could also try putting parts of your resume on wrong planet and ask for feedback.

Thanks, I'll try that.



I will consider these as well. Thanks.

Of course! That's what I'm trying to do. Hide my terrible experience, and reformat it and shine it up. If I can figure out how to word it in the cover letter to explain my job issues with the unknown autism. Hopefully, a fellow aspie can help me find those companies that are "Aspie-friendly".

Post your resume here and we can give you tips.

If there is something private just replace it with AAAAAAA or BBBBBBB (etc).

Is your autism that severe that you have to mention it on the resume? Are you sure?

I patch my holes with fiction [real jobs with fake dates] , or else things look pretty non - functional.

Works for roofing ect, but I would not try it with a white collar or service job.

It really is. It's cost me every friendship, relationship, and job.

maybe you will end up applying for disability SSI.. maybe look for government or non profit programs that connect weird and disabled people with jobs in places like the super market..

I would not do unpaid internships.Paid internships have the better shot of helping you get job.you could volunteer and work at Goodwill or McDonalds or Walmart or Home depot.I hear Home depot is trying to hire people with differences.You could maybe get into lawncare to build up your resume.Also i would strongly suggest getting up to date on all the programming languages that are current and new.

I wouldn't nix the idea of a functional resume altogether. Most people who do hiring can read between the lines, that's true; but think of yourself as being a part of the gig economy. That said, maybe you have to give up on the idea of a "permanent" job; have you approached temp companies for temp assignments?

You haven't told us what difficulties your autism caused at jobs. Did you have meltdowns? Get screwed in office politics? Become so overwhelmed that you stopped showing up to work? Work extremely slow since that's the best you can do? There are lots of different ways your terminations could have resulted from autism, and insight into YOUR ways may help plan your job search.

In computer fields, claiming Aspergers can sometimes be seen as a positive.
As with all things on a resume, it's all about sticking to the positives and minimising (or simply not mentioning) the negatives.

Oh, and I don't know if this will work with your history, but I patched a few holes in my resume by simply stating the year I worked somewhere rather than exact dates. Doing this turned a 3-year hiatus into what looked like a one-year period of self-employment.