At some point in time, someone somewhere came up with the idea that a resume that was organized by skills was a good idea. The functional resume was born. A functional resume is organized something like this:
Name Header
Summary
Skill Category 1
Skill Category 2
Skill Category 3
Work History
Job Title, Employer, Dates
Job Title, Employer, Dates
Job Title, Employer, Dates
Education
Functional resumes were pushed for people who needed to make a career change or who needed to camouflage something in their past history such as an employment gap or periods of unrelated type jobs. In the 70's when the functional came about, it was a black mark for someone to have employment gaps or many jobs during a short period of time. The functional helped hide these deficiencies. Some people would use the functional in an attempt to emphasize key skills. Others would use the functional to try to hide education deficiencies or serious problems like a stint in prison.
At first, the functional resume was new and innovative and it probably worked moderately well for awhile. At least, until employers and recruiters caught on that the functional format was the format of choice for poor candidates who didn't have the correct skills or who wanted to hide something in their past. The functional format then became a big red flag.
Another problem with the functional format is that employers can't get a feel for the job seeker's background. When did he use the skills he lists in the Skills Categories? How much experience in those skills? What job were these associated with?
As a result, recruiters and hiring managers absolutely DETEST the functional format. If you want to shoot your entire job search in the foot, use the functional format. Recruiters just won't deal with it and round-file functional formatted resumes.
As humans, we think in terms of time - chronological; therefore, it is natural to prefer to read about a person's job history in terms of reverse chronology. Think about it: we study history of all types in terms of chronology. It naturally makes sense to talk about job history in terms of chronology.
What is the best choice for a resume? Ask any recruiter and they will say reverse chronological. Don't run the risk of getting round-filed or deleted by using the old, functional format.