Workers' compensation is benefits and medical costs paid to individuals who have been injured on the job. These benefits and coverage of medical expenses are required under workers' compensation law. But even after injured workers recover, there are still challenges to face. When you suffer an injury at work and have to take time off, one of the challenges of returning to the workforce is dealing with the gap in your resume.

Use a functional resume instead of a chronological resume. A workers' compensation injury requires that you take time off work, which leads to significant gaps in your resume. A functional resume focuses on your skills and accomplishments rather than on the chronological order of your work history.

Create a section called "Professional Objective" or "Qualifications Summary" at the top of your functional resume. This section should cover how long you've been working in your field and what experience you can bring to the job you're applying for. It should be approximately two to three lines. You can also include bullet points that list specific qualifications that are relevant to the job.

List your skills and accomplishments in a "Qualifications" or "Experience Highlights" section. This section should have subheadings that list your primary skills, usually about three or four. Under each subheading, use bullet points to give details about your skills, including your proficiency level and any accomplishments related to the skills. Include two to five bullets for each subhead.

Type out an "Employment History" section, but instead of listing tasks completed at each job and the dates you were employed, as you would in a chronological resume, only list your job title, the company you worked for and the location of the job. Be sure your job titles are more prominent than the other information by typing them in a bold or italicized font.

List your education in an "Education and Training" section. In this section, type out your degrees and any relevant training you've received. You can include specific dates in this section. If you don't have any relevant training, simply title this section "Education."

Describe any volunteer work you've done in a "Community Involvement" section. Include the type of volunteer work you've done and how it has helped your community. This can either be in paragraph form, usually about two to three lines, or list your specific volunteer jobs in bullet form. Include any titles you had as well as the charity organizations you've worked for.

Have someone you trust proofread your resume before sending it out. Even if you have a very impressive background, one typo or misspelled word could send your resume straight to the shredder.