How to write experience in a resume

The work experience section is by far the most important part of your resume. Potential employers will scan this section first, often only for a few seconds, and make a snap judgement about whether to keep you in the running as a candidate. It needs to grab their attention, and quickly.

Follow these steps to ensure you stand out and are one the favourites to land the job as you prepare for interview.

Target the role you are applying for

Each CV you send should be tailored towards the job you are going for. Of course, it will take a little more time and effort to re-write your experience for every application you send, but your ‘one-size-fits-all’ resume is actually unlikely to fit anyone.

Study the job listing closely and write a list of all the desired qualities the employer is looking for in a candidate. Recruiters will scan your work history for these keywords, so you want to hit as many of them as you can.

 
Tip: I keep a ‘master CV’ which contains all experience I’ve ever put on a resume. It’s pretty long, and I would never send it to a potential employer. 

When I’m applying for a new position, I save a copy and eliminate everything not relevant to that role – maybe rewording a little to ensure it targets the listing precisely. If I add something new, I add it to the master as well. 

I also read through it before I head to the interview to ensure all that experience is fresh in my mind. 

Keep it concise

You may have a wealth of experience to share, but the more you include, the less likely it is that anyone will take the time to read it. Simply show them that you have what they’ve asked for in the listing, and not much more.

Give them a few bits of gold now, then deliver untold riches at the interview.

The ideal length for your whole resume is one full page, and never go over two. Just include your most recent five roles to keep the length down.

Order in which to list work experience

There are a couple of ways to arrange your work history, but the most popular, ‘standard’ way is chronologically. Have your most recent role at the top, then previous jobs underneath in reverse-time order. Include employment dates.

Alternatively, list by relevancy to the role you are applying for, with the most applicable first. You may want to do this if you are returning to a previous career path after working in another area, you’ve changed jobs frequently, or there is a gap in your work history that cannot be briefly explained. Omit the dates if using this method.

Gaps in your work history

If you have periods where you were not employed, very briefly describe the reason. If it was for medical reasons, that’s enough explanation for now. If you were travelling, include the region.

List anything you accomplished during this time: courses you completed, for example.

Be prepared to go into more detail in the interview, as it is very likely to come up.

Format for listing a position

Include this information, in this order:

• Job title.
• Company name and location.
• Company description: one sentence briefly describing what they do. If it is a well known company you can omit this.
• The dates you were employed: just the months and years are fine.
• Your responsibilities and accomplishments in this position.

Do not state your salary.

Responsibilities and accomplishments

These are the parts of your resume the recruiter will look at first, and they may not go any further if there is nothing here that matches what they’re after. Luckily, they’ve already told you exactly what that is in the job listing!

Do this for each position in your work history:

• Refer back to the list of desirable attributes you made from the job advertisement.
• For each item, write down as many examples as you can from your current/former position that prove you have that attribute.

You want to highlight your personal successes and achievements in the role rather than give a job description.

You’re just brainstorming here, so write everything that comes to mind, regardless of whether you think it’s worthy to be on your CV. A not-so-good example may lead you to think of a great one.

Think about:

• Achievements (most important).
• Skills.
• Responsibilities.

Now you’re going to add about five bullet-points for each of your positions. Increase or decrease the amount a little if you need to, just ensure everything there is targeted at the role you’re applying for.

If it isn’t immediately clear from your job title, the first point should be a one or two sentence job description: ‘Responsible for…’

For the remaining bullet-points, pick the four or five achievements that, between them, cover as many of the desired qualities as possible. Again, each one should be one or two sentences. Try to use the same keywords as in the job listing.

Coming up with examples

If you’re having trouble, try the following:

• Imagine you are asking for a raise at your current job: what would you say to prove you deserve it?
• Think of a problem you encountered: what was your solution and what was the result?
• Was there a specific change you made happen? Something that saved time or money, raised profit margins, or increased production?
• How about something you accomplished as part of a team?

Summary

I hope you have found this guide helpful. Remember:

• Be concise.
• Target the job you are applying for.
• Highlight your achievements.