Resume Section: Work Experience

Resume Section: Work Experience
by WorkBloom
The work experience section of a resume is the section that normally takes the most space on the resume, and for good cause. It is where you, as a candidate, need to show the employer that through your experience, you possess the necessary qualifications to take on the job that needs to be filled. Typically, the work experience section is broken down by employer. The name of the employer, the title of the position, the location of the employment and the years of employment are mentioned in the subheading. Following this subheading, how you structure the rest is up to you. Following are few suggestions based on what has been done: You can write one sentence that will describe the employer. This is useful if the employer is a small business that is not well known. This will give context to your work description to follow. You can have a short paragraph that will describe your responsibilities. This is sometimes done if the candidate wants to give the employer a better idea of his or her responsibilities on the job and the bullet point format is not appropriate. Keep in mind however that this paragraph can be followed by some bullet points that will give more details on your responsibilities or accomplishments on the job. You can simply jump right to using bullets and list your main responsibilities. As you set out to describe your work experience, make sure to follow the following rules: Use the active tense. Each sentence in the list of bullets should commence with a verb like developed, analyzed, lead, researched, etc. For your current job, make sure to use the present tense. For your past jobs, use the past tense. Only list things that are relevant to the position you are applying to. State the problem that you encountered, the action that you took and the result that you achieved. These are called “P-A-R” statements; Problem-Action-Result. You don’t have to follow that order however. Here’s an example of different orders: Saved ACB Electronics $5 million by designing software program to resolve inefficiencies. The order in this statement is Result-Action-Problem. By mentioning the result first, you catch the reader’s attention right away. Designed software to resolve inefficiencies and saved ABC Electronics $5 million. The order in this statement is Action-Problem-Result. By stating the action first, you focus on the skills that you can bring to the job. Resolved inefficiencies by designing software and saved ABC Electronics $5 million. The order of this statement is Problem-Action-Result. By stating the problem first, you are emphasizing that you are a problem-solver. This order may be relevant if the money amount is minimal or not quantifiable. Keep your sentences short, clear and to the point. Under normal circumstances, you should spend more time describing your more recent experiences on the assumption that they are more relevant to the position you are applying to. Do not go too far back in time if your work experience back then will not advance your candidacy. If you insist on mentioning that work experience, a compromise is to have the subheading with a one-liner summarizing what you have done. No need to go into details. If you have volunteering experience, add them here too if relevant to the position. To be accurate, remove the “work” out of the section heading and just leave “experience”. If you have a gap in your work experience, read the following articles. They will give you tips on how to address that issue… If you do not have a separate accomplishment section, you can list your accomplishments under this section. You can choose to regroup your experience under headings if they are related.

by WorkBloom

The work experience section of a resume is the section that normally takes the most space on the resume, and for good cause. It is where you, as a candidate, need to show the employer that through your experience, you possess the necessary qualifications to take on the job that needs to be filled.

Typically, the work experience section is broken down by employer. The name of the employer, the title of the position, the location of the employment and the years of employment are mentioned in the subheading. Following this subheading, how you structure the rest is up to you. Following are few suggestions based on what has been done:

You can write one sentence that will describe the employer. This is useful if the employer is a small business that is not well known. This will give context to your work description to follow.
You can have a short paragraph that will describe your responsibilities. This is sometimes done if the candidate wants to give the employer a better idea of his or her responsibilities on the job and the bullet point format is not appropriate. Keep in mind however that this paragraph can be followed by some bullet points that will give more details on your responsibilities or accomplishments on the job.
You can simply jump right to using bullets and list your main responsibilities.

As you set out to describe your work experience, make sure to follow the following rules:

Use the active tense. Each sentence in the list of bullets should commence with a verb like developed, analyzed, lead, researched, etc. For your current job, make sure to use the present tense. For your past jobs, use the past tense.
Only list things that are relevant to the position you are applying to.
State the problem that you encountered, the action that you took and the result that you achieved. These are called “P-A-R” statements; Problem-Action-Result. You don’t have to follow that order however. Here’s an example of different orders:
- Saved ACB Electronics $5 million by designing software program to resolve inefficiencies. The order in this statement is Result-Action-Problem. By mentioning the result first, you catch the reader’s attention right away.
- Designed software to resolve inefficiencies and saved ABC Electronics $5 million. The order in this statement is Action-Problem-Result. By stating the action first, you focus on the skills that you can bring to the job.
- Resolved inefficiencies by designing software and saved ABC Electronics $5 million. The order of this statement is Problem-Action-Result. By stating the problem first, you are emphasizing that you are a problem-solver. This order may be relevant if the money amount is minimal or not quantifiable.
Keep your sentences short, clear and to the point.
Under normal circumstances, you should spend more time describing your more recent experiences on the assumption that they are more relevant to the position you are applying to.
Do not go too far back in time if your work experience back then will not advance your candidacy. If you insist on mentioning that work experience, a compromise is to have the subheading with a one-liner summarizing what you have done. No need to go into details.
If you have volunteering experience, add them here too if relevant to the position. To be accurate, remove the “work” out of the section heading and just leave “experience”.
If you have a gap in your work experience, read the following articles. They will give you tips on how to address that issue…
If you do not have a separate accomplishment section, you can list your accomplishments under this section.
You can choose to regroup your experience under headings if they are related.