In the Professional Experience section you will list
your employers, job titles, and dates of employment
in a reverse-chronological order; that is, your most
recent job comes first, followed by your next most
recent job, and so on. This format is standard and
is expected by all hiring managers and admissions
directors.
With regard to employment dates:
Generally speaking, hiring managers prefer years of
employment, rather than months and years (i.e. 1999
- 2003 as opposed to May 1999 - April 2003).
However, some college admissions programs want
specifics when it comes to dates, so it's best to
use precise dates when applying to graduate school.
In the Professional Experience section you will also
include daily tasks and responsibilities beneath the
appropriate employer listing. If you've included a
Career Accomplishments section in your resume, you
should not repeat that data here. Once data is
presented in a resume, it must not be repeated.
To ensure that your daily tasks are presented in an
interesting and easy-to-read manner, you should do
the following:
- Use a bulleted format. This breaks up large
blocks of text that could prove daunting to a hiring
manager.
- Delete unnecessary articles and adjectives.
Your sentences should be short and snappy.
- Begin each sentence with an action verb. This
quickens the pace of your writing and makes the text
more enjoyable to read. For a comprehensive choice
of action verbs, please use this link: Power Verb
List.
An example of a bulleted format, pared down writing,
and sentences beginning with power verbs follows:
(Again, we use our accountant)
Verb tense:
- For those jobs where you are still currently
employed, write your job duties in the present
tense.
- For those jobs in the past, write the
responsibilities you held in the past tense.
Additionally, Professional Experience can be
captured and showcased in three formats:
- Functional
- Chronological
- Combination
In the functional format, you are stressing
what you know over where you gained your experience.
This works for those who have strong skills, but a
weak employment record.
In the chronological format, you are
providing a work history dating back from the
present. This is the most common format and is
generally preferred by hiring managers.
In the combination format, you are
stressing what you know in one section, while also
providing work history dating back from the present
in another. This is a highly popular modern format.
