resume experience section format

The Right Way to Include Your Work Experience on a Resume (With Examples)

We all know resumes are important. They’re your first impression. The highlight reel of your qualifications. The tool that you can use to land an interview (and ultimately a job).

Your past experience takes up the bulk of your resume and tells future employers what you’ve done up until now that qualifies you for your next job. So when it comes time to write about your experience on your resume, the pressure is admittedly a bit high. Determining what, exactly, belongs in there, let alone how to write about it and how to format it can be trickier than it sounds.

But fear not. As a recruiter and career coach, I can say—without exaggeration—that I’ve laid eyes on thousands (and thousands!) of resumes. So I know my way around an experience section. Allow me to answer all your questions:

What Belongs in My Experience Section?

When you think about which experience should be included on a resume, you usually think of past jobs. And rightfully so—your full-time work history will often be the primary source of material for your resume. But your experience can encompass so much more than the traditional jobs you’ve held. Internships , volunteer work , freelance assignments, temporary gigs , and part-time jobs all count as experience, too.

What types of experiences you include on your resume will depend on where you are in your career journey. More established job seekers who aren’t looking to make a significant career change can likely fill their experience section with their most recent full-time jobs. But if you’re new (or newer) to the workforce, looking to break into a new industry, or making a career pivot, it might make sense to incorporate less traditional experience. Before you include something on your resume, ask yourself: Is this relevant experience for the jobs I’m targeting?

OK, So How Do I Know What Experience Is Relevant?

Relevant experience is simply experience that’s applicable to the type of jobs you’re pursuing. For example, if you’re a software engineer, you’ll want to include your current and previous engineering jobs and internships, but you might decide to leave off your long-ago stint as a paralegal (unless you’re applying to work as a programmer at a law firm or legal services startup!) Or if you’re applying for a senior marketing role in publishing, you might decide to trim the first marketing job you had out of college in the beauty industry in order to make more space to highlight your publishing industry experience.

Besides which roles you’re listing, think about how to describe what you did and achieved. Suppose you currently work as a server in a restaurant, and you’re applying for receptionist jobs. In this case, you’d want to include experience interacting with customers, answering incoming phone calls, and managing schedules on your resume because those skills are highly transferable to the job you want. And you might skip less relevant job duties like busing tables because you probably won’t be needing those skills in a receptionist role.

If you aren’t making a big career pivot from one type of job or industry to another, chances are, most of your work history is relevant. But every job posting is a bit different, so you’ll need to be more discerning about which of your past responsibilities are most relevant.

To tailor your resume for each specific job, spend some time reading through the posting and take note of the skills and job duties it mentions. Then make a list of the responsibilities you have experience performing. And voilà! You’ve identified your most relevant experience.

When you write about this relevant experience on your resume, make sure you’re incorporating keywords from the specific job posting. This is essential for two key reasons. First, most applications will be scanned by an applicant tracking system or ATS, which helps recruiters search resumes for relevant keywords to find which applicants are the best match for an open role. Second, a well-tailored resume will make it easy for the recruiter reviewing it to understand why you’d be a good match for their open job.

How Should I Format the Experience Section of My Resume?

Every experience section should start with a clear section heading. You might simply call it “Experience” or “Work Experience” or “Relevant Experience.” Or maybe you’d prefer to highlight your specific role or industry with a header like “Accounting Experience” or “Entertainment Industry Experience.” The key is to make it easy to spot for anyone who may be quickly scanning your resume.

In some cases, you may want to showcase experience from a previous career or otherwise include experience that’s not directly related to the job you’re applying for. To do this, you can simply create another section with a header like “Additional Experience” or “Additional Professional Experience.” You can also pull out a section such as “Volunteer Experience” if it doesn’t make sense to include volunteer roles under your main experience section or if you prefer to list them separately

For most job seekers using a chronological or combination resume format, you should list your past jobs within your experience section (or sections) in reverse chronological order. For each item you list—full-time jobs or other types of experience—include the following:

• Position details: List your job title, company name, location, and employment dates (month and year) for every position on your resume. Here’s one way it might look:

Graphic Designer | Evergreen Industries | San Francisco, CA | May 2018 – April 2020

• Job duties and achievements : Aim to include three to seven bullet points under each position describing what you did there, starting with a high-level overview of your role and common responsibilities and then drilling down into more specifics. These bullets should highlight your most applicable experiences for the role you’re applying to. You can either include your most relevant achievements for each job alongside your job duties or you can create a dedicated subsection for “Key Achievements.” Quantifying everything you can will lend context to your work history and can be a great way to wow prospective employers. Use this magic formula to craft eye-catching bullet points:  Compelling verb + job duty = tangible number and/or result.  So you might say:  Redesigned new hire onboarding program to include welcome week, 1:1 mentoring, and interactive training, resulting in a 60% increase in 90-day retention.
• Promotions: If you were promoted during your tenure with an employer, you can either separate the two roles (if your job duties were distinct enough) or group them together into one entry that shares a set of bullet points. For example:

UX Designer | Caterpillar Collective | Kansas City, MO | July 2019 – Present Associate UX Designer | March 2018 – July 2019

• Collaborated with marketing team to create user-centric graphic designs for print and web that contributed to a 30% increase in customers over 2 years.
• Conducted 50+ IDIs and created and completed 12 surveys of 200+ users each; compiled and analyzed results to make recommendations to stakeholders.
• Led website redesign with a focus on accessibility, increasing retention rate of customers with visual impairments by 50%, per self-reported survey.

Is It Ever OK to Tweak My Job Titles?

While it’s never OK to straight-up lie about (or even embellish) your work history, there are cases when tweaking your job titles is permissible. Just remember: The key is to use your job title to clarify your role—not to mislead. Two situations where adjusting your job title is generally above board are:

• Your employer gave you a funky title . A startup might hire a “Data Guru” while an established e-commerce organization would employ a “Data Scientist” to perform the same duties. In this case, it’s probably safe to tweak that job title on your resume.
• You wear lots of different hats. If you’re in a role where you juggle lots of different responsibilities (like an office manager who also supports a marketing team), you might adjust your job title to give recruiters more context. For example, if said office manager wanted to pivot into a marketing assistant role, they might list “Office Manager - Marketing Support” as their job title.

If tweaking a title feels like a stretch, you can instead focus on crafting strong bullet points to clearly convey your responsibilities or use your summary to lend additional context to your qualifications.

How Far Back Should My Experience Section Go?

Keeping your focus on relevant experience means you probably won’t need to include all of your past jobs—and that’s a good thing. Recruiters and hiring managers are going to be most interested in your most relevant and recent experience. They also love a concise, single-page resume that’s easy to scan (they get a lot of applications and don’t have time to read through years and years of work experience). So it’s OK to keep your resume short and sweet.

As a general rule, you don’t need to include more than 10 to 15 years of experience on your resume (with some exceptions). Check out this guide for a detailed breakdown on how far back your resume should go depending on where you are in your career and any special situations.

What If I Have a Gap in Employment?

If you took time away from the workforce, know that you’re in good company. Plenty of successful people have gaps in their employment history for myriad reasons, like caring for a loved one, raising children , going back to school, or losing a job. If your employment gap is brief (less than six months or so), you probably don’t need to address it on your resume. But if it’s a bit longer (more than a year), you may want to add a bit of context in the form of an additional “experience” entry—no more than a line or two.

Here’s what it might look like:

Professional Sabbatical | June 2016 – August 2019

• Provided full-time care for a sick family member.
• Traveled throughout Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
• Authored a memoir about growing up on a Christmas tree farm.

Whether or not you include an entry like this on your resume, you can use your cover letter to explain any special circumstances in more detail.

If you took time away to go back to school, listing your education (and including relevant projects or coursework) will also suffice to bridge the gap on your resume.

Can I See an Example Experience Section?

Below is an example of how a tailored, quantified experience section might look on a sample resume. This job seeker has already made a career change from accounting to writing (notice how they leveraged their transferable accounting expertise to write for financial publications, first as a volunteer and then a freelancer before landing a full-time writing job). Now, they’re hoping to find a new staff writing role covering different topics—ideally lifestyle or wellness.

The types of jobs this job seeker will be applying for require at least three years of experience pitching and producing SEO-focused articles, preferably with a lifestyle focus. Notice how this job seeker uses the “Key Achievements” subsections to highlight their most relevant project work. (They’d also include a link to their personal website on their resume so that potential employers can easily see their portfolio!)

Download sample resume experience section  

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Work Experience on a Resume: 20+ Examples of How to List It

Your work experience is the resume section hiring managers look at first. And if they’re busy, it’s often the only part they review. To get the interview, you need to pay extra attention to your resume work history section. In practice, this means you should spend roughly 80% of the total time spent on your resume on the work experience section. As with other resume sections, there are some simple rules to follow.  In this guide, we’ll unpack them for you and help you create a resume that stands out every single time.

Here’s what you’ll master today:

• How to describe your work experience on a resume (plus how to format it)
• Extra tips on how to make your work history super-memorable
• How to sell yourself on a resume in different situations
• How to draft your work experience section based on real examples for the most common scenarios and jobs

Let’s dive in!

How to List Your Experience on Your Resume

• Put it under a clear, legible heading
• Place it right after the resume summary or objective
• List your most recent experience first
• Include relevant experience
• Be clear, concise, and consistent with your formatting
• Use bullet points to describe your responsibilities and achievements

1. Put it under a clear, legible heading

Make sure your work experience section is clearly visible and has its own heading. You can name this section “Work Experience”, “Experience” or “Employment History”.

2. Place it right under the resume summary or objective

It’s best to place the experience section right under your resume summary or a resume objective. However, if you’re fresh out of college and have little or no work experience, you can fit the work history under your education section.

3. List your most recent experience first

You typically list your work experience in reverse chronological order — put your current or most recent gig at the top, followed by the previous one, then the one before that, and so on.

This is effective because it gives the hiring team the most relevant information instantly. If you’re a UX designer looking for a new opportunity, the hiring manager will want to know about your most recent accomplishments to see how you progressed, where your expertise lies, and how your latest experience can translate into success in your new role.

4. Include relevant experience

Do you need to put all your past experience on a resume? By no means. Professional resume writers and career coaches advise that you include up to 15 years of relevant work experience. Including every single job you’ve done (like that pizza delivery summer gig when you were 16) can actually work against you.

Remember, this is just a general rule that can be broken in certain situations.

For instance, if you’re looking for a job in tech, where skills, frameworks, and tech stacks change often, your experience from 13 years ago may not be truly relevant today.

Also, if you’ve had a major career change, e.g. switched from teaching to copywriting 10 years ago, you could omit your teaching roles. However, if working in that position gave you relevant skills and experience that you still consider useful and valuable (e.g. clear communication, time management, or presentations), you can definitely include it in your resume.

Read on if you’re changing careers, switching from the military, or are freshly graduated (we’ll cover those scenarios in a bit).

5. Be clear, concise, and consistent with your formatting

This is a big one. It’s crucial to format your entries properly so that the information is easy to spot and read. Also, consistency is hugely important. Maintain the same order of information in each entry for a polished, organized, and harmonious look.

Here’s how you can order the items in a single work experience entry:

• Your position (usually written in bigger font or in bold)
• Company name
• Dates worked
• Bullet points highlighting your responsibilities and achievements

6. Use bullet points to describe your responsibilities and achievements

Instead of writing a paragraph or description explaining your role in detail, make sure to use a bulleted list (it’s way clearer, better organized, and memorable).

Next, it’s always wise to focus on your most important accomplishments and achievements, rather than simply listing your everyday responsibilities. After all, the point of this section is to gently persuade the hiring team that you’re equipped to do the job and that you have an excellent track record.

In other words, this is where it pays to take a moment to think back to your biggest career wins and corroborate that with some data (more about this later).

Finally, make sure to limit the number of bullets as you go back in time. While it’s perfectly fine to have 5–8 points for your latest job, 3–4 will be enough for older entries.

Now let’s put theory into practice and look at two great examples of work history on a resume that follow the steps we discussed above.

Sample resume work experience section (senior candidate)

Vice President of Marketing Vue 03/2017 – Present

• Helmed website overhaul, resulting in increase of organic traffic by over 300%
• Spearheaded the team of 7 full-time employees and 12 contractors
• Tracked email, PPC and display marketing performance to optimize cost per lead
• Hit 541% and 137% return on marketing investment for organic and email, respectively

Sample resume work experience section (junior to mid-level candidate)

• Responded to up to 20 tickets a day, resulting in 97% first touch resolution score
• Maintained a >9.0 monthly average satisfaction rating each of last 12 months
• Resolved 7 escalations with the IT/SysDev teams in the last 3 months
• Wrote 24 knowledge base articles to reduce ticket resolution times by 1.3 minutes

How to Take Your Resume Work Experience Section from Standard to Job-Winning

Now let’s zoom in on your work experience section even closer and help you take those bullet points from average to outstanding. To sell yourself on your resume, just follow these simple tips.

1. Focus on achievements over day-to-day duties and quantify wherever possible

This is precisely where most candidates get stuck. A lot of you are probably thinking: yes, I’ve heard this piece of advice many times. But I don’t have any stellar achievements. I just do my job well .

Precisely. That’s enough to be sure you do have achievements. You might not even know it. And the best way to showcase those is by hard numbers.

Again, don’t freak out. You don’t have to be in the data and numbers game to be able to come up with quantifiable results and statistics. There are simple strategies to present tangible results to back up your accomplishments. And just so you realize how miserably bad people are at showcasing their accomplishments —

Here’s a real-life story that a resume-writing consultant friend told me.

He was hired to revamp a spacecraft engineer’s resume (btw, how cool is that!). When she walked him through her resume and explained what each item meant, one caught his attention — ” Optimized and automated the procurement and invoicing flow. ” Optimizing and automating? That always means something cool.

She eventually explained how she made a highly complex process fully automatic, and in doing so, saved around 18 work hours a month for 7 people each. These people were paid an average of $200/hr. That’s $1.3 million a year saved for the company. And that was not on her resume.

Why am I telling you this?

Because this is proof that you’re not alone in being horrible at framing duties as achievements. Apparently, even the most extraordinary candidates are. Bottom line: you will most definitely stand out if you know how to do it!

So here are a few tips on how to really stand out from the crowd:

Mention the scale , e.g. how many people you managed, or the size of the budgets you handled

• Provided consultations for 120 students a year over 7 consecutive years
• Managed a shift of 70 workers in a 250.000 square foot facility
• Standardized the Sales process in a 2000-employee company averaging 300M annual ARR
• Controlled an annual marketing budget of $30K

Mention the frequency , e.g. how many tasks you performed within a time frame

• Wrote 14 new SEO-optimized articles in the last quarter
• Onboarded 17 Fortune 2000 clients in 2021
• Performed 13 weekly technical website audits and resolved 25 issues
• Hosted 5 company webinars attracting a total of 790 B2B leads

Mention specific results , e.g. money and time saved

• Reduced the employee turnover rate by 5% in 2021
• Tripled the number of Instagram sales since 2019
• Reduced cost per sale from 3.8K to 2.7K in two years’ time
• Attracted 2.6 new LinkedIn followers in the last quarter

Pro tip: Record your accomplishments as they happen. This is how I do it. Every time something cool happens (e.g. 89% of email subscribers click on the CTA button in an email and read my article or 5 product demos were booked on a blog page that I wrote), I take a note in a Google document. Even if I’m not actively looking for a job. (Or not even thinking about it.) In time, you’ll have a killer list of accomplishments to add to your resume, cutting your writing time in half. Otherwise, you’ll either forget the details or spend hours digging through your old projects to find the right info.

2. Use action verbs at the beginning of your bullet points

If you take a closer look at all the examples we listed in this guide so far, you’ll notice a few common themes — none of the bullets start with “I” and they sound super descriptive although we used zero adjectives.

The secret lies in action verbs, the powerful verbs that are used at the beginning of each bullet to draw the reader in and show your impact.

Take a look at these examples again:

• Responded to an average of 20 tickets a day, resulting in 97% first touch resolution score
• Received 9.1 satisfaction rating in the last 365 days
• Resolved 7 escalations in the last 3 months with the IT/SysDev teams

Combined with numbers and specific results, these verbs show the recruiting team exactly how you accomplished things and attained goals at work.

There are extensive lists of power/action verbs you can find on the web, but here’s a short list of our favorite ones to get you started.

Top 50 action verbs to use in your resume work experience section:

• Coordinated
• Established
• Facilitated
• Implemented
• Standardized
• Streamlined
• Strengthened

Expert tip: Vary your power verbs to avoid repetition. Keep your bullet points as short as possible and avoid the use of pronouns, articles, and adjectives.

Here’s an example of a bland work experience section turned amazing and catchy by applying the 3 tips above.

• Responsible for all content marketing activities in the company
• I was in charge of the link-building project
• Proofreading of the copy before publishing.

Why we think it sucks:

Let’s dissect this Frankenstein.

• Consistency issues: Although the candidate uses the bulleted list to provide more information about their recent role, they are not consistent. The first bullet starts with an adjective, the second uses a pronoun (“I”) and looks like an actual sentence, while the third one starts with an -ing form. All in all, it’s a mess.
• No details or real info: The candidate uses overused phrases like “responsible” and “in charge of” combined with little other info. All in all, super bland and nonspecific.

Now let’s see how you can transform this meh work history section into an unforgettable one by using action verbs and quantifiers.

• Designed annual content marketing strategy, resulting in 247 SQLs (500+ employees)
• Oversaw a team of 10 writers, resulting in 60 do-follow links in the last 90 days
• Increased content downloads website-wide by 78%
• Conducted quality assurance for 100% of content

Why we love this version:

First, it’s super specific and it tells us exactly what this Content Marketing Manager did. Next, they listed the results of their efforts in a consistent and persuasive way. Finally, a nice mix of power verbs (designed, oversaw, increased, and conducted) leaves the reader with the impression that this person knows what they’re doing.

3. Customize your employment history section to the job description at hand

We’ve been saying this forever and we’ll say it again: don’t expect to have a single resume that can win you endless jobs. Heck. Don’t expect a generic, all-purpose resume to land you more than 1 interview out of 50 applications.

That’s not how the pros do it.

Instead, you’ll need multiple versions that you’ll then further customize by tailoring your work experience section to the exact position you’re targeting.

The easiest way to do this is to peruse the job description, identify which skills and requirements matter to the employer and then have your resume prove that you possess those very skills.

Here’s how it works in practice.

Let’s say a MarTech company is looking for someone to join the Billing Customer Support Team.

Here is a sample job ad and some of the requirements and duties listed in the description:

After carefully reading the job description details, this candidate found 5 points they have previously excelled in. Next, they’ll use them as guidelines to tailor their work experience resume section to match the requirements 100%.

Customer Support Engineer Omnis

• Solved a daily average of 20 Zendesk tickets over a 3-year period
• Maintained the internal knowledge base 100% clean and up to date
• Prioritized feature requests and worked with AppDev and PO until implementation
• Hit company-record ticket response times (11 hours Zendesk; 2 minutes live chat)
• Authored a total of 56 technical articles in the Help Center

Why we like this answer: The candidate relied on the information from the job ad to highlight their accomplishments in a clear and convincing way. They showed their familiarity with Zendesk, their dedication to keeping the internal company wiki updated, and proved that they are independent and proficient enough to write technical documentation. Finally, they illustrated most of their efforts with relevant metrics and KPIs and used power verbs to convey authority and skill.

How to List Work Experience on a Resume for Different Scenarios

This may make perfect sense to someone who’s had 10+ years of experience and few job gaps. But what if you’re applying for a job outside your industry or aren’t sure whether to include your volunteer experience? Here are all your questions answered.

How to show a promotion on your resume?

If you’ve held multiple positions in the same company or if you’d like to highlight your growth and change in roles, you can approach this in two different ways.

1) List them as a single entry if similar and if the career path is clear. Start with the company name, dates worked, and then list your positions together with the from-to period when you held them. Like this:

Acme Technologies Inc. 03/2017 – Present

Content Marketing Manager (01/2021 – Present) (a bullet-pointed list of accomplishments)

Content Writer (03/2017 – 01/2021) (note the promotion, followed by a bulleted list of responsibilities and achievements)

2) List them as two separate entries if you made a bigger shift or changed departments (e.g. started in a call center, then switched to Business Development).

A note of caution: When using stacked entries (1), there’s a chance that the ATS software won’t recognize your promotion as such, and may list your skills and experience under the earlier position. To ensure your resume will be well-parsed by the ATS and look good, it’s safer to stick to the format shown in (2) and list your promotions as two separate entries.

How to put freelance work on a resume?

Absolutely include your freelance work in your employment history, as it shows your versatility, skill set, and soft skills like client management, negotiation, and independence. Here’s an example of how a writer and illustrator listed their freelancing experience.

Content Writing Consultant (alternatively, you can use Contractor ) Freelance

• Contributed original blog content to businesses (include most notable clients)
• Increased organic traffic by 250% with a 6-month blog project
• Helped generate 14 Fortune 2000 leads through Google AdWords over a 6-month period
• Illustrated for both web and printed media
• Provided 50+ illustrations for clients such as NewYorker Magazine, CondeNast, Monocle
• Won Best Book Cover Award (Illustration Category) in 2021
• Collaborated with 20+ teams with an average UpWork score of 4.8

Should I include volunteer work on my resume?

If you can supply at least 5 years of paid work experience, you can skip your volunteering experience altogether or add them to other resume sections.

If your employment history is short or if you’re just starting your job search after being a stay-at-home parent or a student, then definitely include the volunteering gigs in your main work history section. After all, recruiters love seeing this type of experience — it tells a lot about who you are as a person, what you’re passionate about, and that you’re not entirely motivated by money.

How to list part-time jobs on a resume?

When adding your part-time jobs to your resume work history, treat it like any other entry. However, make sure to add that you worked part-time. A simple note next to your position works just fine. Like this:

Online Marketing Specialist (part-time) Forwa

• Posted 5 blog posts weekly in WordPress over a 2-year period
• Set up an average of 10 email marketing campaigns/week
• Assisted 2 Lead Gen Specialists to clean 14 lists over a 2-year period

How to put internships on a resume?

You can include your internship just as you would with any other work experience, no matter if it was paid or not. Add your official role, the company name, and then provide a bulleted list of your responsibilities and accomplishments. Here’s how one candidate did it:

• Used javascript, HTML, and bootstrap to build UI pages
• Worked closely with frontend developers to solve more complex issues
• Collaborated with backend developers and UX/UI designer to assess requirements

How to explain employment gaps on a resume?

I’ll start with a general note here: people freak out about their employment gaps way more than they should. Yes, employment gaps on your resume can be considered red flags, but not by default.

As a matter of fact, a recent study published in the American Economic Review reveals that “long-term unemployment spells in the past do not matter for employers’ hiring decisions.” The study also found that all subsequent experiences canceled out the gaps in employment, as well as that employers didn’t treat short-term and long-term unemployment much differently.

So no reason to panic, okay?

You’d normally have the chance to explain the gaps in your employment in an interview. To get there, it’s wise to address them in your resume work experience section and provide a bit of information and context.

This is especially valid if the gaps are bigger and happened for a good reason like getting a degree, being a full-time parent or caregiver, or for medical reasons.

And here’s how you can integrate that smartly into your resume employment history.

• Took time off from professional career to provide care for a baby and a toddler and manage the household
• Used the gap years to complete 3 B2B Sales courses

(In case you need more inspo, here’s what else you can put on a resume .)

Resume Work Experience Examples for Different Careers

Here you’ll find some of the best resume experience examples for the most common professions.

Customer service and tech support

• Assisted customers and troubleshot technical issues on 30+ calls/day on average
• Resolved 90% of issues without transfers or escalations
• Decreased cancellations by 11% over a one year period
• Ran regular customer satisfaction surveys resulting in 9.6/10 satisfaction rating
• Built close relationships with CIOs and CTOs from prospective companies
• Provided software demonstrations to 52 companies in the last quarter
• Closed 36 new deals, hitting a 69% closing rate in the last quarter

Software engineering

• Worked with PO team to update and rearchitect 50+ page web app
• Built 5 additional features in the last 12 months
• Cooperated with a team of 8 agile developers to prioritize biggest impact features

Office administration

• Provided reliable administrative assistance to the Regional Manager
• Organized 2 conferences for 2000+ attendees
• Managed 7 workshops and 10 local events over a two-year period
• Interviewed 6 potential new candidates and trained 3 new team members

Digital marketing

• Posted daily on 5 company social media profiles
• Interacted with 10 LinkedIn HR influencers every day
• Grew the LinkedIn account by 525% over a six-month period
• Provided emergency health care to 20 patient per shift on average
• Participated in 300+ emergency procedures over a one-year period
• Exceeded standards of care to hit 9.7 patient satisfaction rating in an anonymous survey
• Prepared and delivered 100% of lessons to second year students (<20 students/class)
• Coordinated 30+ extra study sessions to prepare students for state exams
• Increased assignment completion by 40% via technology-based learning during Covid19

Business analysis & data science

• Reduced the cost of IT infrastructure by 24% via alternative software solutions
• Relocated budget from social to organic for 30% increase in ROI
• Restructured the Sales department, resulting in 45K of new revenue

Find out how to write a next-level resume work experience section for 100+ other professions in this free resume library .

Need a bit more guidance?

You can hop over to Big Interview’s Resume Builder, where you’ll get to enter your information section by section (basic info and contact details, summary, work experience, education, certifications, skills), choose the design and then have the tool create a resume for you. Here’s what you’ll find inside:

This is super useful because you can easily create many iterations (for different job ads) and save a bunch of time in the process.

Once that’s done, you can also use ResumeAI , a new feature that assesses your resume for various criteria hiring teams use in real life – how easy it is on the eye, how you used action words to convey experience and skills, and whether it’s ATS-friendly Basically, you’ll get a rating based on how effective you were in showcasing your skills and experience.

And if you need a bit more support, we created a short course on resume writing, designed and led by our own co-founder, Pamela Skillings (aka *the resume and job interview guru*). In this curriculum, you get 8 video lessons with Pam (with a transcript), after which you’ll be 100% sure to crush that resume.

Key Points Summarized

TL; DR? Here’s the essence of a killer resume work experience section that you can copy in no time.

• A well-written employment history section directly impacts your chances of being shortlisted. Take some extra time to do it right.
• Always present your work experience in a clearly separated section and place it under your resume summary.
• Begin with your current (or most recent) job and work backward from there.
• Include the following information, in this order: your position, company name, and dates worked.
• Back up this information with a bulleted list of up to 5 achievements and responsibilities. Forget false modesty and show your excellent track record. Quantify and provide tangible results wherever possible. Use power verbs to convey authority and entice the hiring team.
• When applying for multiple jobs in different companies, custom-tailor your work experience section to each job opening. Browse the job requirements and duties and match them with examples from past experience.
• Bonus tip: Keep the high standards in other resume sections too. Learn how to best showcase your skills on a resume.

How many years of work history should I describe on a resume?

List 10–15 years of experience, depending on your individual circumstances. The key thing here is to include only relevant work experience, so if you’ve been in the job market for 10 years, but only 6 are relevant to the job you’re applying for, focus on those 6 years. You can still list the previous experience, but there’s no need to go into great detail.

How many bullet points should I use per entry in the work history section?

A common guideline is to have 3–8 bullet points per entry. This way you can give plenty of relevant information about your achievements and responsibilities without overwhelming the reader with excessive detail. You can use 5–8 for your most recent and penultimate positions. As you work your way backwards, 3 bullet points is usually enough. Remember to aim for quality over quantity — if you can fit your best accomplishments into 3 bullet points, there’s no need to write 2 additional weak ones. Make sure to refer to your “strongest” qualities in the first 2 bullets.

What work experience should I not include in my resume?

Here are some examples of work experience that should not be included in your resume: irrelevant experience, experience from over 15 years ago, high school jobs, or volunteer work. However, this all depends on where you are in the career journey. For example, for first-time job seekers, school jobs, part-time jobs, and volunteer experience will matter.

What should I do if I have little to no work experience?

If you have no or little formal work experience, include other types of experience and focus on your qualifications and results. Some ideas to consider: internships, volunteer work, academic projects, freelance or contract work, leadership roles in student associations or sport clubs, and community work. Don’t worry about your title or if it was a formal experience. Instead, focus on the relevant skills and tangible results you accomplished in these roles.

Should I put volunteer experience in my work history section?

You can include it if you have little to no relevant professional experience. Otherwise, you can put it in a separate resume section or omit it if your resume is already full.

How to address gaps in employment in my work experience section?

If there’s a significant gap in your resume, address it proactively in the document and don’t wait for it to come up at the interview (imagine you miss out on one because of that gap!). This way, your potential employers will know you have nothing to hide. Briefly explain the reasons for the gap, keep your language positive, and mention if you did any coursework or upskilling during that time. If you took a sabbatical to travel, take care of a family, or get degrees to prepare for a career change, say it proudly.

When should I take a job off my resume?

A general rule is to remove a job from your resume if it’s no longer relevant to the position you’re applying for. For example, if you’re applying for a marketing role, already had 4 marketing roles, but had initially worked as a history teacher for 1 year, it’s safe to assume your history teacher experience can be taken off. The point is to not overwhelm the resume with unrelated experience. You can also remove some short-term jobs or jobs you had a long time ago, especially if your resume is already getting longer than 2 pages.

Should I include a job I was fired from on my resume?

That depends on several factors. If this was a recent position you held for a long time, you should include it. Otherwise, there would be a big employment gap that you’d still have to address (and it may come up anyway during a background check). If you can come up with a tactful, honest explanation behind the termination, and especially if you’ve gained new relevant skills in the meantime, don’t hesitate to include that position. On the other hand, if the job was a long time ago or if it’s unrelated to the position you’re currently applying for, feel free to omit it.

Pamela Skillings

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How to List Work Experience on Your Resume – A Guide with Examples

In This Guide:

What is a resume work experience section, how do i add experience to my resume, where to list work experience on your resume, how to format your work experience (with template), how to describe work experience on a resume, how to choose the right resume format, how many years of work experience should be on a resume, what should i do if i have a gap in employment, tips on writing a powerful resume experience section, key takeaways.

R esume work experience almost always needs to be presented in reverse chronological order—starting with your most recent position and working backward.

Each entry needs to include the basics: company name and location; job title; start and end dates. It’s also essential to include bullet points describing your duties and responsibilities.

Finally, never underestimate the power of action verbs and quantifying your accomplishments.

Crafting the perfect resume experience section  can be challenging, especially when deciding how to describe work history  effectively. Almost everyone struggles with selecting the right work experience examples  that highlight their skills and accomplishments. The key is to showcase your professional past in a way that resonates with potential employers.

A we ll-structured resume work experience example s houldn’t only detail your previous roles but also emphasize the impact of your contributions. By accurately featuring yo ur work experience, yo u enhance your chances of catching a recruiter's eye and securing your next job opportunity.

We guarantee that by the end of this article, you’ll have a better understanding of this particular resume section and be able to do the following:

• Study and use a plethora of real work experience examples to help visualize your target.
• Easily produce an effective entry that conveys all the essential elements.
• Be able to recognize and correctly choose which format is best for the specific job you’re applying for.
• Understand what exactly needs to be included in your work listing.
• Tips on writing a more powerful and convincing experience section.
• How to properly describe and convey your achievements and responsibilities in an impactful way.

Let’s begin by looking at what exactly we are trying to craft.

Improve your resume experience section!

Drop your resume here or choose a file . PDF & DOCX only. Max 2MB file size.

The work experience section is arguably the most critical part of a resume, serving as the focal point for recruiters and hiring managers alike. This segment outlines your professional history and highlights your achievements in previous roles. It encompasses paid and unpaid roles, including full-time positions, part-time jobs, internships, volunteer work, and freelance projects, essentially any role where you've applied and honed your skills in a professional context.

What to put for experience on a resume involves carefully  tailoring your selection  of relevant positions that illustrate your qualifications and readiness for the new role you're applying for. This means not just listing your duties, but focusing on quantifiable achievements and how you've contributed to past organizations.

For instance, highlight the wins you had, like projects you nailed, teams you led, sales records you broke, or any process you made better—outcomes that provide concrete evidence of your capabilities.

Including different types of work experience is all about painting a picture of how you've grown and what you bring to the table. It's not just about what you've done, but how you've made a difference, underscoring why the experience section plays such a pivotal role in your resume.

But what exactly should you include?

Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you.

Aldous Huxley

Your resume work experience section refers to your professional background in employment.

For all professional experience sections, you need to include your previous:

• Role and responsibilities
• Skills and accomplishments
• Company names
• Dates you’ve worked

If you’re worrying about what to write in a resume for work experience, let us just quickly calm those nerves. Just remember to stick to reverse chronological order, presenting your most recent job first  to emphasize your career progression.

Also, try starting each point with action verbs  to animate your roles and achievements vividly—recruiters love that!

The ideal location for your work experience section is immediately following your resume summary  or objective statement . This gives it a prominent position that ensures it’ll catch the eye of the hiring manager.

Deciding which work experience is listed first on a resume is easy—it’s the job you just left or perhaps are still working at  and then you work your way back.

For a standout resume experience format , begin your entry by listing the company name, your position/title, employment dates, and the location. Including a brief company description is optional but can provide context, especially if the company isn't widely known—whatever you choose, be sure to be consistent.

The bullet points under each role are crucial; this is a job description  where you should focus on quantifying your impact and showcasing your achievements using action verbs. Aim for 4-6 bullets per position, starting each with a dynamic action verb.

Ensure that you quantify as many of your achievements as possible (e.g., "Increased sales by 20%") to provide concrete evidence of your impact. This approach not only makes your contributions clear but also demonstrates the value you brought to the position.

Remember, how to format work experience on a resume is about making your contributions and achievements easily accessible, so use concise, impactful language and keep your bullet points focused and relevant.

The best way to demonstrate this is by showing you a couple of examples. You can find below an example of an experience entry that you would do well avoiding. Check it out:

• • Duties included cashiering, helping customers, stocking shelves.

As you can see this work history section needs a boost. It would be a good idea to swap "Duties included" for lively action verbs like "Managed" or "Assisted." Also, adding some numbers to show off their impact, like boosting checkout speed by 30%, would drastically improve this entry. Another thing that they should’ve done is to be more clear about how they helped customers or improved stocking methods.

A few tweaks could definitely make this resume shine! Let’s rewrite it in a manner that could actually help the candidate land the job.

Here’s the new and improved work experience listing:

• • Managed transactions for up to 200 customers daily, ensuring a smooth and efficient checkout process.
• • Assisted customers by providing detailed product information and resolving inquiries, enhancing customer satisfaction.
• • Coordinated shelf stocking and organized product displays, contributing to a 15% increase in-store efficiency.

We transformed the work experience section by swapping "Duties included" for dynamic verbs like "Managed" and "Coordinated," highlighting proactive roles and leadership. By quantifying achievements—like handling 200 transactions daily and boosting store efficiency by 15%—and adding specific details on enhancing customer satisfaction, we've crafted a vivid, impactful snapshot of skills and contributions.

Here’s a template you can use to help guide you while listing your experience on your next resume:

Resume work experience section template:

[Job title]

[Company name in smaller font]

[Location - optional]

[Company description]

• [Bullet points detailing your accomplishments and job duties –– between 3 and 6 for each job you’ve held]

While writing your bullets, remember these four things:

Action verbs

• Use numbers and quantify
• Detail your achievements and responsibilities
• Be concise and impactful

Let’s continue with the topic of experience and achievements. Next, we’ll explore exactly how to format these sentences, use the right action words, and the best way to quantify your accomplishments.

When writing the work experience section of your resume, start each sentence with a strong action verb  to immediately capture the reader's attention. This approach showcases your role as an active contributor and leader in your previous positions. For example, instead of saying "Responsible for managing a team," you could say "Managed a team of 10, leading to a 20% increase in productivity." This not only demonstrates what you did (managed a team) but also quantifies your achievement (20% productivity increase).

Quantifying

Quantifying accomplishments provides concrete evidence of your impact and showcases your ability to deliver results. Try to include numbers, percentages, or other measurable outcomes whenever possible. For instance, "Increased sales by 15% through strategic marketing campaigns" gives a clear picture of your effectiveness and contribution.

For formatting sentences, aim for clarity and conciseness. Begin with the action verb, follow with the task you performed, and end with the result or impact of your action, quantifying the achievement. Keeping this structure consistent throughout your work experience entries will create a streamlined, easy-to-read section that clearly communicates your professional value.

Tailored content

When pondering how to write work experience in a resume, it's crucial to tailor your bullets to the job you're applying for, emphasizing the experiences and achievements most relevant to the position.

Prioritize work experience that aligns closely with the job you're applying for, highlighting roles where you've developed relevant skills or achieved significant accomplishments. This targeted approach  demonstrates your suitability and potential value to prospective employers.

How to decide what experience is relevant and what isn’t?

Determining if work experience is relevant  to your resume involves aligning your past roles and achievements with the requirements of the job you're applying for. Here are tips on how to tailor your resume effectively:

• Analyze the job description: Start by thoroughly reading the job listing. Note the skills, experiences, and qualifications that are emphasized. These are your clues to what the employer values most.
• Match your experience: Look at your own work history and identify which roles and accomplishments directly relate to the job description’s requirements. Focus on experiences where you've used the skills listed as necessary for the new position.
• Highlight transferable skills:  Some of your experiences may not be directly related but have transferable skills that are valuable for the job. For example, if you’re applying for a project management role and you’ve led a team or coordinated a project, even in a different industry, that experience is relevant.
• Use keywords from the job description: Incorporate language and keywords  from the job description into your resume. This not only shows that your experience aligns with the role but also helps your resume get past automated applicant tracking systems (ATS) that many companies use.
• Be selective:  You don’t need to list every job you’ve ever had. Focus on the roles that demonstrate you have the skills and experience to excel in the job you’re applying for.

Remember, a tailored resume is much more likely to catch the attention of hiring managers and show that you're a strong candidate for the position.

Deciding on the right resume format hinges on your career history, skills, and the type of job you're applying for. Among the main formats—reverse chronological, combination, and functional—each serves a distinct purpose, while all other formats are considered outdated in today's job market. Here's how to choose:

• Reverse chronological format :  This is the most traditional and widely accepted format. It lists your work history starting with your most recent job and working backward. It's ideal if you have a steady work history and want to emphasize your upward career trajectory. This format is especially beneficial when applying to roles that require extensive experience in a specific field.
• Combination or hybrid format :  This combines elements of both the chronological and functional resumes. It highlights your skills and achievements at the top, followed by your work history in reverse chronological order. This format is suitable if you're aiming to change careers, have gaps in your employment, or possess a diverse set of skills and experiences that are relevant to the job.
• Functional format :  This format focuses on your skills and experiences rather than your job history. It's organized by skill categories rather than employment history and is best suited for individuals with gaps in their employment, those changing careers, or if you're new to the workforce.

Your choice should strategically highlight your strengths and match the expectations of your target role, ensuring your resume stands out for the right reasons.

The work experience section of your resume should ideally go back 10 to 15 years . This timeframe allows you to showcase your most relevant and recent experience without overwhelming the reader with too much information. Older positions can be included if they are particularly relevant to the job you're applying for, but it's often unnecessary to detail every role beyond the last decade or so.

Also, choose how many jobs you list  wisely. Don’t include 15 different jobs—focus on positions that directly relate to the target role. Prioritize quality over quantity, ensuring each listed job adds value to your candidacy.

Handling employment gaps on your resume  can be tricky, but it's essential to approach them thoughtfully and strategically. Here's how to manage and communicate employment gaps:

• Don’t highlight gaps on your resume : Your resume is a marketing document meant to highlight your strengths. You don't need to explicitly point out employment gaps here. Focus on your experiences, skills, and achievements.
• Use a functional or combination resume format:  Instead of the traditional chronological resume, consider a functional or combination format. These emphasize skills and accomplishments up front, rather than the timeline of your employment history. This approach can help draw less attention to the gaps.
• Include other relevant experiences:  If you were doing something relevant during your gap period, such as volunteering , freelancing, studying, or undertaking any personal projects  related to your field, include these experiences on your resume. Present them similarly to how you would list a job, focusing on skills  gained and contributions made.
• Be prepared to discuss the gap in your cover letter and interviews: While you don't need to explain employment gaps on your resume, you can address them briefly in your cover letter  if it adds valuable context to your application. Be prepared to discuss the gap openly and positively in interviews, and focus on what you learned or how you grew during that time.
• Stay positive and focus on the future:  When discussing employment gaps, maintain a positive tone and focus on your eagerness and readiness to return to work. Emphasize that your experiences during the gap have prepared you for the next step in your career.
• Honesty is key:  If asked about an employment gap, be honest but succinct in your explanation. You don't need to go into personal details. A simple explanation like "I took time off for family reasons, but I'm excited to bring my skills and experiences to this role" is sufficient.

Employment gaps are more common than ever and are becoming less of a stigma, especially due to reasons like personal health, family obligations, or the recent global changes impacting employment. Most employers understand that career paths aren't always linear, so focus on demonstrating your value and readiness for the role you're applying for.

Here are some final resume tips  that could help you create that powerful, successful resume you’ve been hunting for:

Choose an organized template

Selecting a clear, professional template for your resume  can make a significant difference. It helps highlight your experience section effectively, ensuring that recruiters can easily scan through and understand your career progression and accomplishments. A well-structured template with distinct headings and a logical flow from one section to the next sets a strong first impression.

Address the needs of the employer

Tailor your experience section to meet the specific requirements and preferences of the employer. Closely read the job description and emphasize the parts of your work history that match with what they’re looking for. By mirroring the language of the job listing and focusing on relevant experiences, you demonstrate that you aren’t just qualified but also attentive and responsive to the employer’s needs.

Keep it brief

Aim to convey the essence of your roles and achievements without overwhelming the reader with too much information. For each position, include a few bullet points that highlight your key responsibilities and accomplishments, using quantifiable results whenever possible. This approach guarantees that your resume is digestible and impactful, making it easier for employers to see your value.

Check for grammatical and spelling errors

Before submitting your resume, thoroughly proofread it for any typos on your resume . Consider using tools like spell checkers or having someone else review your resume to catch errors you might have missed. A clean, error-free resume reflects your diligence and care, qualities that are highly valued in any role.

Now that we have thoroughly gone through all aspects of listing your resume work experience, you should be ready to start writing. Here are some takeaways from the article.

• Study real examples: Use real work experience examples to visualize and craft an effective experience section on your resume.
• Choose the right format:  Understand and choose the best resume format (reverse chronological, combination, or functional) for your specific situation, recognizing that all other formats are considered outdated.
• Highlight relevant experience:  Tailor your resume to address the needs of the employer by focusing on relevant work experience that showcases your qualifications for the job you're applying for.
• Use action verbs and quantify achievements:  Start bullet points with action verbs and quantify your accomplishments to clearly demonstrate your impact in previous roles.
• Organized template:  Choose a clear, professional template to make your work experience stand out effectively.
• Mind the details: Include essential information like company names, positions, dates, and locations, and aim for 4-6 bullet points per job that focus on your achievements and contributions.
• Address employment gaps thoughtfully:  Strategically manage and communicate any employment gaps, focusing on the positives and how experiences during these periods have prepared you for your next role.

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Work Experience Section on the Resume

How to demonstrate your career trajectory

The experience section is the core of any resume and the most important metric for explaining your career path to employers.

Listing work experience on a resume can be a tricky task. You may have never worked in your life or have had so many past jobs that you don’t have enough space on a page.

So, which parts of your professional experience should you include? Which parts should you exclude?

This guide offers tips on exactly  what experience to put on a resume  and how to write a work experience section that will attract a potential employer’s attention.

How To Show Your Professional Experience On Your Resume

Most employers  deem the work experience section the most vital part of your resume , as your career path is often the clearest, most efficient way to outline the skills they are looking for .

This section lists the companies you’ve worked for , industries you are familiar with, skills you have acquired, and the contributions you’ve delivered along the way.

Not sure what title to give it? Here are some ideas:

• Work Experience
• Professional Experience
• Relevant Experience
• Work History

Choose a title that is most appropriate for your experience. For example, students may include internships or part-time positions, which qualify as “work” experience but which might not be related to their target roles.

What To Include In A Resume Experience Section

It’s best to collect all of your work histories first before starting to write your experience section.

For some job seekers, their work experience will be paid or contracted professional jobs/positions.

But for students or recent graduates, relevant work can also include:

• Micro internships
• Volunteer work
• Study abroad programs
• Leadership of clubs or community teams

Next, it is time to detail your experience.

Start with your most recent position and work backward (this is called the reverse chronological resume format ).

Each entry should include the following elements:

• Employer/company name
• Location (City, State, or “remote”)
• Dates of employment
• Details of your accomplishments or achievements and contributions

Some of these details are unnecessary in functional resume layouts . For example, in cases where you may have large gaps in your job history , a functional resume layout can help downplay the scattered timeline of your employment and highlight the skills you’ve learned and will bring to the next position.

Most importantly, each job post should include a bullet-point list of your achievements. Each position listed should prioritize the impact you made in that role . Do not simply list the “responsibilities” or “daily tasks” of the job.

Include quantifiable examples of your success, as  34% of recruiters won’t consider applications that are not specific to the role ,  according to CareerBuilder .

Keep your experience section as focused as possible, listing only s tatements relevant to your target jobs.   Forbes Magazine suggests  limiting yourself to five bullet points per position.

Action verbs can significantly increase the impact your resume content has on the reader, enticing them enough to reach out for an interview. Include a variety of action verbs in each of your bullet points.

Examples of effective action verbs to use in your resume:  

launched; implemented; spearheaded; coordinated; directed; increased; restructured; acquired; grew; saved; cut; identified.

How To Write The Work Experience Section On Your Resume

Now you know the key ingredients, let’s look at how to add experience to your resume.

One of the easiest ways to capture a hiring manager’s attention is to list your professional experience clearly, concisely, and visually interestingly.

Your work experience section should always follow a reverse chronological frame, regardless of the resume format you choose ( chronological ,  combined , or functional).

It’s essential to know exactly how to describe work experience on a resume. To start,  begin with the most recent position held  and work backward in time.

How you display this information is crucial. An inconsistent, out-of-order format will only confuse the reader and send your resume to the trash.

As with every section of your resume, highlight information that explains your past accomplishments , successes, and contributions in your job experience examples. Remember to include measurable data such as KPIs .

For example, these can be:

• Customer satisfaction percentage or score
• Total sales you made
• Clients attended to

Anything that you can show you were a success will look great.

The more your past triumphs can relate to the position at hand, the better.

Using our  online resume builder  can make life easier. It includes helpful examples and practical tips for adding the experience section to your resume.

What Is an Example of Work Experience?

You may be wondering how one of your former positions, duties, and accomplishments should look on a resume. It’s critical to not only get the right format but  not mention too much or too little info .

Here are some  work experience examples  you can use to boost your own resume:

Senior Project Manager, XYZ Corp, San Francisco, CA — June 2022-Present

• Led a cross-functional team of 15+ members to deliver 20+ high-value projects, each with budgets exceeding $1M, on time and within budget.
• Implemented Agile project management methodologies that improved team efficiency by 30% and cut project delivery timelines by 20%.
• Negotiated contracts with key vendors, reducing project costs by 15% and strengthening strategic partnerships.
• Introduced a risk management process that identified potential issues early, reducing project delays by 25%.

Project Manager, ABC Inc, San Francisco, CA — July 2020-June 2022

• Managed 10+ mid-scale projects with budgets up to $500K, consistently meeting key performance indicators.
• Coordinated with various teams including design, engineering, and marketing, ensuring seamless collaboration.
• Implemented a new project tracking system which increased overall project visibility and improved on-time delivery by 10%.
• Conducted regular project status meetings and provided updates to stakeholders, improving communication efficiency.

Junior Project Manager, DEF Co, San Francisco, CA — August 2019-June 2020

• Assisted in the management of 15+ projects, developing key skills in stakeholder communication, budget management, and team coordination.
• Created detailed project schedules and plans, contributing to an overall 15% increase in team efficiency.
• Developed and maintained project documentation, improving record-keeping and accountability.

If you want to know what work experience to put on your resume, this example section has it all!

It effectively uses action-oriented language and industry keywords to depict the individual’s responsibilities and achievements.  Each achievement is quantified  to make it tangible and impressive.

Additionally, the roles exhibit  a clear progression in skills , showing off the candidate’s career growth and capability to handle higher-level responsibilities.

Tips For Writing Your Previous Work Experience

We’ve amassed a list of easy-action tips for including your past positions on a resume to help you get started.

• Write in the present tense for your current work positions only  and the past tense for all prior experiences.
• Adapt your work entries for each job,  mentioning the most relevant and appropriate experience. This may include tailoring one or more versions of your resume if you are targeting different career sectors.
• Explain gaps in your work history briefly.  Most reviewers appreciate additional context explaining your gap in professional work. A quick sentence is all that is needed to detail full-time parenting, study leave, traveling, family complications, relocations, etc.
• Include internships and education/professional development courses  in your resume, either in your work history or education section .
• Include voluntary or part-time work  where appropriate, especially when you have little on-the-job experience or are changing careers .

These tips on how to complete a work experience section on a resume should help you get started.

You can also use our AI-powered suggestions in our resume builder and come up with more ideas to show off your past jobs and achievements in different ways. 

How Far Back Should Experience Go on a Resume?

If you had a  job from what feels like ages  ago, you may be wondering if it’s worth adding to your resume. While there is no strict rule, it’s generally recommended to focus on the  most recent 10–15 years  of your work history.

If you have any doubts about  omitting jobs from your resume , keep the following in mind:

• Relevance:  Prioritize recent experiences that are most relevant to the job you’re applying for. Focus on showcasing your current skills and qualifications.
• Career Progression:  Highlight positions that demonstrate career growth, increased responsibilities, or promotions.
• Industry Norms:  Research industry standards to gauge how far back professionals in your field typically go with their experience. Tailor your resume accordingly.
• Early Career Highlights:  If you have exceptional early experiences highly relevant to the position, include them, even if they fall outside the recommended timeframe.
• Resume Length:  Keep your resume concise and focused. Including an extensive work history can result in a longer resume that may remove the impact of recent experiences.

What Do You Put on a Resume With No Experience?

Are you a recent college grad looking for your first job ? Or are you changing your profession? In either case, building a resume with limited professional experience can be challenging.

However, all is not lost!

By taking advantage of any relevant experiences , high grades in related coursework, and transferable skills , you can create a compelling resume.

If you’re an entry-level candidate, you should remember to add:

• Internships
• Relevant coursework in your education section
• Transferable skills
• Experience with relevant duties

Internships and past jobs look great if you can find ways to relate them to the job you are applying to so don’t be scared to apply for a new position.

What you shouldn’t do is:

• Add irrelevant experiences
• Include generic statements
• Forget to mention relevant positions or courses

By adding the most relevant information and your transferable skills, you can give yourself a good chance of landing an interview and a job without any experience.

How To Format The Experience Section On a Resume

You may do everything in your power to write a work experience section that wows, but if it is not formatted correctly, your resume could end up in the “no” pile. Consistency throughout your resume is key for allowing readers to digest your information quickly.

Here are a few tips to  ensure this section is formatted properly .

• Format each work entry the same.  List the details: job title, company name, location, dates of employment, and list of responsibilities.
• Use the same font throughout the resume  and no more than two styles (i.e. one suitable font for job titles and another font for the contextual information.
• Align each section equally in a consistent manner (i.e. job titles and company name are left-aligned, and employment date ranges are right-aligned)
• Align each section header the same using one font and a consistent method for implementing bold, italics, and underline  effects. This will ensure the highest level of readability.

If you have any doubts about how to format work experience on a resume you can use  handy online templates . These tools can save you lots of formatting time, as these resources usually have a preset document structure already in place.

You can see a range of work experience samples in our professional resume guides , advice pages, and blog, too.

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How to Add Work Experience to Your Resume in 2024

This step-by-step guide shows you how to create a work experience section that will help you get more job interviews.

Customers Interviewed by:

The work experience section of your resume answers the biggest question hiring managers have when they review your application:

What relevant job skills and experience do you have?

Unfortunately, most job seekers feel intimidated when writing their work experience. They know it can make or break their chances of getting an interview.

This is why we’ve put together this guide. Follow these seven steps and you’ll soon have a resume that will grab the attention of hiring managers – no matter what position you’re applying for.

Table of Contents

Step #1 – organize your work experience section, step #2 – format the job information correctly, step #3 – use bullet points, step #4 – start each bullet point with an action verb, step #5 – list accomplishments as well as duties, step #6 – use numbers and metrics, step #7 – tailor your work experience to the job, how to make a resume with no work experience, show your career trajectory on your resume, key takeaways.

Use Jobscan’s free ATS-friendly resume templates and start building your resume that gets noticed by recruiters!

Did you know that when you submit your resume to most companies, it does NOT go to a human being? Instead, it goes directly into a computer database called an ATS, or applicant tracking system. 

An ATS is a software program that manages the entire hiring process, from sourcing candidates to tracking applicants and scheduling interviews.

This means that your work history should be formatted so an ATS can easily read and understand it. (Don’t worry – we’ll tell you exactly how to do this).

We’ll start with how to organize your work history. 

Both ATS and humans like your work experience to appear in reverse chronological order. This means your latest job should appear first, at the top of the section, followed by your second-to-last job, etc….

This order allows potential employers to quickly spot your most recent job while getting a sense of the progression of your career over time.

Here’s an example of a work experience section in reverse chronological order:

PRO TIP: Stick to a traditional heading like “Work Experience” instead of more creative headers like “Where I’ve Been,” which will cause the ATS to organize your data incorrectly.

Before you start describing your job responsibilities, you need to list the following information about each job first:

• Company name and location – Include the full name of the company you worked for followed by the city and state of its location. You don’t need to describe what the company did. 
• Job title – Be as specific as possible to ensure that employers know exactly what your role was within the company.
• Start and end dates – To make sure the dates can be properly read by an ATS, use the MM/YYYY format. 

Below is an example of how this information should look on a resume. We recommend this format because it can easily be read by an ATS:

The key thing is to present your information consistently throughout your entire work experience section. If you’re not consistent it can hurt your chances of getting an interview. 

“The quality of presentation tells me something about you,” one healthcare recruiter told Jobscan. 

Pro Tip: Always Include the month as well as the year for your start and end dates so the ATS can read your information properly.

Now it’s time to get into the details of each job you’ve held. To do this, use bullet points . Recruiters tend to skim through resumes and bullet points are a great way to make it easier for them to do that.

Use four to eight bullet points. Each bullet point should include a job responsibility and/or an accomplishment. Here’s an example:

The goal is to be concise but provide enough information for a potential employer to get an idea of your experience, skills, and capabilities.

Pro Tip: Watch out for typos! Nearly 60% of hiring managers will reject a resume because of poor grammar or a spelling error.

Always try to start each bullet point with an action verb , such as “Developed”, “Managed”, or “Created”. These verbs paint a clearer picture of your area of expertise and increase the overall impact of your resume.

Many people make the mistake of using the word “was” in their bullet points. For example, “Was responsible for warehouse safety.” 

Try not to do this. Instead, use an action verb or two, such as “ Researched and implemented new warehouse safety standards.” This makes you look like a more confident and capable candidate.

Here are examples of bullet points that begin with an action verb:

• Processed 100 tickets per day and effectively handled incoming correspondence.
• Managed multi-line phone system and provided administrative support.
• Organized large meetings for cross-functional events on- and off-site.

Pro Tip: Don’t rely on cliches! Over 50% of hiring managers will reject a resume if it has too many cliches.

A lot of people use the work experience section to list their job duties or responsibilities. These are the tasks that you’re expected to perform as part of your job. They include things like:

• Answering phones
• Scheduling meetings
• Taking inventory
• Maintaining records
• Training employees

Listing your job duties gives potential employers an idea of what you did, but it doesn’t indicate how well you did it.  

To show employers how well you did your job, use your bullet points to highlight specific accomplishments . 

Instead of saying ,

“Managed a team of 10 customer service representatives.”

Try saying,

“Managed a team of 10 customer service representatives, resulting in a 20% reduction in customer wait time and an improvement in first-call resolution rate by 15%.”

No matter what type of job you had, it is essential to focus on the specific results of your efforts in order to clearly convey the value you provide for employers. 

See 67 Resume Accomplishments Examples to Demonstrate Your Value .

Pro Tip: Don’t get hung up on every last job duty; put more emphasis on your most transferrable work experience and skills. 

Whenever possible, try to use numbers and metrics to describe your accomplishments. These clearly demonstrate the impact your work had on the business. 

Dollar amounts, timespans, and percentages are all great ways to quantify your accomplishments on a resume.

Here are some examples of how to use numbers on a resume:

• Maintained a 97% satisfaction rating over a 24-month period as a customer care representative.
• Fulfilled over 4,500 warehouse orders with a 98% accuracy rate and 100% safety record over a 12-month period.
• Created a company culture initiative that raised employee satisfaction rates by 25% YoY.
• Cut data processing time by 50% by building a new cloud data infrastructure, leading to more timely insights.
• Grew email subscriber list from 300 to 2,000 in 8 months without expanding the monthly budget.

For more examples, explore our library of resume examples for any profession.

Pro Tip: There are many situations where you can’t quantify an accomplishment and some cases where you shouldn’t even try. So only use numbers and metrics when it makes sense to do so!

Do you send out the exact same resume with every single job application? That’s what most people do, and it’s a big mistake.

Instead, you should try to tailor each resume to the specific job you are applying for. 

Tailoring your resume has become even more important these days. This is because so many companies use ATS to help filter the hundreds of resumes they receive for each job opening.

When hiring managers want to find good job candidates, they search the ATS database by typing in words and phrases (known as keywords) taken from the job description. If your resume contains these keywords, then it’s more likely to appear before the hiring manager.

If your resume does not contain keywords from the job description, it will remain in the database. That’s why you need to constantly refer to the job description when writing your work experience section.

Here’s an example of a job description with some important keywords underlined.

If you were applying for this job, you would want your resume to include as many of these underlined keywords as possible (but don’t lie). 

Most job seekers use the same resume again and again because it’s easy . But it’s also ineffective . Take the time to tailor each and every resume and you’ll see much better results with your job search.

To simplify this process, use Jobscan’s resume scanner . It analyzes your resume against job listings and provides you with a score that tells you how well your resume matches the job description. By increasing your score you’ll increase your chances of getting a job interview!

If you’re a recent graduate or are just starting out in your career, you probably don’t have a lot of work experience. That’s OK. Employers don’t expect much experience if you’re applying for an entry-level job. 

The good news is there are still things you can add to your work experience to make it stand out. These include special skills or talents that are related to the job you’re applying for.

What are your hobbies? What are things you’re good at? Sit down and make a list of things you’ve done and what skills you used. 

Examples include computer programming, foreign languages, music, sports, fixing cars, art, writing, etc… You should also include any relevant volunteer work or internships.

Also, make sure to list any awards, honors, or recognitions that you may have received during your academic career or while working in other roles. Employers are always impressed by individuals who have achieved something special.

Read the full guide : How to Write a Resume with No Experience

Pro Tip: Don’t list everything you’ve ever done on your resume. Stick to things that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. 

NOTE : If you’re building your resume from scratch, try Jobscan’s free resume builder . There are no hidden costs and it allows you to build an ATS-compatible AI resume in no time!

Ideally, your work experience section should tell a story about your professional career. Hiring managers like to see how your experience has shaped you into the professional you are today.

“I’m looking for the logic of why you went from this job to the next job,” a corporate recruiter told Jobscan. “When we make that initial presentation email to the hiring manager, we also include a bio paragraph that goes over their career– where they started, how often they moved up, where they moved to, trying to really create a narrative .”

To create an effective narrative, focus on how your job responsibilities have increased over the years. You can also highlight any promotions you have received.

For example, if you started out as a customer service representative and eventually moved up to technical support manager, you should emphasize the growth in your job responsibilities. 

Your resume summary is a great place to emphasize your growth. Here’s an example:

“Seasoned professional with a progression from Customer Service Representative to Technical Support Manager, demonstrating significant growth in expertise and leadership responsibilities. Proven track record of enhancing team performance and customer satisfaction in fast-paced environments.”

If your resume tells a memorable story, hiring managers will be much more likely to call you in for an interview.

Read more : How to Write a Resume for Today’s Job Market

When it comes to your resume, quality matters more than quantity. It’s better to have fewer jobs on your resume that are well-described and demonstrate your relevant skills and experiences than a long list of jobs without any detail or context. Generally speaking, you should aim to have three to seven job listings in your work experience section.

You only need to go into full detail about your most recent two or three jobs. Then go into less detail the further back you go. Your oldest job listings (those more than 15 years ago) should only include the company you worked for, your role, and your dates of employment.

Employment gaps on a resume can matter to some employers. Gaps may raise questions and prompt further inquiry during the hiring process. The longer the gap, the more attention it may attract. Short gaps of a few months are generally more acceptable and can often be explained easily. However, extended gaps of several years may raise concerns for employers. Pro Tip: If you have gaps in your work history, you can explain why in your cover letter or in the job interview.

Yes, you can include volunteer work under work experience, especially if it is relevant to the position you are applying for. When listing volunteer work, follow a similar format as you would for paid employment.

Let’s quickly review what we’ve learned:

• The work experience section is the most important part of your resume. Spend quality time working on it.
• Your work experience should appear in reverse chronological order , from last to first.
• Every entry should include the company name and location, your job title, and your start and end dates. 
• Use bullet points to describe your duties and accomplishments.
• Each bullet point should start with an action verb .
• Be sure to list accomplishments as well as job duties. 
• Use numbers and metrics (when relevant) to make your accomplishments stand out.
• Use color for your section headings to enhance your resume.
• Tailor each resume to the job you’re applying for.
• Include 3 to 7 job listings in your work experience section.
• Try to use the work experience section to tell the story of your professional experience.
• Set your resume margins at one inch on all sides.

More expert insights on this topic:

75+ Free Certifications to Help You Land Your Dream Job

4 Ways to Write a Resume Skills Section (with Examples)

How to Format Your Resume Education Section

Robert Henderson, CPRW, is a career advice writer and a resume expert at Jobscan.

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How to write work experience in your resume [step-by-step guide].

Adi Gaskell

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Table of Contents

The work experience must-know, how to format your work experience, how to write a killer work experience section.

• Irrelevant of Transferable Work Experience
• Listing Work Experience With No Experience

The work experience section is an essential part of your resume. It’s the one thing the recruiter really cares about and pays the most attention to.

Your previous experiences are seen as a good indicator of how you’ll handle the new job. This section, however, is not just a list of your previous responsibilities. It's meant to present you as a wholesome candidate by showcasing your relevant accomplishments and should be tailored specifically to the particular position you're applying to.

Education, skills and hobbies are all great but it's the work experience section that ultimately decides whether you get the job or not.

And no, more university degrees doesn’t mean better jobs - creating a killer resume work experience section does.

In this guide, We will teach you...

• How the work experience section “works”
• How to do basic formatting
• How to write a work experience section that will get you hired
• How & why to list different types of work experience.
• How to list experience when you have none

#the-work-experience-must-know

As we’ve mentioned before, the work experience section is the bulk of your resume and is a key part of all successful resume templates .Think of it as the sales pitch that’s going to land you the job.

You can mention anything you've put your time and labor in, including:

• Professional Experience - Your career goes here. Essentially any job you've ever worked that's in the relevant field & industry.
• “Unskilled” Experience - That part-time hostess job during college goes here.
• Internships - Unpaid or paid.
• Part-time Gigs - Did you collect unused stuff on Craigslist and sell it on E-Bay? Anything along those lines.
• Volunteering - NGOs, non-profits, etc.

Before we dive into the details, we’ll explain the most basic and important principles about this section.

Be Brief & Relevant

The work experience section should be the detailed summary of your latest 3 or 4 positions . The “3 or 4” part is important here - the recruiter wants to know how relevant you are for the job without having to read your entire life story.

For example, if you are a programmer with 20 years of experience, would you really mention your very first internship?

VelvetJobs Expert Tip

As a rule of thumb, listing your last 3 or 4 positions is the optimal amount.

On a similar note, you’d want your work experiences to be relevant to the job you’re applying for. Get into the recruiter's head for a minute - you’re reading 2 resumes for the position of financial analyst .

Which of these two statements looks more “relevant?”

Financial Analyst with 5+ years of experience

Marketing Expert with 10+ years of experience

The first one gets a callback. The second gets a confused glance and a trip to the paper shredder. That being said, there are some exceptions . Sometimes, you’d want to include your seemingly “irrelevant” experiences to show your skills.

Confused? Well, let’s say you have these two people applying for a job in sales .

Hard-working student, 2+ years of experience working as a server

Hard-working student

You’d go for the first one because of 2 reasons .

• General Experience - In most cases, the recruiter would prefer someone with some experience rather than none. It shows that they’ve worked before in their lives, and won’t just stand around looking confused on the first day of work.
• Transferable Skills - Every job teaches you skills, be it very basic ones. As a waiter, for example, you've probably learned how to interact with customers. When you apply for a sales associate position, you'll end up using these same skills.

Having previous work experience is super helpful. But what if you just graduated? Not to worry, we've got tips for recent grads as well.

#how-to-format-your-work-experience

While the content of your resume work experience section is important, it’s essential to get the formatting right . The two go hand in hand. How?

Most big companies these days use Applicant Tracking Systems - software that scans your resume and determines how relevant you are for the position.

So if the formatting is somehow messed up or too far from traditional norms, no one’s going to even look at your resume! This is why it’s essential to get the formatting right.

The first thing to do with the formatting is to create the e xperience section . The font size should be the same as any other section headings in your resume, and it can be in bold , CAPITALS, italics , etc. depending on your general theme.

Then, list the basic information about your work experience. Follow this example for each position:

Position + Dates

Company Name

Company Description (Optional)

• Responsibility or Achievement

The company description mentioned here is optional - you might want to mention it in case it's a company most people have never heard of. Otherwise, skip it and use this space for an additional bullet point.

As for responsibilities and achievements , the average number you want to hit is 6 : It’s optimal enough to describe your experiences with a company properly, while leaving room for your other experiences.

This, however, is not set in stone, and is up to you. Let's have a look at an example:

• Oversaw the daily operations of the marketing team
• Led a team of 4 marketing specialists and 2 designers
• Managed the company client-acquisition PPC strategy with a budget of $2,000+ monthly
• Coordinated efforts with the sales team, acquiring, warming & handing over 100+ leads monthly
• Led company re-branding efforts, creating a new website, brochures, Ad copies , etc.
• Took the company from an MRR of $20,000 to $50,000 over the course of 2 years

Now that you know how to format your resume work experience section, have a look at how to format it so that the recruiter sees you're the one right off the bat!

Fun fact - there are 3 completely different ways you can format your resume. In some, you don't even mention your work experience! Learn how the 3 different formats, chronological, functional and combo work with our guide!

#how-to-write-a-killer-work-experience-section

Technically, there is no right or wrong way to list your experiences. There’s no central resume authority deciding on what should or should not be on a resume.

There are, however, some best practices that’ll take you a long way. The most important of which is:

Selling Yourself the Right Way

I hard to say which of your responsibilities & achievements are best mentioned in a resume.

You did, after all, work in that company for months (or years, maybe decades?). You were in charge of so many things , you can barely even remember all of them! So, where do you start?

It's actually quite simple - mention only your greatest achievements. Don't get bogged down by describing your duties. If your resume says that you've worked as a retail manager for 5 years and you're applying for a position of a retail manager, the recruiter already knows what duties the position includes.

It makes sense that what’s really going to set you apart are your achievements :

• Did you manage to save the store from being over-flooded by customers on Black Friday?
• Did your management lead to much lower customer complaint reports than last year?
• Are you literally super-human and can endure 200 hour work-weeks ?

These are the type od things that’ll take you from “ a candidate ” to “ THE CANDIDATE .”

• Increased the regional Customer Satisfaction Index by 10%.
• Managed sales clerks

As for how you’d list your achievements, here's the best advice to keep in mind:

Quantification is King

Saying that you’re good is one thing. Proving that you’re good is what matters. The best way to impress is to demonstrate your achievements with numbers. After you've got your core experience inserted into a resume you're creating from scratch, or one of these resume templates , make sure to quantify appropriately, like this:

Managed a monthly company budget of $200,000 , while cutting $30,000 in unnecessary costs

Managed a monthly company budget, while cutting unnecessary costs

The first shows how good you are. The second gives a general idea , but it doesn’t really say anything.

Quantify your achievements. It will be useful when you make your case for a promotion or when you're looking for the next opportunity.

Now let’s see how all this would fare in a real-life scenario . The position applied for is that of a customer support manager at a retail company.

The ideal candidate will be put in charge of hiring, managing, and ensuring the productivity of 15+ cashiers.

Customer Support Manager, 2015 Sep - 2017 Feb

Boston, Massachusetts

MadeUpRetailCompany

• Hired & trained 25+ new employees over 2 years , reducing yearly regional turnover by 10%
• Increased the regional Customer Satisfaction Index by 4%
• Conducted training on using the POS terminals for all new hires, as well as company culture & behavior
• Awarded MadeUpPrizeForExcellence for the year 2016, out of 20 stores nationwide.
• Hired and trained employees.
• Charged with ensuring customer and employee satisfaction.
• Trained new employees with everything store-related
• Was called an “amazing employee” multiple times

There are, of course, professions and fields where you just can’t quantify your achievements, and that’s fine.

In such case, just list the job responsibilities as usual. But again, whenever you have the chance, use numbers to show the recruiter how good you are.

You can list your accomplishments in other sections of your resume too. Learn how to mention accomplishments with our complete guide!

ATS & Tailoring

We’ve talked about ATS or Application Tracking Systems before. But to refresh your memory, it’s the software that most big companies use filter thru resumes by “ keywords ” and to bring the most relevant candidates in for interviews.

Let’s take a sample job description and see how that would work with an ATS.

MadeUpCompanyInc is looking for an award-winning , money-making m arketing manager. The requirements are:

• 5+ years of marketing experience
• Leadership skills, experience leading teams of 5+
• Experience managing a monthly marketing budget of $20,000 +
• MarketingSoftware Certification

The hiring manager then picks several keywords that are important for the job. Here, for example, would be marketing, leadership, marketing software or any synonyms of those.

In order to be a perfect match, you’d want to mention each of these in your resume work experience section or the skills section.

Now, let’s turn that into an example resume section:

• Managed a team of 5+ marketers .
• Mastered MarketingSoftware , using it for cross-channel integrated marketing

The job title of your previous position mentions “ marketing. ” There’s experience with leadership mentioned ( i.e . managed), and finally, there’s MarketingSoftware mentioned.

Check, check, check.

There's more to resume tailoring than just looking good for the ATS. If you work hard enough, you could turn your resume into the best thing HR has ever seen. Learn how to tailor your resume to the company you're applying for, and become the recruiter's best friend!

IRRELEVANT OR TRANSFERABLE WORK EXPERIENCE

# irrelevant-or-transferable-work-experience.

If you’re switching industries , the resume work experience section can be a tough nut to crack. Which work experience should you mention? Do you start completely from scratch ?

In case you list all of your experience, chances are that you'd get ignored as not all of it would be relevant. In the second case, you’re going to look like you’ve been unemployed for too long.

The best-practice here is to mention the existing relevant experience.

How? Well, instead of listing your achievements and responsibilities as you typically would, you look at the whole thing from a different angle: What skills did your previous career give you that would be useful in the new field?

As a simple example, let’s say you’re a customer support representative with 5+ years of experience . You’re a killer on the phone - even the most disgruntled customer turns into your biggest fan after a 5-minute conversation.

Let's say you want to adapt the skills acquired in one industry to another, for example, going from customer support to sales. How do you do so? Let's have a look at this example:

Customer Support Representative, 2015 Sep - 2017 Feb

MadeUpTechSupportCompany

• Handled 100+ phone calls a day
• Maintained a 5-star customer-satisfaction rating over 2 years
• Achieved customer-experience rating 25% higher than average
• Charged with handling customer complaints
• Calmed down disgruntled customers
• Awarded employee of the month title

Now, the difference between the two examples is that the first specifically mentions all the right skills and experiences you’d need in phone sales.

Hundreds of calls a day? That’s a given.

5* customer-satisfaction rating? If you can talk to moody, unsatisfied customers, you can probably sell a new product.

25% higher customer experience rating? You’re not just any other support rep, you’re good at what you do, and are ready to progress.

LISTING WORK EXPERIENCE WITH NO EXPERIENCE

# listing-work-experience-with-no-experience.

If you’re a student, then this might seem really tricky . You don’t have any work experience, leaving your entire resume as a one giant blank space with your name & education on it.

Well, actually, “work experience” doesn’t necessarily mean professional work . It can be any of the following:

• Internship Experience
• Transferable Experiences
• Extracurricular Activities
• Projects & Portfolio

Each of these can be listed the same way as any other work experience, with exactly the same formatting:

Student resume formatting

Company Description

There’s more to creating a student resume than just listing your experiences. Learn how to perfect your student resume & get that job you’ve always dreamed off with our step-by-step guide!

The work experience section is the hardest part of creating a resume . And now you know everything you need to ace it!

Now it's time to focus on the other sections of your resume. Is your education section , for example, listed the right way?

Or, did you make sure that the formatting of your resume is just as it should be? Maybe you’d even want to brush up on your resume-making skills with our How to Make a Resume [The Visual Guide] ?

Whichever the case might be, we’ve got your back!

Now that you're a master at listing your work experience, how about you put the knowledge to practice! Head over to our resume builder & jump-start your career!

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10 Essential Resume Sections in 2024 [W/ Layout Tips]

Have you ever thought of what one can do in 7 seconds? Probably not much, right? That’s not even enough for an elevator ride!

Well, turns out that’s exactly how much time recruiters spend skimming over a resume before deciding if the applicant’s to be considered or not. 

In those 7 seconds, you have to convince the recruiter that your resume is relevant and they should read the rest of it.

So - how can you make that happen?

Well, you need to use the right resume sections, and fill in the contents the best way possible.

And in this article, we’re going to teach you all about how to do that! 

• What are the essential resume sections and categories
• How to order resume sections according to your career level
• How to best structure each section and section entry
• 5+ Resume structure tips (to help you along the way!)

There’s a lot to learn, so let’s get started right away!

What to Include In Your Resume - 10 Essential Resume Sections

Some resume sections you really can’t argue on & there’s a place for them on every single resume out there:

Your resume should and must include the following:

• Contact Information
• Resume Summary/Objective
• Work Experience

After you’ve made sure you have all of the above, depending on your professional level or job position, you can include any of the following optional sections :

• Extracurricular Activities

Volunteering Experience

Hobbies & interests.

Since (in most cases) your resume should not go over one page, you want to be strategic about which optional sections to include.

Typically, you should go for the ones that are most relevant to the position you are applying for. E.g. If you're applying for a role in customer support, a languages section would be the most helpful.

How to Order Your Resume Sections

Depending on your level of work experience, you’d want to order your resume sections differently.

If you’re a recent graduate, for example, you’d want to put more emphasis on your education and skills than work experience.

In this section, we’re going to teach you how to correctly order your resume structure , starting with:

#1. Reverse-Chronological Resume Structure

The reverse-chronological resume format is the most popular resume structure in 2024.

It emphasizes the applicant’s work experience and skills, so it’s the go-to for most professionals. 

The entries are listed in reverse-chronological order - hence the name - which makes it easy for recruiters to follow. 

If you’re using this structure, you’d list the sections in this order:

• Resume Summary or Objective
• Optional Sections

Which usually looks like this:

#2. Recent Graduate Resume Structure

As a recent graduate , you usually don’t have an extensive work experience history. 

Instead, your skills and extracurriculars will be the main focus of your resume. 

This calls for a totally different structure from the reverse-chronological one, with the sections being ordered as follows:

• Work Experience (if applicable)

Which looks like this on a resume: 

#3. Career Change Resume Structure

Career change resume structure is a bit more complicated. 

While you do have work experience, it’s not actually relevant for the jobs you’re applying for.

So, what does that mean in terms of resume structure?

We recommend structuring your resume as follows: 

• Optional Sections/Education
• Education/Optional Sections 

Which looks like:

How to Fill In Your Resume Sections - Our X+ Top Tips

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s deep-dive into each of these sections and teach you how to get them right!

Starting with:

#1. Contact Information

Starting off your resume, right at the top of the page is the Contact Information section . 

Despite the positioning, you’d think the section is at the bottom of the list of important sections. Wrong!

Sure, the education and work experience sections are the stars of the resume, but what happens if you’ve given the wrong contact information and the recruiter can’t contact you? 

You see the importance of the section now, right?

It’s crucial that you double - no, triple-check everything. 

It’s also important that you are professional about what you’re writing down in the contacts section. 

If your email address looks something like [email protected] well… you better create a new one along the lines of [email protected] .

Moving onto the content of the section, here’s what you should mention:

• First & Last Name
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• Location - city and country only
• Job Title/Professional Title
• LinkedIn Profile (Optional)
• Social Media (Optional)

Only include social media profiles if they are relevant to the position you are applying for. 

For example, as a developer, you can link to your GitHub or StackOverflow to show off your projects. 

Or as a writer, you can link to your personal blog or portfolio.

If you’re debating on whether to include a photo or not, your location and industry should be taken into consideration. Before making a decision, read all about it in our article on including photos in a resume or CV . 

#2. Resume Summary or Objective 

Part of a resume’s header, right under the contact information section, goes your resume summary or objective. 

First things first, let’s talk about what a summary and objective is and when it’s best to use one or the other. 

A resume summary is a 2-4 sentence rundown of your professional career that highlights your top achievements and skills. It’s typically used by professionals with plenty of relevant work experience in the field they are applying to work in. 

• “Digital marketing professional with 5+ years of experience. Managed over 20 Google Ads accounts for small to medium-sized business, with a total budget of over $200,000 per month. ”

Struggling with writing your own resume summary? Just use our tried-and-tested formula! 

[Years of Experience] + [Profession/Field] . [Top Skills and Experiences] . [Top 1-2 Professional Achievements]

A resume objective on the other hand is a 2-4 sentence introduction to your skills and career goals (as opposed to work experience) and aims to explain why you’re a good candidate for the position. 

The resume objective is usually used by recent graduates or career changers, as it has more focus on skills rather than experiences.

Over the last few years, resume objectives are being used less and less. If you do choose to include one, however, here’s what it should look like:

• “Accounting and Finance B.A. graduate with experience in financial data analysis and auditing from an internship in one of the “Big Four” firms. Looking for an entry-level Financial Analyst position to expand my skill set kickstart my career in corporate finance.”

How to get such a resume objective structure? Simply follow this formula:

[Your Background] + [Desired Position] . [Top Job-Relevant Skills] . [Other Work Experiences]

#3. Work Experience

It’s time to talk about the #1 section recruiters refer to when evaluating your application - the work experience section.

As far as its positioning on a resume, the section typically comes right after the contact information section and resume objective/summary. 

This changes for applicants with no work experience who’d substitute the section with something else altogether. 

Moving onto the structure, each entry for your work experience resume section should look like the following:

• Job Title and Position
• Company Name (include a brief description of the company if it’s foreign or not well-known)
• Dates of Employment
• Achievements or Responsibilities

Once filled out, here’s what the section should look like:

Lastly, content-wise, the most important tip to keep in mind is to talk about achievements instead of responsibilities . 

Why? Well, the tasks for a specific job position are generally the same among companies.

An accountant at Company A has the same duties as an accountant at Company B. Their achievements, however, probably differ a lot. 

For example, instead of writing something generic like:

• “Prepared financial reports”

You’ll have more success with specific achievements like:

• “Spotted and fixed tax-reporting errors, saving the company over $150,000. ”

A crucial thing to remember when it comes to selecting work experiences is picking the ones relevant to the job position. 

Not only that, but you also need to be mindful of the wording you use. Everything should hint at you being the right fit for the job.

To help you tailor your resume to the job position, go over the job posting itself, find what requirements they are looking for, and implement those into your resume using the same keywords and expressions. 

You can check out all the details on how to do that effectively in our article on the work experience section . 

#4. Education

Typically right after the work experience section comes education.

In reverse-chronological order, list your education and format each entry according to this structure:

• Program Name
• University Name
• Years Attended
• GPA (Optional)
• Honors (Optional)
• Academic Achievements (Optional)
• Minor (Optional)

On a resume, that would look as follows:

And here are some of our top tips on making your education resume section as compelling as possible:

• First, you should consider mentioning your GPA only if it’s very impressive (3.5 and above). Keep in mind, though, that this section is optional for a reason. Recruiters don’t really care about GPAs, as they’re not a good indicator of career success. A senior vice president of people operations at Google even claimed that GPAs are “ worthless as criteria for hiring ”.
• Don’t include your high school diploma if you’ve already mentioned your university education - the recruiter doesn’t care where you studied for high school if you have higher education.
• If there are any interesting papers you’ve written or advanced courses related to the field, feel free to mention them.

If you’re looking for some more tips and tricks on this section, have a look at our article on how to list education on a resume .

The skills section easily makes it into the top 3 most important sections in your resume and is usually positioned before or after the education section. 

By going over a concise list of skills, the recruiter can quickly get a glimpse of what you can do. 

You can also provide your level of expertise next to each skill by using the following scale:

• Beginner - You have some knowledge and experience with the skill.
• Intermediate - You have a good level of understanding of the skill and have previously used it in a work environment.
• Advanced - You’re fully competent in the skill, have used it extensively at work, and can coach other employees on it as well.
• Expert - You’ve used this skill on plenty of occasions in different projects and organizations. Your coworkers and even other professionals in the field can go to you for advice on the skill.

As you probably guessed, your skills should be tailored to the position and industry you are applying in. 

If you’re applying for a job in finance, for example, the recruiter won’t really care about your skills in Adobe Illustrator.

One thing we do recommend doing despite the industry, however, is including more hard skills than soft skills . 

Hard skills are those gained through work experience or education. They’re technical knowledge that directly helps you do your job. Think software skills, coding languages, accounting, etc. 

Soft skills , on the other hand, are attributes that mostly refer to behavior, communication, and how you work. They’re gained from life experiences and apply to your job indirectly. They can be skills like creativity, teamwork, or problem-solving.

While companies prefer their employees to have people-oriented soft skills, they don’t actually expect to see these skills on a resume.

See, every other job-seeker lists skills like “teamwork,” “critical thinking,” and the like on their resume (regardless of whether they have the skill or not).

This completely devalues the skill, and recruiters don’t even pay any attention to them.

If you’re struggling with finding the right combination of skills to mention on your resume, you can look for inspiration in our list of 101+ essential skills .

#6. Optional Sections

Depending on the job position and, of course, if you have enough space left in your resume, you can add any of the following optional sections. 

Are they game-changers? Not really, no one’s going to hire you as a senior developer because you know French, or as a creative writer because you play Dungeons & Dragons.

These resume sections, however, allow you to stand out from other qualified candidates. 

The recruiter is more likely to hire someone, for example, who has a lot of hobbies than someone with no interests.

So, without further ado, the optional resume sections are as follows:

You never know when someone with language knowledge might come in handy at the office, so employers are very much interested in applicants with diverse language skills. 

An extra language gives you an advantage over other applicants with a similar background so if you have one or more, do include them in your resume.  

Hobbies and interests can say a lot about you, so if you’re going to mention them in your resume, carefully select ones that put you in the best light.

These would be hobbies that are relevant to the job position and emphasize your interest and skills in the field. For example, if you’re applying for a copywriting gig, you could mention an interest in D&D as it shows creativity.

Alternatively, you can simply include the section to fill up the remaining space in your resume. 

While these hobbies won’t get you hired, you might find out you have something in common with your potential team leader!

Volunteer work is always an impressive experience to add to your resume, especially if the company where you’re applying has “giving” as an important part of their company culture.

They show that you’re passionate about your beliefs and are willing to take action to pursue them. 

Quite often, they can also count as work experience and help you stand out if you’re a recent graduate with no work experience.

Structure-wise, each entry should follow this logic:

• Name of the organization
• Time period
• Relevant tasks and achievements

Certifications & Awards

A little flex can never hurt your resume, so if you have any certifications or awards that testify to your skills, this is the right section to put them under. 

For each entry provide:

• Name of Award/Certification

You can even provide a very short description of what the certification or award is about or what it represents in the industry.

Do you have any practical projects you worked on during college? Maybe your thesis?

Or maybe a side project that you work on in your free time, like a game or a blog?

If yes, you should include a “projects” section to make sure they’re noticed and appreciated! 

This will add valuable points to your application as it shows you’re a naturally curious individual and a self-starter. 

On top of leaving a good impression and showing off your skills, recruiters sometimes also consider your experience with a project as work experience.

Meaning, this can really help you stand out if you’re a recent graduate.

For your projects section, format each entry like you would with your work experiences and include a bulleted list with the project’s key features. More specifically:

• Project name
• Project type
• Related organization
• Relevant responsibilities and achievements

Extracurricular Activities 

If you’re a recent graduate, this section can be one of your main selling points.

Extracurricular activities, like participation in university clubs and societies, show the recruiter you’re an active and engaged person that went beyond their academics. 

It can also emphasize your skill-set. E.g. If you've organized events or conferences for a university club, it means that you can work in a team and are organized.

As with work experiences, you should write down your position, the name of the club/organization you worked for, and a shortlist of your achievements. 

5+ Resume Structure Tips

Now you know what the must-have and optional sections for a resume are, what to write in each of them, and how to order them to your advantage. 

You almost have it all. 

There are a few more tips you need to know for a 5-star resume structure and we’re going to tell you just what they are. 

Take notes and remember to:

• Stick to one page . Unless you’re a senior professional with decades of relevant work experience, there’s no excuse for you to have a longer resume. If you’re struggling with keeping at one page, use one of our one-page resume templates .
• Tailor everything to the job position. From the sections you choose to the achievements listed in your work experience, everything should be relevant and help convince the recruiter that you fit right into the job.
• Separate your sections with blank spaces or lines to make sure they are distinguishable. This also gives your resume a clean and organized look that helps the recruiter easily go over everything.
• Use easy-to-read fonts and keep them concise throughout the resume. This means formatting all the section headings uniformly and doing the same with the text under them.
• To give yourself some more space , you can narrow down the page margins. Be mindful to not overdo it, however. You risk ending up with an awkward-looking resume.
• The same warning applies to font size . Choose one small enough to give you space, but big enough to be easily readable.

Want to avoid all the hassles of formatting your resume & working on the structure? Use an online resume builder! All you have to do is pick a resume template & the builder will take care of the rest. 

Key Takeaways

And that was it on resume sections and structure!

At this point, you should know everything you need to create a compelling resume & land the job. 

Now, to make sure everything sticks, let’s do a quick recap of the most important learning points:

• The must-have resume sections are: Contact Information, Resume Summary or Objective, Work Experience, Education, and Skills.
• Based on your profile and job position, you can pick between these optional sections : Languages, Hobbies and Interests, Volunteering Experience, Certifications and Awards, Projects, or Extracurricular Activities.
• Different career levels need to give priority to different sections and order their resume accordingly . Students with little to no experience should place skills and extracurricular activities first. Professionals should emphasize work experience and skills. Career changers should give priority to skills, and then talk about previous experiences.
• Make sure all sections and the information in them are tailored to the position you’re applying for.
• Keep things concise and relevant so you don’t go past the one-page length limit .

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