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Resume/CV Work Experience

 

Disciplines > Job-finding > Resume / CV > Resume/CV Work Experience

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

 

Description

This section is used to describe what you have achieved in each job you have had. Items covered here may include (depending on the norms of your industry and region):

  • Dates of employment
  • Name of employer
  • Employer's business
  • Job title
  • Location of work
  • Responsibilities
  • Activities undertaken
  • Achievements
  • Benefits delivered to company, customers and others
  • Salary
  • Reasons for leaving
  • Reference

If you have had more than one job within one employer, use one section per employer. The sections may be indicated with such as horizontal lines, spacing and/or a larger font for the employer name.

Separate out each activity/achievement. Bullet points are a good way of doing this.

Avoid weak words and phrases such as 'tried', 'was orked on' or 'did my best' that show you in a poor light. Use positive language in describing your work and where possible quantify the benefits, converting if you can into hard financial gains or savings. A useful structure is abbreviated as 'PARs'.

Avoid phrases such as 'responsible for' and 'duties included' which do not tell the reader what you actually did. Start sentences with powerful verbs that show action, such as 'initiated' and 'created'. These may be prefixed by adverbs which intensify the verbs and link them to results, such as 'successfully' or 'effectively'.

If you do not have a separate skills summary, include nouns that describe your skills and knowledge (these may be sought by electronic scanning systems).

Example

Wilkinson Lighting, Apr-05 to Feb-08

Provider of own-brand domestic light fittings to major retail outlets.

  Sep-06 to Feb-08 Lighting Manager
  • Redesigned lighting development process, resulting in two new product launches per year.
  • Managed corporate product strategy team, introducing DFM and  concurrent engineering methods that engaged manufacturing engineers throughout the process, resulting in a 70% drop in manufacturing errors.
  Apr-05 to Sep-06 Lighting Engineer
  • Developed new range of fittings that became a best-selling system with over 20% sales increase.
  • Drove purchase of new CAD system to halve development times.

Discussion

You do not need to include all of your jobs nor all of your experiences within jobs, particularly if you have a long and varied career behind you. In such cases, pick the more recent examples where you can demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed by the job.

It is common to use strong words in work experience text and it can be a difficult line between reasonable description and wild exaggeration. Take care to find the right words that portray you well but which will not later lead to you losing the job.

Sometimes, resumes/CVs separate Work Experience into two parts, with one describing the jobs that you have had and the other giving descriptions how you were successful in the job.

See also

Skills Summary, PARs, Use of Language

 

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Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
Guest Articles
Blog!
Books
Changes
Contact
Guestbook
Quotes
Students
Webmasters

 

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
Massive Content — Maximum Speed