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10 Must Haves in a Great Work History

  1. Give the name, location, and dates when you worked at each company in reverse chronological order. That is, list your most recent job first.
  2. Give your title. If you held several positions over the years at the same company, list each title and the years (or months and years)  you held that position.
  3. Use a paragraph to describe your job duties with knowledge and skills. Use bullets to highlight achievements with knowledge and skills.
  4. Start each sentence with a verb; for example, “Provide complete background needed to rank applications while documenting and providing information about each client by following the Data Assessment Plan (DAP) format.”
  5. Do not start bullets with “Responsible for” and avoid using the same verb (such as “Led” or “Ensured”) over and over.
  6. Use the present tense (“Document…”) for current accomplishments and skills in your current position; everything else should be described in past tense (“Documented…).
  7. Insert numbers wherever possible (answered 40 calls daily; supervised 4 staff members; saved $8 million; improved revenue 60% in 2 years; cut time-to-market by 4 months).
  8. Be specific. If you traveled on the job, name the countries; if you sold more than any other salesperson, indicate how many salespeople you competed against; if you had important clients or customers or sold specific products, name them.
  9. Use appropriate keywords. For example, if the advertisement or posting asks for a “customer service representative with 5 years of experience” and you qualify, make sure the equivalent words appear somewhere in your work history (for example, “more than 5 years of customer service experience”).
  10. Never ever lie and make sure that your paper resume matches any information you have posted online so that there is not even the appearance of lying.

At Robin’s Resumes®, we have decades of experience in writing strong work histories: accurate, precise, concise, and interesting to recruiters and hiring managers. Contact us today. Next week we will discuss how to handle dates on your resume.

The Pros and Cons of Three Resume Formats

The three main types of resumes are chronological, functional and combination.

  • Chronological resumes list your past occupations in reverse chronological order, with your most recent job first. Chronological resumes emphasize your employment history and experience. While chronological resumes give recruiters the information they want most (what you did and where and when you did it), they might lead you to omit information about your accomplishments.
  • Functional resumes focus on individual skills, accomplishments and educational achievements; the list of jobs is delegated to the very end and might not have any detail. While functional resumes emphasize your talents and accomplishments, they are sometimes viewed with skepticism by recruiters who suspect that the functional resume is being used to hide a lot of job hopping or gaps in employment.
  • Combination resumes mix chronological and functional resumes; they start out with a brief statement of skills and experiences followed by a chronological and detailed employment history. They avoid the possible problems with strict chronological and strict functional resumes.

All three types of resumes have their place. The resume type that employers look for varies from job to job and industry to industry. Your own circumstances might also dictate which resume is best for you.

At Robin’s Resumes® we have experience in all three types of resumes and know how to select and use the right one to benefit your job search.

The Great Debate: What Type of Resume Works Best?

The two main types of resumes are functional and chronological. A functional resume concentrates on your accomplishments and experience, with only the briefest reference to your job history. A chronological resume details your jobs in reverse chronological order, the most recent position first. Which do I favor? Neither one!

The best modern resumes are a combination of functional and chronological. They start with a paragraph or list summarizing your main areas of accomplishment and your most valuable skills. Under that comes a detailed job listing, with information on your achievements in each position, in reverse chronological order.

A straight functional resume is often viewed by recruiters as a warning that you have something to hide: a large gap in employment, a history of moving from job to job, or an inability to hold onto any one job for very long. A straight chronological resume may force the recruiter to hunt for relevant experience and skills. The combination resume tells recruiters at a glance that you have the right skills and a stable, solid work history.

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