Your Work History: What to Tell Prospective Employers
A young woman has worked since she was 15 at part-time and summer jobs. She has had one job since graduation from university a couple of years ago. An older woman has worked since 1970. She has a wealth of experience to offer employers.
A middle-aged man has spent the last 20 years at the same company and he is ready for a change.
The question is – what should these job hunters list in their resumes? And how should it be listed?
First, a few basics:
Employers like the traditional chronological format where they can easily see what your experience..
Put your work history in reverse chronological order – most recent to oldest.
List only years, not months that you worked for the company.
Susan Ireland says you need to account for gaps of two years or more.
You might consider a combination style which includes a work history section, in reverse chronological order.
Yana Parker says: List seasonal jobs very simply, such as "Spring 1996" or "Summer 1996" rather than 6/96 to 9/96. (The word "Spring" can be in very tiny letters, say 8-point in size.)
There are a couple of strategies to deal with the same or similar jobs at several companies.
1. You can put them together:
2005-2008 Retail sales clerk – The Bay, Walmart, Zellers.
2. You can use a functional resume approach:2005-2008 Customer service – The Bay, Walmart, Zellers
You can drop less important or very short-term jobs. Be sure to include jobs where you got important skills or experience.
Older workers:
List only the last 15 years of experience. Quintcareers advises that job searchers can avoid age discrimination and looking too expensive by limiting their job history on their resume.
Yana Parker suggests that you label this Recent Work History or Relevant Work History. Below this, you could add a section called Prior Relevant Experience and list important jobs but without dates.
She says the exception would be if your best or most relevant work experience is older – then it would be worthwhile to list it.
Job Searcher with a single long-term employer:
Yana Parker advises that this job hunter create a list of each position he held at the company.
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One thought on “Your Work History: What to Tell Prospective Employers”
Great tips on job searching. Thanks for the information shared here which would be more useful for the job seekers in finding their jobs.