When drafting their resume, many people struggle with determining exactly what jobs to list. Seasoned professionals who have held long term positions, numerous positions, or have been employed by several different companies may find it difficult to choose which work experiences to list on their resume.

What guidelines should you use when selecting the jobs to best represent you to a hiring manager?

Regardless of your experience and position, you should always list the most recent (or current) position you held. Employers like to know where their candidates’ focus has been leading up to their current resume submission.

So now that you have listed your most recent position, is this enough?  Be sure to fully list your key accomplishments, job roles and responsibilities.  We like to recommend you tailor these tasks to address the job requirements of the position for which you are applying.  Additionally, you should consider highlighting or bolding the tasks which best align to your desired position’s job functions.

Then, fill the rest of your job window with work experiences relevant to the job and industry for which you are currently applying. For example, if you’re applying for a position in Information Technology, you should list at least two or three positions you’ve held where you feel have best prepared you for the job you’re trying to obtain. It doesn’t matter if it has been a few years since you’ve held the positions; hiring managers will want to see your relevant skills and experiences as this will show you have solid work experience and can do the job.

Also, as expressed in the first article in this five part series, don’t underestimate the powerful impression listing relevant volunteer work experience on your resume has.  If you missed the first article, you can still catch it here.

Last, but definitely important:  You may find that listing only your most relevant work leaves some gaps in employment on your resume.  It is critical you address these gaps.  But don’t worry, we have discussed how to handle employment gaps in detail here.

Keep an eye out for part three of our five part article series where we are going to address how to handle Temporary Work and Short Term positions.

Written by Katie Fidler

Investing in a Lifetime of Success

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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