work experience description essay

How to Describe Work Experience on a Resume in 2024 (Examples & Tips)

Your work experience is a summary of all your hard work, dedication and achievements over the years. Here's how to do justice to your work history.

The work experience section of a resume will be the crown jewel that demonstrates to potential employers that you have the work history to back up your credentials.

In this guide, we will provide you with in-depth coverage for how to craft the perfect work experience section to help you land more interviews and job offers. 

Here's an outline of what we'll learn:

Including Work Experience on a Resume

What to exclude from your work history, formatting your work experience section, how to list achievements and accomplishments, add more experience with relevant certifications, use strong action verbs, how to show job promotions, addressing career gaps in your work experience, how to show volunteer work and internship experience.

• How Far Back Should Your Work History Go?

Key Takeaways

For all the inside scope on each component of your resume, check out our comprehensive resume guides . 

Work experience is a major component of any successful resume.

However, it can be difficult to decipher what exactly you should be including in your work history. 

Each job applicant will have a differing amount of working experience under their belt.

The key is to not shove too much information into this section.

Instead, you will need to take the time to sit down and decide which information best highlights your strengths and gives you an advantage for a particular job opportunity.

It is important to keep in mind that you should be altering your resume to match the job description of each individual job you are applying to. 

By taking the time to re-edit your work experience section for specific applications, you will have a much greater chance of impressing hiring managers. 

In this article, we will help you craft the perfect work experience section.

Some key questions we will be answering include:

• What should you be including in your work history?
• What should you be excluding from your work history?
• How should your work experience section be formatted?

Keep reading to learn more about how you can begin optimizing your work history section.

Beautiful resume templates to land your dream job

What Information to Include in Your Work History?

Ultimately, your work history will contain the following:

• Job Position ( e.g. "Bartender" )
• Company ( e.g. "Red Lobster" )
• Location (e.g. "Brooklyn, NY")
• Start Date - Month & Year (e.g. "October 2019")
• End Date - Month & Year (e.g. "January 2021") Note : You can list "Present" if it's your current job
• Description (responsibilities and achievements)

Here's how that looks, you can also see an example of the Yoga Instructor resume here .

Yoga Instructor, January 2018 – Present Mellow Mushroom • Nashville, TN • Taught 40+ elderly clients basic yoga moves each day • Held 4 classes a day that differ in intensity, including beginner and intermediate • Advised modifications for yoga poses to ensure proper form, to meet clients' athletic abilities • Instructed clients on breathing techniques, such as Basic Breath Awareness and Retention • Developed body-mind-spirit awareness, mental clarity and physical flexibility and strength

However, when deciding which information to include within your work experience section, there are four main principles to keep in mind:

Here is a quick breakdown of each of these crucial factors:

1) Relevancy

When writing out your work experiences, it is important to consider how relevant your previous experience is to the job you are currently applying for

Your most relevant experience should always be the most emphasized and focused on, as it will be where you showcase the skills and achievements that qualify you for the position.

For instance, let’s say you are applying for an entry-level copywriting position and you have two major examples of work experience you would like to include.

These examples are:

• Managed the front of house of a restaurant for four years.
• Worked as a journalist at a local newspaper for one year.

Even though the management position may take up a greater chunk of your professional background, your experience as a journalist is much more relevant to the field of copywriting.

Therefore, you would want to place greater emphasis on your more relevant experience. 

2) Timeliness

Let’s say you are applying for a position for which all or most of your work experience is fairly relevant with similar importance in your roles.

How do you decide which of this experience is best to include on your resume?

When listing out your relevant work experience, it is recommended to showcase your most recent experience first and work backwards from there. 

As a general rule of thumb, it is good to aim to include work experience that you have gained within the past 5 years, though trying to include examples from within the last 1 to 5 years is ideal. 

Generally, work experience older than 5 years should be included on more in-depth resumes, such as on a resume for a job applicant seeking a senior position at a company.

Additionally, the academic resume format “Curriculum Vitae” – or CV – will typically include experience that spans across an even wider timeframe. 

3) Longevity

If you have held a relevant position for a long period of time, this kind of longevity can be highly impressive to hiring managers.

Showcasing your longevity at a previous job demonstrates your ability to commit to a company long-term. 

Moreover, showcasing positions you have held for a long period of time can also be a great opportunity to emphasize any promotions you may have received.

Showing your ability to not only commit, but to grow as well can be majorly influential on the impression your resume leaves.

4) Position

Different positions you have held within a field or industry may hold greater weight than others.

While it is still important to keep relevance, timeliness, and longevity in mind, it can also be useful to showcase your higher positions on your resume.

For example, let’s say you are applying for a position as an executive administrative assistant and you have the following work experience:

• Office manager for small law firm 
• Administrative assistant for a tattoo parlor

While both positions are relevant to the job you are applying for, your role as an office manager may have had greater responsibilities compared to your assistant position. 

Check out our Human Resources Resume Example to see how the work experience section utilizes all four of the above mentioned factors. 

When you are writing your work experience section, it is important to note that you don’t want to include every job under the sun that you have ever held.

A hiring manager won’t want to read through all of that, nor are all of your experiences likely to be relevant for the job you are applying to. 

For instance, short-term jobs that you left soon after being hired may not be the best to include, as this can lead to speculation and uncertainty as to why you held the position for so short an amount of time.

If you happened to work a job that was purposefully or contractually short-term but holds a high level of relevance to the job you are currently applying for, it can be useful to include a short note explaining why you were only in the position for a limited amount of time. 

Omitting Jobs from Your Resume

There may be a variety of circumstances that may lead you to wanting to omit certain jobs from your resume.

For instance, if you were fired from your previous position, you may feel inclined to try and hide this information out of fear of it leaving a bad impression on hiring managers.

However, even jobs you were fired from should be included if they are relevant working experience

Being fired from a previous job is not an automatic deal breaker in most cases, and including that position on your resume is oftentimes preferred over leaving unexplained gaps in your employment history.

Moreover, you do not have to explicitly state on your resume that you were fired.

Should this be a topic of concern, it will likely come up in a job interview at which point you can more clearly and directly explain what happened.

Keep Your Job Descriptions Simple

A common mistake that many job applicants will make is writing descriptions of previous jobs that are too wordy or long.

Although it can be helpful to include more information about your most relevant or most recent experiences, you still want to write in clear and concise sentences that are easy to skim.

In truth, it is unlikely a hiring manager will thoroughly read your resume – especially if there are many applicants for the position.

As such, you must optimize your resume to provide information clearly and quickly.

A hiring manager should be able to gain the most valuable information with only a short read-through or skimming. 

As mentioned, you don’t want to go overboard when writing your work experience section.

Although you should aim to include the best and most relevant details, you should strive to write in short and simple sentences. 

Here is the basic format to use when structuring your work experience section:

Position, Start Date – End Date Company Name, Location ‍ • Descriptive Sentence • Descriptive Sentence • Descriptive Sentence

Alternatively, you may also want to list the company name on the first line with the position title.

This can be especially true if you worked for a well-known and easily recognized company or brand.

The formatting would then look more like this:

Position, Company Name Location, Start Date – End Date ‍ • Descriptive Sentence • Descriptive Sentence • Descriptive Sentence

There are, of course, some stylistic choices you can make to help your resume stand out.

However, sticking to this straightforward and easy to read format is key. 

Here are a couple quick examples of correct and incorrect formatting:

1) Always use bullet points for your descriptions.

Long paragraphs can be hard to read and make your work experience section look too cluttered.

Restaurant Manager, 2018 – 2020 ‍ In this position as a restaurant manager, I worked diligently to help implement new point of sales systems that greatly reduced operational costs. I also managed a staff of over 20 waiters on any given day. Of my responsibilities, I was in charge of handling customer complaints and issuing refunds. 

Restaurant Manager, 2018 – 2020 Mellow Mushroom • Nashville, TN • Hired and trained over 20 staff members . • Implemented point of sales systems that reduced operational costs by 15 percent . • Reduced customer complaints and refunds by 25 percent . 

2) Be specific as possible.

When writing your work experience descriptions, try to be as specific as possible rather than providing vague descriptions of your work accomplishments in the position. 

Junior Graphic Designer, The Coca-Cola Company Atlanta, GA • June 2017 – July 2020 • Responsible for making creative designs for the company. • Created hundreds of different designs for a variety of projects. • Worked closely with top-corporate officials. 

Junior Graphic Designer, The Coca-Cola Company Atlanta, GA • June 2017 – July 2020   • Led the design, development, and implementation of a label design project. • Designed and implemented new branding materials, including a re-design of the logo.  • Presented key deliverables to executive level stakeholders. 

In the following Content Marketing Associate resume example, you can see how Sarah has emphasized each of her bullet points with specific relevant keywords.

When it comes to listing your achievements and accomplishments on a resume , there are several considerations to keep in mind

As a general rule of thumb, your job descriptions are the best place to showcase your greatest accomplishments within a position.

For example, let’s say you worked in a sales position and raised overall sales by 10 percent .

This is the kind of specific accomplishment you will want to list within your job description. 

As previously mentioned, you will always want to be as specific as possible when listing out your achievements.

Here are some examples of how to properly list your accomplishments within your work experience section:

If you have specific data to quantify an accomplishment, always provide specific numbers rather than generalized statements.

Incorrect: ‍

Increased productivity of staff immensely over the course of the position.

Improved staff productivity rates by 30 percent , leading to a reduction of labor costs by 45 percent . 

Awards are a type of achievement that can be particularly useful to include.

Keep in mind that a hiring manager may not be familiar with company-specific awards.

Thus, you should provide enough detail to explain the importance of the award. 

Earned the Departmental MVP Award in 2019.

Earned the 2019 Departmental MVP Award for increasing productivity and efficiency rates, as well as improving cross-functionality of the department. 

Depending on the quantity of achievements you have, it may also be beneficial to create a section devoted entirely to your professional accomplishments.

The key takeaway here, however, is that job descriptions are one the most useful places to showcase your job-specific achievements. 

Although certifications may not be direct work experience, they often times are major indicators to employers of how qualified the candidate is for a position.

To earn a certification, you will typically be required to complete an accredited course successfully.

It can be tempting to include every certification you have ever earned on your resume as a way to help add some extra detail and interest.

However, when you are including certifications you should still be keeping relevancy as your top priority.

As such, only the most relevant certifications should be showcased. For instance, let’s say you have a CPR and First Aid certification.

If you are applying to become a school nurse, these kinds of certifications are not only important but are likely required.

Comparatively, if you are applying to a position as a content writer, these certifications hold no relevance. 

If you have earned a certification as a result of working a previous job, then you would likely want to include that certification in that specific job description.

Otherwise, your certifications may be better suited in their own devoted section.

Additionally, working to earn relevant certifications that you can list in tandem with your work experience section can help you to greatly stand out from other job applicants.

Here is a quick list of a few well-known certifications that would be useful to include on a resume:

• PMP: PMP is a Project Manager certification and is given to professionals with a four-year degree, a minimum of three years of project management experience, and the successful completion of the PMP exam and hour requirements. 
• NCLEX-RN: The NCLEX certification is the required certification for nursing professionals put forth by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. 
• PHR: The PHR certification stands for Professional in Human Resources and is earned through successful completion of an exam upon confirmation of eligibility. 
• SERVSAFE: ServSafe certifications are used in the restaurant industry to certify that kitchen and waitstaff are following all proper food and drink protocols. 

For more information on how to best show certifications, check out our guide on listing certifications on a resume.

When you are writing your resume, you want the words you use to engage the person who is reading it.

Chances are that the hiring manager reading your resume will read hundreds of other resumes that all contain similar words, verbs, and phrases. 

When choosing which words to use in your resume, it is important to remember that you don’t want to tell the employer why you are a great candidate.

Instead, you want to use the words to show the employer why you are the best candidate. 

This is where strong action verbs come in.

In your job descriptions, rather than saying something boring like “ managed a staff of 50+ members ” —  instead use a stronger action verb such as “ delegated ” or “ directed .”

Here are a couple quick tips for using strong action verbs on your resume:

1) Always lead with your action verb

Don’t bury your action verbs or make them difficult to spot.

Start your sentences with a powerful action verb instead.

I helped senior executives with important administrative tasks.

Assisted senior executives with administrative tasks, including managing travel schedules and optimizing file organization systems. 

2) Make it contextual and supporting

While it is important to use action verbs, don’t just use any word that comes to mind.

The words you use should make sense in the context of how they are being used to describe a job. 

Prohibited operational costs from exceeding budgetary restrictions.

Maintained low operational costs according to budgetary restrictions. 

Though both of these statements essentially say the same thing, the latter is much more clear and better represents your professional achievement. 

For more ideas on which action verbs to include on your resume, check out our list of 350+ Action Verbs to Make Your Resume More Effective.  

If you have worked in a previous job for a longer period of time, chances are you have received a promotion or two along the way.

Keeping track of these promotions and showing your professionals growth is essential. 

There are a couple different ways to show promotions within a job description.

When showcasing different roles you have held within the same job or company, it is important to list your highest position first and work backwards from there.

As an example, let’s look at two different ways a job candidate could list their promotion from office assistant to office manager on a resume:

1) Stacking job promotions

Use stacked positions to show your growth over time, with the most recent and highest position at the top.

Office Assistant, Tennessee Valley Authority Nashville, TN • January 2015 – January 2016 ‍ • Promoted to current position of Office Manager in 2016.

Office Manager, Tennessee Valley Authority • January 2016 – November 2020 Office Assistant , Tennessee Valley Authority • January 2015 – 2016

This kind of stacked formatting is an easy way to show you growth within a company without having to detail each position.

This is a good format option for when you want to focus solely on the highest position you earned.

2) Listing job promotions as separate entries

This format is useful if you served in each position for several years with different responsibilities in each. 

Office Assistant and Manager, Tennessee Valley Authority January 2015 – November 2020

Office Manager, Tennessee Valley Authority January 2016 – November 2020 • Job Description & Achievements Office Assistant, Tennessee Valley Authority January 2015 – January 2016 • Job Description & Achievements

The choice to format promotions as two separate entries should be reserved for instances where most or all of your work experience has been in different positions within the same company

Otherwise, the stacked format allows you to feature other work experiences with different employers as well. 

In some cases, a job applicant may not have very much relevant work experience or they may have large career gaps.

If this is the case for you, it can be useful to consider utilizing different resume formats to help fill in those gaps. 

The worst thing you can do is try to hide these career gaps from hiring managers.

These are the types of details they will be looking out for, and signs of deception are likely to get your resume thrown out immediately.

Instead, you should consider the different resume formats that may be better suited to showcasing your skills rather than your experience.

Here are the three main types of resume formats and how we'd rate them from best to worst for addressing career gaps:

1) Functional (best)

Functional formatted resumes focus more on skills and unpaid experiences, making them well suited for applicants without a strong work history.

2) Hybrid/Combination (good)

Hybrid resumes will combine elements of both reverse-chronological and functional resumes, making them good to use when you have career gaps. 

3) Reverse-Chronological (worst)

‍ This format focuses on making the work experience section the main component of the resume so it won't be the best choice for you.

Though having limited work experience or large career gaps can certainly make the resume writing process more difficult, it is by no means impossible to create an effective resume in spite of this.

Check out our guide for writing a resume with no work experience for more advice on how to create a resume when you have limited experience or career gaps.

For some applicants, especially those who may still be in school or are recent graduates, you may lack paid working experience but have several good examples of volunteer work and internships. 

Generally speaking, your internship experiences can go in your work experience section, as these are still technically professional experiences you applied for and earned based on your academic credentials.

Volunteer work, comparatively, should often be listed in a separate section as this is not typically considered “professional experience.”

Nonetheless, volunteer work can still hold a good amount of value, especially if it is directed related to the job you are applying for.

For instance, an IT professional may have volunteered their time to work on a not-for-profit software development project.

Though this experience was unpaid, it provided the applicant with experience working directly with software developers.

This kind of experience will still be crucial to share with potential employers. 

Consider an Alternative Format

If your work experience is limited to internships and volunteer work, this may be another good opportunity to utilize the functional or hybrid resume formats.

This will allow you to showcase the unpaid experience you have, while also sharing the focus with other sections such as skills and academic accomplishments. 

How Far Back Should Your Work History Go?

We’ve covered the importance of timeliness and longevity when deciding which previous jobs to include in your work experience section.

The reality of how far back you should go ultimately depends on the position you are applying for.

For applicants who are applying to entry-level or lower-level jobs, keeping your work experience section concise and focusing on jobs you have worked in the past 1 to 5 years is likely to be preferable. 

Comparatively, if you are applying for a senior-level position, or for a position in the fields of science or academia, it is recommended to showcase more of your professional background.

For instance, applicants who are seeking positions in academic fields will likely want to use a CV format which typically will cover most – if not all – of both their professional and academic background. 

Not every job is the same, nor is every applicant the same, so how much you include on your resume will depend on the situation at hand.

Luckily, there are many resources to help, such as our guide on on writing the perfect resume.

By now you should feel a much greater sense of confidence for how you should be writing and formatting your work experience on your resume.

Here are five key takeaways to remember as you embark on your resume writing journey:

1. Relevancy is Key

When listing out your work experiences, keep in mind which of your previous jobs are the most relevant to the position you are now applying for.

You don’t want to weigh down your resume with too many jobs and job descriptions, so narrowing down to the 3 – 5 most relevant experiences is key. 

Do keep in mind the other three factors we discussed as well: timeliness , longevity , and position .

You want to showcase how your prior work experiences have given you the skillsets to make you highly qualified for the job you are seeking. 

2. Show, Don’t Tell

When writing your job descriptions, avoid using statements such as “I did this” or “I accomplished this.”

Instead, word your descriptions in a way that showcase your achievements and strengths within the position.

Employers don’t want to be told what you can do because words only mean so much without the evidence to back them up.

‍ Show hiring managers what you are capable of by providing clear and quantifiable examples of how you have excelled in your previous positions. 

3. Use Strong Action Verbs

Begin each of your bullet points in your job descriptions with strong action verbs that clearly represent the action or accomplishment you are showcasing.

The use of these verbs not only helps to clarify your work experience section, but also helps emphasize key points, tasks and achievements.

However, be wary of using these verbs just for the sake of using them.

Always make sure the verbs you are choosing relate back to the statement you are making so you don't not accidentally cause any confusion.

4. Keep it Simple 

Bullet points and simple sentences are your friend. Most hiring managers are not going to read through your resume in its entirety.

Thus, having bite size and concise descriptions that effectively represent your abilities, skills, and accomplishments is key. 

5. Determine Which Format is Best for You

If your work experience is limited, you may want to consider using an alternative resume format.

To help determine which format best suits your needs, take a look at our guide for choosing the correct resume format . 

Closing Thoughts

Your relevant work experience can make or break your opportunity for landing an interview with the job of your dreams.

Figuring out the best and most concise way to list your experience is, thus, crucial. 

To learn more about how to craft the best resume possible, check out our comprehensive guides and resume templates to get started making your perfect resume today. 

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How to Describe Your Work Experience Sample

Quick Navigation:

What is the work experience section for?

What accomplishments should be listed, what skills should be listed, what other details should be included, examples of work experience.

The work experience section is an important aspect of an effective resume because it showcases your skills in action and highlights your professional accomplishments. This section should be descriptive and compelling as it details your previous experience relative to the specific job you’re applying for. Learn how to describe your work experience with sample entries showcasing all the best features required for an effective work experience section.

The work experience section is where you list your most relevant previous roles to show employers your employment history and career development. This section gives hiring managers an idea of where you’ve been and how you got to this point in your career. It also enables you to describe how you performed in your previous roles and what skills and experiences set you apart from other candidates.

For each entry in your work experience section, you should include your official job title, your dates of employment, the employer’s location and a list of the key responsibilities and achievements you had. You can use bullet points when listing your responsibilities and achievements to help prospective employers quickly review and understand each entry. Having an easy-to-read and descriptive work experience section can help employers determine your suitability for the role and see what unique qualifications you have to offer.

Determining what accomplishments you should include in your job descriptions can be a challenge, but it’s best to mention accomplishments that are relevant for the job you’re applying for before other accomplishments. There’s a general rule in resume crafting in which you always want to put the most important information first, and anything that specifically and directly details how well you will fit the job you’re applying for is going to be the most important. 

Imagine you’re applying for a job as a project manager and you already have some experience in the position. To show off your accomplishments, you’ll want to begin with the biggest project you’ve successfully managed along with its results. Generally speaking, your most important accomplishment in any position should take priority within the job description.

In the most popular and useful resume formats, skills are listed in a separate section. Typically, the skills section includes a comprehensive list of all the skills you have that would be relevant to the job. Often, these skills are described using single words or phrases such as ‘leadership’ or ‘critical thinking.’ Be sure to consider all of the relevant hard and soft skills.

Since skills can be listed in their own separate section, it takes a bit of finesse to include them in your work experience section. Just remember that finesse doesn’t mean you have to be overly clever. You can mention skills directly, but you just have to tie them to a relevant accomplishment. 

To get the most out of your work experience section and make your resume stand out from other applicants, there are several factors you’ll want to include in addition to accomplishments and the application of skills. 

Here are some details you’ll want to include in your resume when possible:

• Any awards or special recognition you received as a direct result of your accomplishments or performance in a particular job
• Actual data represented by numbers and figures as demonstrated in the above samples to quantify your accomplishments
• Begin descriptions with strong and varied verbs to make each bullet point in your job experience description unique and powerful
• Use the present tense when describing ongoing responsibilities in your current job and the past tense for everything else

Be sure to include details from the most relevant professional roles you’ve had to show a hiring manager how your experience makes you uniquely suitable for the role. 

To get a better understanding of how to describe work experience, it’s helpful to have effective samples to reference. 

Here are some well-crafted examples of work experience that feature all the necessary accomplishments and skills included:

Project Manager example

Czerka Hospital, May 2014 – March 2019

• Facilitated the implementation of the Quality Training Project for all employees which cut training costs by 28% after six months
• Oversaw Supply Reorganization Project which reduced breakage costs of stockroom supplies by 71%
• Led team of 15+ people in Front End Revamp Project to design and implement a new system that decreased the frequency of reception errors by 48%
• Partnered with local area hospitals to gather data on wait times and patient satisfaction to determine areas for improvement in the Quick and Quality project and improved satisfaction by 41%

Senior Programmer example

Computech, June 2017- October  2019

• Created a tool for test automation that reduced program testing time by 48% increasing productivity across the department
• Interviewed, hired and trained over 12 junior programmers with virtually no turnover as the company increased the size of the department throughout 2018
• Collaborated with data analysis department team members to design project requirements in accordance with company goals and allotted budget
• Met with technical staff, analysts, senior executives and stakeholders in meetings to discuss the state of the company with meticulously crafted presentations featuring relevant quantitative data

Customer Service Representative example

DB Industries, January 2016 – October  2018

• Received and answered 100+ calls daily and helped customers with signing up for services and products, data retrieval, answering questions about products and canceling services
• Earned a favorable customer satisfaction rating from 93% of customers surveyed, which is 11% higher than the overall company average
• Used advanced sales tactics to persuade customers seeking to cancel their services to reconsider, which reduced the overall number of cancellations by 8% over 6 months
• Trained new employees on how to navigate the database to efficiently retrieve relevant customer information and input new data accurately and consistently

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How to Describe Your Work Experience on a Resume? [+Examples]

Your work history section is the most important part of your resume. It's also the most difficult part of your CV to address. Keep reading to find out how to properly describe your work experience on your resume. 

Because while a well-written work experience section can land you a job, a badly written one can easily sabotage your chances of getting an interview. You must know how to write it and what to include in it. 

And that's what this guide is for! It will show you:

What is a work experience section?

• Why bother writing it?
• Where to put the work experience section on your resume?
• …if you’re a student or a fresh graduate?
• …as an experienced professional?
• …if you’re an artist or creative?
• …if you’re changing careers?
• How to overcome an employment gap?
• How to address maternity leave?
• Plus some final tips and tricks

Too long, don't wanna read? Watch this 60sec video guide

The work experience section or employment history is a detailed summary of your past work experience . In other words, a comprehensible report of all jobs you’ve held in the past.

Depending on your background, you can include full-time positions, part-time jobs, temporary roles, internships, or even volunteer work.

In the work history section, you should list key information such as: 

• names of companies
• positions held
• dates of employment
• responsibilities you've held

But more importantly , it should highlight your main achievements and provide specific examples.

Side note: The experience section often goes under other names. Some people call it Employment history . Others refer to it as Work experience or Work history. All of these terms are interchangeable and all of them are correct. So you don't have to worry about picking the right one. 

Oh, and if you have a LinkedIn profile filled with all the important details, including your work experience, academic background, skills, and qualifications, you can easily  turn it into a polished resume with just one click.

Why should you include the work experience section?

We hate to use the word “important” , but…

… work experience is super important, if not a key section of your resume. 

When you think “resume ”, the work experience section is probably the first thing that comes to your mind. And you’re not alone. Based on this section employers determine whether or not you have what it takes for the job.

It provides an overview of your experience. A well-written work experience section is a crucial element because it shows that you have the necessary qualifications.

Where to put your work experience on a resume?

In most cases, your work experience section should come right after your contact info and professional summary.

But this isn't always the case. In some situations, you want to put your key skills, key achievements, or education section first.

For example, place your education first if you’re a student, fresh graduate, professional who recently went back to school, Ph.D. researcher , doctor, or another profession where the educational background is very important. Or if you’re writing an academic CV.

Generally speaking, the role and importance of your employment history section depend on where you're in your career and the type of resume you choose to write.

You can choose to write either a chronological, functional, or combination resume:

A chronological resume  

The most common resume type . 

It’s built around the employment history section. This makes it great for seasoned professionals with several years of work experience. It presents information in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent events being placed first.

Order of sections in chronological resume usually looks like this: Contact Information > Professional Summary > Work Experience > Education > Skills > Others .

A functional resume

This resume type draws attention to and puts forward your skills , accomplishments, job traits, and personal characteristics. 

It works best for fresh graduates, students, people returning to work after parental leave, and people who are changing careers — in other words — for those who might already have the skills but lack experience (or have an employment gap in their resume).

Order of sections in functional resume usually is the following: Contact Information > Professional Summary / Resume Objective > Skills / Projects > Work History / Education > Others .

A combination resume  

A combination resume contains elements of both the chronological and functional format. It does so by including your relevant skills and accomplishments first and then detailing your employment history and education. 

It's great for students, fresh graduates, or career changers who don’t really fit elsewhere. 

A combination resume also gives you a chance to order sections in a way that works best for your unique career path. You can, for instance, place the key achievement section first if there's a success that you truly want to highlight. 

How to write a work experience section?

In summary, you should begin with listing your current (or most recent job) and then continue with the previous ones. Your first job should close the section. 

The description of your most recent job position should include the following information:

• name of the company
• responsibilities and achievements

The more recent the job, the more detailed information about it you want to offer. On the other hand, you don’t really want to waste space on jobs that took place years ago. So, don’t go into too much detail. 

Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Despite that, the employment history section is probably the most difficult to write. Why though?

The answer is quick — the main challenge of describing your work experience on your resume is the sheer amount of information you have to include in this section. You have to choose wisely what to include so you won’t overwhelm the recruiter. 

Another problem arises once you stop writing it. You look back to your finished work history section and you may wonder:

Is your work experience section too short? Is it too long? Does it look somewhat chaotic? 

There’s no reason to worry though. We’ve got you. Here are some tips on how to make your job history section more orderly and appealing: 

• Use action verbs. As opposed to buzzwords, there are some powerful words you DO want to use. These include expressions such as “achieved,” “advised,” “negotiated” and others. See the pattern there? Instead of adjectives, use verbs you can support with evidence.
• Tailor it to a specific opening. Your accomplishments should match the employer’s needs and priorities. This is one of the quickest ways to get noticed and invited to an interview. Do your research and re-arrange your bullet points to show exactly the type of experience they want.
• Keywords. Reread the advertised job description and carefully pick the most important keywords. These are the words that best describe the position you’re applying for. Pack your resume with these keywords. Not only will it help you get past applicant tracking systems (ATS), but it will also leave a lasting impression on the hiring manager.
• Show your problem-solving skills . In the end, hiring managers want to know how effective are you when it comes to solving real problems. There’s no better way to prove your problem-solving ability than to briefly describe how you solved difficult problems in the past. Follow the PAR scheme: What was the Problem? What Action did you take? What was the Result?
• Quantify your past results. Managers love measurable results. A single number is often worth a thousand words. Don’t say you “increased the company’s revenue by, like, a lot”. Instead, don’t be afraid to brag about “increasing the company’s revenue by 20%.”
• Use bullet points. Bullet points help you structure your sub-sections. It also takes next to no effort on your part. Use them in combination with short paragraphs. First, describe the scope of your responsibilities, then use bullet points to list your top contributions for each job. Add 2-4 bullet points for each job.

Then, there are also common work experience section mistakes that you should avoid: 

• Don’t include the job description. Wait, what? Isn’t that the whole point? Well, no, employers usually know what the job should entail. Instead of listing what you were supposed to do, tell your potential employers what positive results you were able to bring about.
• Avoid buzzwords. Some phrases have been used so much in resumes that they became meaningless. Avoid words such as “thinking outside the box,” “creative,” or “problem solver.” These words always sound insincere. You want to inspire confidence. If you're using too many buzzwords, try to rephrase your content to make it more results-focused and skill-based.

Christy's word of advice

When it comes to the Work Experience sections, many resources say you should only highlight achievements and omit duties. What's your take on this?

“ I usually say have both. I recommend putting a few most important duties first because that's adding the context, and then the achievements. You can maybe get away just with the achievements if you're in an achievement-focused role, for instance, sales. But in general, I'd recommend having a mix — context plus impact. ” — Christy Morgan , Kickresume's Resident HR Expert

How to list work experience if you’re a student or a fresh graduate?

Naturally, you don’t have tons of experience if you’ve just finished school. Yet, being young is no obstacle. It comes down to how you present the experience you already have.

As a student or fresh graduate, you should place your work experience after the education section. Then list key skills, volunteer experience, and other voluntary sections.

Why list education first? Because your education and educational results are your strongest weapons right now.

Also, try to think of any job-relevant experience that you could put on your resume. Do you have any related experience at all when you worked as an intern? Have you done some volunteer work for a local charity? Or attended a conference? 

All of these things belong on your resume. Treat your internships and extracurricular activities as regular jobs.

These activities can showcase your motivation and skills. They also help recruiters gauge your professional aptitude. Each one of them should come with a few points that detail your responsibilities and accomplishments.

Here’s what you can include in your employment history section:

• Part-time jobs. If you’re fresh out of school (or still studying), part-time jobs are probably your primary type of experience. Even if the job isn’t super-relevant to the job you’re applying for now, there are valuable transferrable skills you’ve acquired in that job. Highlight them.
• Internships. Paid and unpaid college internships are one of the best weapons against the “experience required” line in a job posting.
• Volunteering . Most recruiters look at volunteer experience similar to paid work experience. Just because you didn’t get paid doesn’t mean you didn’t do a good job. Go ahead and list your volunteer roles as you would a full-time job. Detail the length of time you volunteered, relevant tasks you undertook, and the skills you gained through the experience.
• Extracurricular activities. If you’re applying for copywriting job, for example, recruiters will be more impressed to hear that you wrote a handful of articles for your student newspaper than that you had a summer job in a local fast-food restaurant.
• Leadership roles: Any leadership roles, even from clubs or sports teams, can demonstrate leadership skills and teamwork — both of which are highly valued by employers. 

How does this look in practice? Take a look at this fresh graduate sample below! 

How to list work experience if you’re an experienced professional?

Even if you’re an experienced professional, the hiring manager is going to put your work experience section under scrutiny. Because of that, you want to make sure your work experience section is tight.

To help employers navigate this section, list your work history in reverse chronological order. Put the most recent — and therefore the most relevant — items first.

Side tip: If you’re working a full-time job and freelancing at the same time, it’s only up to you to decide where you want to draw attention first.

Most importantly, don’t just state where you worked and what was your job title. Rather, also use 2–4 bullet points for each job to describe your duties and specific achievements. 

Here’s an example of how to do it:

Work Experience Section Example

Automotive Technician, Icahn Automotive, Rotorua, New Zealand (03/2017 – 09/2019)

• Repaired various cars and trucks. Troubleshot and diagnosed vehicles. Repaired or replaced defective parts. Ensured that everything was in compliance with the company’s high standards and clients’ needs.
• Awarded Employee of the Month for increasing customer satisfaction with provided services from 87% to 95% within one year.

Mind the length

Executives can use more than one page of their resume to present their extensive work experience. But that doesn’t mean that you should let your resume become a 700-page-long autobiography.

You may be wondering how to filter the information then. Especially if you have years of substantial experience. 

Well, as we already said earlier, if something’s recent, it also means it’s more relevant. That’s why you should describe more recent jobs in greater detail . Older ones will do with a brief description, allowing you to save some valuable space for more important details to put on your resume.

Finally, remember that you should never ever make your resume longer than two or three pages. Recruiters are busy and they can easily get overwhelmed by an overly long document. It would be sad if only this killed your chances of getting called for an interview . 

How far back should your employment history go?

Generally, it’s okay to include up to 15 years of experience, but try to avoid going further back in time than that. An exception would be a truly unique experience – such as being the one who started a successful company. 

Or, if a job requires 20 years of experience, then you should also definitely include more than 10–15 years of experience on your resume. 

However, most industries change a lot in 15 years, rendering any experience older than that obsolete.

If you have been working for less than 8-10 years, go back to the beginning of your work history and try to tailor your resume to be relevant to the job you’re applying for now.

Avoid writing about every single job you’ve ever held. This can easily overwhelm an employer and make them lose interest. Instead, only use previous work experience at least a bit related to the opportunity you want.

If you’ve worked more than 10 years as an executive, consider starting your work history at the point you became a manager. Most hiring managers don’t care what your first job was. They want to see how you progressed since you started as a manager.

How to write a work experience section if you’re an artist?

If you’re an artist, you know that your life and your job are a little different from the rest of the people. Because of that, it probably comes as no surprise that your work experience section should be different, too.

In short, as an artist, you should say goodbye to wordy descriptions and focus almost entirely on your portfolio . 

Consequently, your artist resume can be quite short and mostly focus on listing your training or education, courses you've taught, or artist residencies that you've been accepted to. 

See the sample below for what a good artist's resume should look like. Also, notice the fun creative resume template ! 

Finally, don't forget to polish up your social media profiles , as this is one of the most convenient ways of finding new clients today. Create your own website, and make sure to upload your portfolio to sites like Behance or Dribble. 

How to list experience if you’re changing careers?

If you’re pursuing a career change, your resume shouldn’t revolve entirely around your employment history. After all, that’s all in the past now. 

Instead , you should highlight your transferrable skills. You need to show how you can use the skills from your previous career in the new one.

Because of that, the hybrid resume format is the way to go.

How to do this? 

• In the employment history section, briefly outline your work history. Only mention those positions where you acquired skills that are relevant to the new position. You can also mention any relevant volunteer work.
• Try to find any keywords that relate to your experience. Look closely at the qualifications in the job description and tailor the bullet points in your work history to highlight that applicable experience.
• Focus less on the duties and more on your transferrable skills . These are any skills that you can transfer from one career to another. For example, if you have a background in journalism and want to apply for a copywriting position, the obviously shared keyword here is writing . Even though you don’t have any copywriting or marketing experience, you do have expert-level writing skills that you can use in the new field. That's a transferable skill. Try including these in your work experience section.

How to overcome an employment gap in your work history?

While many see a gap in their resume as an issue that's hard to overcome, that isn't necessarily the case. You just have to know which gaps should be addressed and which can be ignored.

If the resume gap is worth addressing, you can also learn how to give your resume gap a little “glow up.” 

Generally speaking, there are two basic criteria you need to consider when thinking about the seriousness of an employment gap on your resume: its duration and how recent it is.

• Short gaps don’t matter. Work gaps don’t generally become red flags unless they lasted for more than six months.
• Old gaps don’t matter either. Recruiters are interested in recent history and won’t investigate things that no longer have an impact on the present.

If your resume employment gaps are recent and quite long, what can you do?

• Change the way you write dates. Simply exclude months and the gap might disappear. So, instead of writing (October 2017 – August 2019), (September 2014 – January 2017) , you write (2017 – 2019), (2014 – 2017). Obviously, this technique works best for employment gaps that took place within a single calendar year.
• Consider changing the format of your resume. You should use the functional resume format. It shifts attention to your strengths and job-relevant skills rather than your work history.
• Make the most of your employment gap. Starting a business, freelancing, studying, volunteering, taking a purposeful sabbatical — all of these count as valuable experience. List these experiences along with other positions you held in the work experience section. Describe how you expanded your skillset.
• Boost your credibility with references . Ask your former employers, ex-colleagues, and other industry professionals if they’re willing to vouch for you. Include their names and contact information directly in your resume or attach an additional page to your resume.

How to address a maternity leave on your resume?

A very specific type of employment gap is maternity/parental leave. 

If you find yourself in the situation when you're trying to enter the work world after you took some time off to give birth or take care of your offspring, you may be a little worried about how to address it in your resume. 

The best thing to do is to use the functional or combination resume format , rather than chronologically list your previous work experience. 

Both formats allow you to attract the employer’s attention with your skills before addressing the elephant in the room.

Once you’ve done that, briefly mention that your career gap was due to the maternity leave. You can do it like this:

Example: How to address maternity leave in the work experience section

Maternity leave (January 2019–present)

That's it. You don't have to go into great detail. After all, you're not the first person in the world who has ever taken a parenting leave.

You just have to make sure to emphasize the work you did before you took some time off. Write about it as if it were yesterday and you still remember the details of the projects you worked on. Recall your accomplishments and the projects you're proud of from that period of your life. Time doesn’t devalue those experiences and skills that you've learned in the past.

Alternatively, if you've volunteered or completed a course during your leave, don't forget to mention it! Make sure to write about any relevant community service or voluntary work that you engaged in during your time away. Any freelancing projects or short-term gigs work as great resume enhancers.

See the example below: 

Example: How to update the work experience section after maternity leave 

During my maternity leave, I focused on maintaining and enhancing my skill set. That involved enrolling in an online course, continuing my education, and participating in a sales conference to ensure that I remained up-to-date with industry happenings.

Sales Success Summit, Boston (June 2019)

• Joining fellow sales leaders, trainers, and enablement professionals to learn expert secrets about sales and marketing.

The Art of Sales: Mastering the Selling Process (Northwestern University) – Online course (March 2019 – June 2019)

• Coursework focused on standing out in the crowd, attracting customers, and building support for initiatives within one’s company.

If you'd like more tips on how to do this, go and read our article on how to tackle maternity leave on your resume.

Final resume tips

• Don’t be afraid to use bold whenever you want to highlight important bits of information within the section.
• Include key achievements subsection. Pick the biggest achievement from each job and highlight it in a subsection. You can also write it in bold. This will catch the attention of the hiring manager in an instant.
• Keep it simple and easy to read. Don’t overdo it. Pick 1-2 colors maximum, 1-2 fonts, and 1-2 heading sizes.
• Remember it’s not only about you . It’s also about your future employer. Look at the job description again and determine what are his needs. Address these in your work experience section.

FAQ: How to describe your work experience on a resume

1. Is it ever ok to change the title of my past jobs a little bit?

While we always advise against lying on your resume, slightly altering the name of your past position shouldn't hurt you. Especially, if the name of the position didn't fit your responsibilities (which happens more often than you'd think). 

Additionally, if your boss thought they were being original but you ended up with a stupid-sounding work position name, you've also got the green light to change it in your resume.

2. What should I not include in the work history section of my resume?

• A wall of text. Always opt for bullet points.
• Too much information. Keep it brief. 
• Personal information. Your age, relationship status, or sexual orientation are all private information (and should stay that way during the recruitment).

3.   Should I include a job that I was fired from in my resume? 

Yes, if it's relevant to the prospective job position, there's no reason not to mention it. Even if you were fired (for various reasons), you've managed to get the job in the first place and you've learned some valuable skills. 

This article was recently updated. The original article was written by Nikoleta Žišková in 2021 .

While we always advise against lying on your resume, slightly altering the name of your past position shouldn't hurt you. Especially, if the name of the position didn't fit your responsibilities (which happens more often than you'd think). 

• Too much information. Keep it brief. 

Yes, if it's relevant to the prospective job position, there's no reason not to mention it. Even if you were fired (for various reasons), you've managed to get the job in the first place and you've learned some valuable skills. 

As a rule of thumb, you should include your GPA if it's 3.0 or above and you're a recent graduate. If you're further along in your career, recruiters typically care more about your work experience than your academic performance.

Usually, once you have a college degree or higher, you don't need to include your high school education in your resume.

Kaja Jurčišinová

Kaja Jurcisinova is a fresh graduate and a junior copywriter at Kickresume. Kaja completed her undergraduate degree in Art History at the University of St Andrews in 2018 and graduated with a Master’s in Arts and Culture from the University of Groningen in 2021. She was an intern at multiple cultural institutions across Europe, including the Dutch Museum Association in Amsterdam, the Matter of Art Biennale in Prague, and the European Cultural Centre in Venice. At the moment, she resides in Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland.

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Work Experience on a Resume - How to List It Right

Imagine you’re a hiring manager who goes through countless resumes on the daily.

What’s the first thing you look at?

If your guess was work experience, then you’re right.

And if you spot a few relevant keywords in their work experience section, then you’re more likely to continue reading about their background, contact information, and so on.

The most important thing hiring managers want to know is whether you can do the job you’re applying for, and that’s where the work experience section of your resume comes in.

So how do you make your work experience do the heavy lifting?

Don’t worry! Our article is here to help.

We’re going to cover:

• What Information Your Work Experience Section Needs

How to Format Work Experience on Your Resume

• 11 Real-Life Examples of Work Experience on a Resume

Let’s get started.

What to Include in Your Work Experience Section

The work experience section is the most important part of your resume.

This is the section that gives hiring managers a look at your professional journey so far, including your skills and achievements, and it’s the section they base their hiring decisions on the most.

Your work history can show how likely you are to excel at the job, how committed you are to career growth , and what industry know-how you ought to have.

This section is going to look different depending on your career level, how recent your work experience is, and what the job you're applying for is.

Let’s look at what information employers expect from your work experience section:

• Job Title/Position . Add this at the top of each work experience entry. You want the hiring manager to know at a glance that you have relevant work experience for the job, so use the actual job title instead of any buzzwords.
• Company Name. Include the name of the employer. Sometimes, if the employer isn’t well-known, you might want to describe the company in a sentence or two to give the hiring manager context.
• Location. The general location, such as the city and state/country where you worked, is more than enough information.
• Employment Dates. Write down the approximate timeframe of your employment. There’s no need to give exact dates since the standard format for this is mm/yyyy.
• Responsibilities and Achievements. The core of each work experience entry is what you achieved while you were there. List your responsibilities and achievements in bullet points instead of paragraphs to make them easier to read. Use 5-6 bullet points for newer job entries and 2-3 for older ones.

Here’s an example of a work experience section that includes all of the above:

Want to know more about other resume sections? Learn how to write a resume with our detailed guide!

You know what to include in your work experience section, so let’s talk about how to include it.

First things first - your work experience section should always follow a reverse chronological order . Add your latest work experience at the very top, and work your way backward.

Hiring managers aren’t interested in what you did ten years ago. Instead, they’d rather know what you’ve been up to right before applying for this specific job.

That being said, if you have a lot of experience, you shouldn’t include every single job you’ve ever had.

Your resume is supposed to be one page long , so feel free to omit any summer gigs or part-time jobs to free up space. It’s also extremely important that your work experience is easy to find and that the information is well-structured and readable.

Here’s an example of how to format your work experience section:

Making Your Work Experience Stand Out

Now that you know how to list your work experience, you need to describe it in a way that makes you stand out from other candidates.

We’ve divided this process into several steps, starting with:

#1. List Achievements Instead of Responsibilities

Too many resumes focus on the day-to-day tasks in the work experience section.

The thing is, hiring managers already know what those responsibilities are. They’re the ones who write the job ads, so you won’t impress them by telling them you did just what they would expect you to do.

For example, if you’re a QA engineer, your responsibilities could include:

• Identifying software bugs.
• Ensuring test coverage for all features.
• Making detailed reports on product quality.

These same responsibilities show up in 99% of QA engineer resumes out there.

So, if you want to stand out from the crowd, you want to focus on your most impressive achievements instead. Show the hiring manager how you helped your previous employer and the difference you made while you were there.

Let’s compare how the same work experience entry looks like when we use achievements and when we use responsibilities:

• Increased test coverage by 25% by implementing new automated test suites.
• Reported and triaged over 100 high-priority defects ahead of major releases.
• Executed manual test cases across web and mobile applications.
• Logged defects into bug-tracking systems as they were encountered.

But there are some fields where there aren’t that many achievements you can mention in your resume. For example, if you’re a server , serving 120+ patrons a night, or earning a lot of tips aren’t achievements that look good on your resume.

Your daily tasks probably include:

• Taking orders, serving food and beverages, and ensuring customer satisfaction.
• Preparing tables for meals, including setting up items such as linens, silverware, and glassware.
• Assisting in opening and closing the restaurant, including cleaning duties and setting up for the next service.

In this case, it’s okay to focus on responsibilities instead. You can still distinguish yourself by following the rest of our tips on how to make your work experience shine.

#2. Tailor Your Work Experience to the Job

If you want your resume to go from “okay” to "outstanding," what you need to do is tailor it to the specific job you’re applying for. 

The hiring manager doesn’t need to know details about every job you’ve had or about the skills you gained in a different field. 

So, your work experience should reflect what the job requirements are. This way, you’re more likely to really catch the hiring manager’s attention and land a job interview .

Here’s an example of a well-tailored job ad:

As you can see from the picture, it’s easy to figure out what the most important requirements for the role are. 

So, to tailor your resume to this ad, you need to show how you meet every one of these job requirements.

Let’s look at an example of how the same work experience would be tailored differently according to different job ads.

Say, you were an advertising intern.

Here’s what your work experience would look like when you’re applying for a position as a social media assistant:

INTERNSHIPS

Marketing Intern

Full Picture Company

New York, NY

09/2023 - 12/2023

• Analyzed various social media platforms for trending content.
• Managed company social media accounts.
• Posted interesting content on the company's Facebook page, increasing engagement by 25%.

Pretty easy, right? Now, let’s look at what the same work experience entry would look like for a job as a content writer .

• Assisted the Marketing Manager in writing press releases and new blog posts, which increased web traffic by 25%.
• Created engaging content for email marketing campaigns and boosted newsletter subscriptions.
• Revitalized old blog posts with updated information and SEO optimization, improving organic search rankings by 30%.

The internship is still the same but this way, the experience you’re focusing on is tailored to the job you’re applying for. The hiring manager can immediately see your most important skills for the job and the value you could bring to their team.

#3. Add the Right Amount of Work Experience

If you’ve had a lot of jobs so far, you might be wondering if they all belong on your resume.

The answer is usually no. Your full, detailed work history belongs on your CV instead of your resume .

The hiring manager only wants the most recent and relevant information, not your full life story.

So, the amount of work information your resume should include depends entirely on your level of experience.

Let’s break it down:

• No Experience. If you’re currently looking for your very first job , you simply won’t have any jobs to fill in your work experience section. In that case, we recommend skipping this section and instead focusing on any experience gained in clubs, extracurricular activities , volunteering, and other projects.
• Entry-Level. When you’re applying for an entry-level job, you can list most of your work experience so far. Likely, some of it won’t be relevant, but it still shows the hiring manager that you have some work experience, and that’s better than none.
• Mid-Level. At this level, you should only mention relevant work experience. Don’t waste precious space listing old internships or jobs you had as a teenager .
• Senior-Level. You only need to list up to 15 years of relevant work experience. You might even need a two-page resume to apply for an executive position at this stage, but only if you have too much relevant work experience to fit onto a single page.

#4. Optimize for the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Software

Before the hiring manager reads your resume, it has to make it to them.

The fact is that 70% of resumes get discarded before the hiring manager even reads them.

That’s because most companies use specialized Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) to go through hundreds of resumes and automatically filter out ones that don’t have what the hiring manager is looking for.

Unfortunately, this means that if a resume is missing a specific skill or isn’t formatted in a way that the ATS can process , it gets rejected immediately.

So, how can your work experience make the cut?

Here are a few tips:

• Don’t go over one page. The ATS can have a limit on how long a resume is allowed to be, so we recommend always sticking to a single-page resume.
• Format everything carefully. Don’t give your resume sections quirky names. Your work experience section should be titled “Work Experience,” not “The Journey So Far.” If you try being too creative, the ATS might not recognize what that section is and reject you.
• Tailor carefully to the job ad. If you want to beat the ATS, you need your resume to be as tailored to the job ad as possible. Include as many relevant keywords as you can in your work experience section. Just make sure they’re all used in a logical context since the hiring manager is supposed to read them, too.
• Keep everything in an active voice. Describe your previous jobs with clear and specific language. (E.g.: Instead of “A team of ten people was managed by me,” say “Managed a team of ten people” ).
• Use power words and action verbs. Hiring managers don’t want to hear how you “were responsible” for this or “helped with” that. Make your work experience pop by using impactful language like “spearheaded,” “designed,” “conceptualized,” and more.

Choose one of our ATS-friendly resume templates to make sure your resume passes the test.

Where to Place Work Experience on Your Resume

The work experience section should always be one of the first sections on your resume, along with the skills section.

Typically, it comes just after your resume header , so that the hiring manager can read it immediately after your resume headline .

If you are using the reverse-chronological resume format, work experience should go at the top of your resume. This way, hiring managers can quickly evaluate your qualifications based on your most recent roles.

However, if you’re using a different resume format, such as functional or combination resume formats, you can make an exception. These resume formats emphasize skills over work history, so you could move your work experience further down, towards the middle of your resume.

Recent graduates are another exception to this rule

Suppose you’re a student with minimal professional experience. In that case, you can put your education section on top instead of your work experience section to emphasize your academic achievements and show that you’re ready to put your knowledge to good use.

Want to learn about the other popular resume formats ? Check out this article to see which one is right for you.

Complimentary Resume Sections

While your work experience might be the single most important section of your resume, at the end of the day, it works in sync with the rest of it.

Other resume sections , like your resume summary or certifications, can show the hiring manager how experienced you are and how much industry know-how you bring to the table.

So, here are a few other resume sections that come into play if you want to back up your work experience and increase your chances of getting an interview:

#1. Resume Summary

A resume summary is a short section at the top of your resume that highlights your most relevant skills and achievements related to the job.

In 2-3 simple sentences, a good resume summary tells the hiring manager:

• Your years of experience in that type of role.
• Your top qualifications or impressive accomplishments.
• What kind of responsibilities you’re familiar with.
• What your motivation for the position is.

By summarizing the core of your work experience upfront, your resume summary lets the hiring manager know what they can expect from the rest of your resume. So, when done well, an eye-catching resume summary can make you stand out from the crowd.

Here’s an example of a resume summary:

Another important section is devoted to your most important skills.

The skills section lets you list abilities that supplement your work experience, and it should be divided into two categories:

• Hard Skills. These include technical skills, tools, and specific knowledge that’s directly applicable to the role.
• Soft Skills. These can be personality traits or interpersonal skills that demonstrate how you work with others and how well you’d fit into the company’s team.

Along with your work history, the skills section helps employers quickly evaluate your credentials and relevant expertise for the position. While your work experience highlights skills in context, the skills section provides an easy-to-reference summary.

Make sure the skills you list on your resume align with what the employer is looking for. Use the job description as a reference to pinpoint the keywords you should add to your resume .

Here’s an example of a skills section on a resume:

#3. Certificates

Professional certificates and coursework can show your commitment to continuous learning and honing your skills.

Listing certificates on your resume allows you to showcase specialized knowledge and skills that might not be evident from your work experience.

For example, say you’re applying for a position as an SEO content marketer.

If you’re experienced in digital marketing but don’t have formal work experience with SEO, that could be a problem. However, listing a certificate from an SEO course can tell the hiring manager that you have the necessary knowledge to take on the role.

Relevant certificates can provide evidence of your advanced skills, industry expertise, or any other necessary qualifications for the role. They can back up your skills and distinguish you from other candidates with similar work experience.

Depending on the context, any certificates you have can either be listed in the education section or a dedicated resume section.

If the certificates are more recent and different from your formal education, we recommend listing them separately. Here’s an example:

#4. Personal Projects

One of the best ways to show your passion and dedication is through your projects.

Hiring managers love candidates who do cool stuff in their spare time.

If any personal passion project you’ve been working on is relevant to the role you’re applying for, make sure to add it to your resume. It can back up the skills and experience on your resume, and help you stand out from other applicants.

For example, if you’re applying for a job as an animator , any published flash animation videos on YouTube are a great addition to your resume.

However, personal projects should only be listed if they’re relevant. If you’re looking for a job as an architect , your incredible cosplay sewing abilities just won’t cut it.

Here’s an example of a personal projects section:

11 Real-Life Examples

Not sure how to list work experience for your field?

Check out the practical work experience in these resume examples for different professions:

#1. Marketing Executive Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing a marketing executive resume here.

#2. Teacher Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing a teacher resume here.

#3. Cashier Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing a cashier resume here.

#4. Software Engineer Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing a software engineer resume here.

#5. Career Change Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing a career change resume here.

#6. Illustrator Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing an illustrator resume here.

#7. Esthetician Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing an esthetician resume here.

#8. Stay-at-Home Parent Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing a stay-at-home parent resume here.

#9. University Graduate Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing a university graduate resume here.

#10. University Student Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing a university student resume here.

#11. High School Graduate Resume Example

Check out our full guide to writing a high school graduate resume here.

Work Experience Section FAQs

Are you still wondering about something related to your resume’s work experience? Check out the answers to these popular questions about listing work experience on a resume:

#1. What If I Don’t Have Any Work Experience?

If you don’t have any work experience, there are two things you should consider: first, hiring managers don’t expect candidates for entry-level roles to have a ton of experience, so you don’t have to worry too much.

And second - there are plenty of ways to make an impressive resume even without any professional experience .

For example, if you're a recent graduate, you can focus on highlighting your education, relevant coursework or extracurricular activities.

Include any internships, volunteer roles, or student organizations that show you have the skills necessary for the job.

You can also highlight universal skills like communication , teamwork, problem-solving, and computer skills . If you use a strategic approach, your lack of work experience won’t hold you back from writing a great resume.

#2. Can I List an Internship Instead of Work Experience?

Yes, you can list internship experience on your resume instead of work experience.

Internships provide valuable on-the-job training and give you exposure to a professional work environment, so they’re always a great thing to add to your resume.

Like work experience, internships allow you to gain important skills, learn about a particular industry or role, and build accomplishments you can use to show potential future employers. 

Internships can be a vital resume section for candidates with less experience, such as students, career changers, or stay-at-home parents re-entering the workforce, since they show hiring managers you have enough relevant hands-on experience to succeed at the job.

#3. How Can I Explain an Employment Gap on My Resume?

The key to managing a gap in your work experience section is to address it briefly and positively on your resume or cover letter .

In a line or two, explain what happened and move on without dwelling on it, since employment gaps are relatively common and can happen for different reasons.

For example, if you had to take a year off to recover from a medical issue, just say so in your resume without going into details. The important thing is that you’re now better, ready to resume work, and the hiring manager knows it won’t be a problem.

If you have a short employment gap, you can probably skip the explanations. Simply list the start and end dates for each role without explaining the time in between. A couple of months between jobs is perfectly normal, and hiring managers aren’t likely to ask about it.

#4. What If My Work Experience Isn’t Relevant?

If you're applying for a job and none of your work experience is relevant, it’s a bit more complicated.

As a general rule, any work experience is better than no work experience. Most soft skills are applicable across industries, so you can focus on them in your resume.

If you’re an entry-level candidate, you might want to leverage other areas to show the hiring manager that you’re a good fit for the role.

For example, if you want to be a graphic designer but only have experience in customer service , emphasize your art education, portfolio work, and personal projects instead. If you’ve taken any more recent courses related to the field, you can list them before your work experience.

However, if you’re an experienced professional looking to change careers , things are a little different.

For a career change, you need to articulate your transferable skills and show how your previous experience can help you in this new role.

Let's say you're a sales professional interested in marketing. You could highlight skills like communication, market analysis, client relationship-building, and goal-oriented achievements that show your valuable marketing skills.

Key Takeaways

You’ve made it to the end!

Now, you’re all set to write a flawless work experience section.

But before you go, let’s recap what we talked about:

• Always list your work experience reverse-chronologically so the hiring manager can see what your most recent achievements and experiences are.
• If possible, focus on work achievements over day-to-day tasks. This way, you can immediately show the hiring manager what you’ve done for your previous team and what the value of hiring you would be.
• Carefully format your work experience so it passes the ATS and so that the hiring manager can easily read it.
• Instead of paragraphs, use bullet points to describe your previous jobs. For newer experiences, 5-6 bullets are good, but for older ones, 2-3 bullet points are enough.
• If you don’t have work experience, use this section to list your internship, volunteer experience, personal projects, or extracurricular activities. Treat them the same way you would treat work experience, and list your responsibilities and achievements in bullet points.
• Make sure the other sections in your resume complement your work experience for a flawless job application.

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• Resume Tips

How to Show Your Work Experience on Your Resume: Full Guide

10 min read

When employers look at your resume, there are usually two main areas that they focus their attention on right from the start. The first is your skills section, as they try to determine whether you have the abilities that you’ll need to do the job. 

After you craft a stand-out skills section, you should spend quite a bit of your time ensuring that your resume work experience section conveys compelling information that resonates with the employers you’re targeting.

In this post, we will examine the resume work experience section in more detail and explain why work experience is such a critical component of any successful resume. We’ll also offer some advice that can help you learn how to show your work experience on your resume and provide some great examples you can refer to as you create your own.

What is resume work experience?

Prospective employers will always be looking for information that can confirm your qualifications for their open position. One key area of interest will be your resume work experience section. That section should contain relevant information about your work history that showcases your ability to achieve positive benefits for your employer.

Of course, that information needs to be presented in a clear and cohesive manner and provide vital details about your career trajectory. For each job you list, you need to include the company name, your job title, the dates of employment, and several key achievements.

This work experience can encompass both full and part-time employment, relevant volunteer work, and internships. Resumes now often include freelance work, side hustles, entrepreneurial pursuits, and even passion projects. It all comes down to relevance.

What is relevant experience on a resume?

Relevant experience is what will help an employer decide whether you are worth interviewing. You need to identify what the employer wants to see. Relevant experience can be measured by the number of years you’ve worked in an industry, but it can also be related to the skills you have or what you have accomplished in similar roles.

If you don’t have much professional work experience, consider your academic, internship, volunteer, and other learning opportunities. Compare the skills you gained to the skills included in the job description. If there’s a significant overlap, you can include the experience you gained before joining the full-time workforce.

How can you know when experience is irrelevant?

Irrelevant experience is anything that won’t help you land the interview. It may be experience from 15 years ago, or job titles before you earned a certification or degree that set you on your current career path. When you’re well-established in your career, you can remove entry-level positions from your resume.

That’s right! If you’ve been in your field for many years, you can be selective about what job titles you include on your resume. Remember, your resume is a marketing document to sell your best qualities and qualifications. If necessary, older positions can be moved to a separate Additional Experience section.

In general, consider these three things to determine whether your experience is irrelevant:

The experience is from a vastly different field

The experience is from 10 to 15 years ago, or you’ve had more than 4 job titles since then

You gained no value from the experience

To add an Additional Experience section, match the formatting of your Work Experience section, but don't add as much detail. In fact, this could simply be a heading and two lines of text with additional jobs you've held as in the example below.

Why does resume work experience matter?

While your skill section is important, the reality is that most employers will pay more attention to your resume work experience section – and with good reason. Anyone can say that they have a certain set of skills, but demonstrating those skills is another thing entirely. That’s where the experience section comes into play.

If you can successfully detail your work history in a way that showcases your abilities and value as an employee, you can separate yourself from the competition. Many job seekers create resumes that simply list their job roles and responsibilities. Employers, however, are more interested in achievements than responsibilities.

Why? Because every worker has responsibilities. The real question is whether they’re able to achieve anything of value as they execute those responsibilities. If you can craft a resume work experience story that showcases achievements with real value, that will make the right kind of impression on any hiring manager.

Tips you can use to show work experience on your resume

Below are some simple and straightforward tips that can help you learn how to properly showcase your resume work experience. Follow these tips step-by-step, and you should be able to create a compelling narrative that will make hiring managers want to learn more about you – which means they’ll be more likely to offer you an interview opportunity.

Use an understandable label for your work history section

Begin this section by deciding how you want to label it. There are two primary considerations, of course. First, you want to make sure that the section label can be understood by applicant tracking systems (ATS), so don’t get too creative with the terminology. Second, you want to make sure that you use a label that hiring managers will instantly recognize as they are scanning the document.

Refer to our guide on the Top 10 Tips to Get Your Resume Past ATS Scans.

The following labels are all good options if you want to ensure that your resume can be easily read by automated screeners and human hiring managers:

Work Experience

Work History

Employment History

Employment Experience

Professional Experience

Include the right details

Your resume work experience needs to provide the right type of information about each job. Most experts recommend listing every relevant job you’ve held over the last 10 or 15 years and trying to include at least three previous employers. Obviously, if the job posting indicates that the company is looking for even more experience than that, you may need to go back even further into your work history.

For each company that you include in this section, list the following details:

The full name of the company . This is important since your prospective employer may want to contact your previous bosses to confirm your resume details.

The company’s location . Again, this information is useful for both formal and informal background checks. Typically, listing the city and state in which the company is located is all you need to do.

The dates of employment . List both the start and end dates of your time with each company. If you have any significant employment gaps that can be glossed over by simply listing the years of employment, do that instead.

Your job title . Include your official job title. Spell out every word and try to avoid acronyms to avoid potential misunderstandings. Be as specific as possible.

Role description . It’s often helpful to include a brief, two or three-line description of your role that clearly defines the scope of your duties. This can help to set the tone for your list of achievements.

Quantifiable achievements . For each position you held, create three or more bullet point examples of measurable achievements. These can help show how you used your skills to provide quantifiable value to your employer. The key is to use real numbers to show that benefit. For example: Organized, developed, and implemented a new product tracking system that reduced inefficiencies by 17%.

Other information , including promotions that you earned, any notable awards, special projects, committee participation, and languages.

Use the right format

There are three basic formats you can choose for your resume: the functional, hybrid, and chronological format. Most job seekers should use the chronological option – and specifically, the reverse-chronological format. This format is preferred by most employers, can be easily reviewed by ATS screeners, and offers a straightforward way to organize your resume information.

To use the reverse-chronological format, simply list each job in reverse order – starting with your current or most recent position. This enables the prospective employer to quickly review your most recent achievements while also seeing your overall career trajectory over the past decade.

How to write about your work experience

Once you have your framework of relevant experience, you can start filling in the details of your professional experiences. As mentioned in the intro of this guide, you can do much better than listing out the obvious tasks you performed. Hiring managers will be able to guess most of that from your job title.

Instead, you want to elaborate. You want to delight and impress your audience. You want to balance keyword-optimized text with eye-catching results. To manage these goals, you need to provide context, results, numbers, and skills to each line of your experience section.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself as you start to write your work experience on your resume:

What is this job looking for in a candidate?

How does my experience fit in with this job?

What are my key professional accomplishments?

What did I achieve in this role?

What skills have I gained through education, experience, and professional development?

What did my work result in?

Use your answers to write bullet points organized under the corresponding job title. If you're drawing a blank, refer to the examples in this guide (below) and check out these resources.

How to Use the STAR Method on Your Resume

Resume Bullet Points vs Paragraphs

10 Vital Skills to Put on Your Resume to Stand Out

Alternatively, if your resume's work experience section is already exceeding a page and a half, consider removing any irrelevant information in the resume. Hiring managers spend about six seconds on each resume, so you want to prioritize the information you include and how you organize it. Cap your resume document to two pages with your most impressive qualifications on the top of the first page.

Resume work experience examples

To get a better understanding of how these tips can help you create a truly professional looking resume work experience section, we’ve compiled some excellent examples you can use as inspiration.

Resume work experience listing for a Laboratory Assistant

This example only uses bullet points. Each bullet point is one line or less, and there are only six bullet points in total. These are important formatting tips because they help keep blocks of text to a minimum.

Notice that each bullet point of your resume starts with a strong action word . This trick makes the candidate appear active, engaged, and impressive.

This resume work experience example also incorporates a lot of skills common to the laboratory testing field: analyze, testing, measurement, and treatment. It also gives context to how this applicant displays soft skills like teamwork, communication, and collaboration. This is a great example of incorporating keywords through a resume.

Example of work experience for a Business Manager

This example uses both paragraphs and bullet points. The paragraph talks about overarching achievements, while the bullet points highlight specific accomplishments. It's a good balance of text and key points that is easy to visually scan for keywords and value.

The numbers in this example jump out and quantify how the candidate was able to provide value, promote sales growth, and earn recognition among a competitive talent pool.

View 200+ more professional resume samples for all industries, along with a guide to writing resumes from our career experts.

A stellar resume work experience section makes all the difference in the world!

Your work experience can be engaging and invite further conversation when written strategically. Given its important role in helping to convey your qualifications, you don't want it to be boring!

Fortunately, you can ensure that your professional history proves you're a great candidate by learning how to include resume work experience in a compelling way. Remember to focus on your results and accomplishments, provide numbers and context when possible, and use plenty of keywords.

Good luck with your job search!

Recommended reading:

7 Resume Sections and Headers You Need (+ Examples)

How Long Your Resume Should Be In 2020 (Expert Advice)

How to Choose Which Jobs To List on Your Resume (+Examples and Tips)

Marsha Hebert, Professional Resume Writer

Marsha is a resume writer with a strong background in marketing and writing. After completing a Business Marketing degree, she discovered that she could combine her passion for writing with a natural talent for marketing. For more than 10 years, Marsha has helped companies and individuals market themselves. Read more advice from Marsha on ZipJob's blog .

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“Tell Me About Your Work Experience” (Sample Answer)

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Find a Job You Really Want In

Being asked about your work experience is a given during a job interview. Hiring managers ask interview questions about your experience because they want to understand the impact of your prior work more comprehensively than reading the bullet points on a resume .

If you’re a job seeker preparing for an interview, this article will guide you through how to talk about your skills and experience in a way that clearly communicates your value to an interviewer. You’ll also find “tell me about your work experience” sample answers, as well as the different forms this question might take in a job interview.

Key Takeaways:

Connect how the experience you have relates to the role you’re interviewing for.

Be honest about your your skills and experience.

If you don’t have much experience in the specific field, express your interest in gaining that experience and learning through this opportunity.

Tell me about your work experience sample answers

Why interviewers ask about your experience, tips for answering interview questions about experience, work experience faq.

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While everyone’s work experience is unique, use these “tell me about your work experience” example questions and answers as a way to frame your own response:

Tell me about your professional background. This is a generalized question that hiring managers often ask to get a sense of how you’ll speak about your professional background.

While other questions are targeted to a specific position listed on your resume , this question is phrased in a way that asks for the complete story of your work history succinctly and informatively.

Tell me about your work experience sample answer example answer #1

“I started working towards my goal of becoming an early childhood educator long before I began teaching. Since I was in high school, I knew it was what I wanted to do with my career. When I was studying for my undergraduate degree in child development, I took on my first internship role as a teacher ’s assistant to a kindergarten class. I worked in that role over my senior year, and at the end of the internship, I was offered a position as a substitute teacher . This gave me a lot of experience working with many different children and strengthened my skills in classroom control. I’m now seeking a full-time teaching position to further my knowledge of childhood education in the field.”

What not to say:

“I don’t have much professional experience because I’ve never had a full-time teaching job before. I’ve worked as a substitute teacher, but only for about a year.”

Why it doesn’t work: This answer makes the applicant sound insecure and inexperienced. The interviewer doesn’t specifically ask for a recounting of paid positions you’ve worked.

Use that opportunity to speak about experiences you do have if your job history is lacking, such as an internship or project.

What experience do you have related to this role? When an interviewer asks what experience you have related to the role, they’re curious about two things.

First off, your prior experience and the intent to use it for success in the future.

Secondly, how familiar you are with the requirements of the role you’re interviewing for. Answer this interview question by tying in elements of the job description with your background.

Tell me about your work experience sample answer example answer #2

“Most of my professional experience has led me up to this administrative secretary role. I’ve been working in the field for almost ten years now. I got my first position as an office assistant when I was 18 – a position that required a lot of communication with both co-workers and customers. After two years, I was offered a new position as a secretary for a well-known dental group in the area. I worked in that job for nearly seven years. I eventually worked my way up to a management role. The job description stated that you’re looking for a candidate with at least four years of experience in a secretarial position with excellent communication skills . My background satisfies these conditions, and more. I’m interested in this position specifically because it would allow me to expand my leadership potential and continue working in an environment that I have a great deal of experience in.”

Why it works: A hiring manager chooses to use this phrasing of an experience interview question because it’s more direct. It gets right to the point of skills that are relevant to the job . This response works because it answers what the interviewer is asking.

The speaker gives a solid description of their work history up to that point and paints themselves as an experienced candidate.

They also mention specific skills that were asked for in the job description, which shows the interviewer that they did their research on the role and company.

“I’m not sure what your business wants in its secretaries, but I’ve worked in similar roles before.”

Why it doesn’t work: Unless you’ve scoured the job listing and it’s given very little information about the position, there’s no excuse for not having a good idea of what the company is looking for in the role.

This answer doesn’t have any specificity about their responsibilities, and the interviewer is forced to pull these details out of them.

What prior work experience has prepared you to take on this position? This question is a similar rendition of the last one.

The interviewer is assessing the candidate’s knowledge of the position’s requirements and if their abilities line up with these stipulations.

Answering well depends on the candidate’s prior knowledge of the position and a focus on the most applicable experience.

Tell me about your work experience sample answer example answer #3

“While I’ve worked in a few different positions in the past, I think the prior experience that has most prepared me for this position was working as a nurse in a Greenview Hospital emergency room for five years. A position that required me to provide top-notch patient care under pressure . In the position description, I noticed that you’re interested in hiring a candidate with experience in high-stress medical situations and a familiarity with an ER nurse’s schedule. This former job gave me practice in both these aspects of nursing. I believe these skills would help me to succeed in this role as well.”

Why it works: The candidate references the original job description to state how their skills fit these needs.

They explain a specific role that gave them the most relevant experience for the position they’re applying to and then went on into further explanation. This is a compact and informative answer.

“I’ve had experience working as a nurse.”

Why it doesn’t work: Responding to an interview question is best done briefly, but it isn’t supposed to be this short.

This answer doesn’t work because it doesn’t provide any details about the responsibilities of the role involved or how it relates to the position you’re hoping to land. It all around just needs more detail.

What has your work experience taught you about yourself? A hiring manager wants to know more than just a laundry list of your last few jobs’ responsibilities; they want to hear how you think about those experiences, what you’ve liked and disliked, and what you want to do with your skill set now.

Asking about what you learned from your last few jobs helps both you and the interviewer understand if the open job would actually be a good fit for you.

Tell me about your work experience sample answer example answer #4

“I got started in marketing 4 years ago as an analyst , which taught me a lot about how to make data-driven decisions and make rapid pivots when the underlying data you were relying on started to shift. I also learned that I wasn’t built for a job that spent so much time making and using spreadsheets. From there, I moved to a content strategist position, which was sort of a lateral move but involved a lot more creativity. I was actually applying the sort of data I was analyzing in my earlier job, and I found that I enjoyed and thrived in an environment where I could make decisions based on more than just spreadsheets. In my current job as a marketing analytics manager , I’ve learned much more about lead generation, working with sales and design personnel more closely, and honed my skills as an analyst. Through this career path , I’ve learned where my skills and interests lie, which is what led me to apply for this role.”

Why it works: The candidate directly refers to elements from their past jobs that directly relate to the job they’re applying for. They show that the candidate has carefully considered what lessons they learned at each of those jobs, and why those lessons led them to apply for this new job.

“My work experience has taught me that I excel at working alone. With group work, I tend to be tied down by other people’s timelines, but when I’m able to just focus on my own tasks, the quality is much higher.”

Interviewers ask about your previous work experience, to clarify your background, gauge your ability to communicate, and hear firsthand how you hope to put that experience to use in the future:

Clarity. As with any other inquisition put forward during an interview, experience questions are used to form a clearer picture of who you are professionally. This helps an interviewer decide if you’re the right fit for the position needing to be filled.

Honesty. Any form of lying is unacceptable in an interview. Some questions require you to reach into your professional past and find examples of skills that match the job you’re going for.

An intent to put experience to use. While your professional background may be a compelling story, there’s a reason beyond this that interviews ask about former experience.

When discussing your work experience, you should always be as specific as possible and connect your prior experience to your career goals:

Be specific about responsibilities and accomplishments. When discussing your previous professional experience, be specific about the role you served.

Don’t memorize an answer. A lot of candidates decide to prepare for their interview by memorizing their answers to questions about prior experience. This often produces a stiff response that’s unsatisfying to an interviewer.

Connect prior experience to future goals. An interview seeks to gather information about how an applicant intends to behave in their role if chosen for hire.

How can I describe myself through work experience?

You can describe yourself through your work experience by being specific about what you learned about yourself in previous roles. Providing details about what you liked and didn’t like about past responsibilities will go a long way in showing your unique personality and why you’re interviewing for this particular job.

What are examples of work experience?

Examples of work experience include specific responsibilities and the skills you used to carry out your tasks in previous jobs. Ultimately, the best examples of work experience are completely dependent on the job you’re applying for. It’s essential that you highlight the most relevant aspects of your former jobs, even if they were a smaller part of your last job than the new job you’re interviewing for.

Drexel University – How to Describe Your Work Experience

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Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.

Denise Bitler has 30+ years of HR experience working in various industries and with all level of employees from hourly through C-suite, as well as company Board Members.She is the founder of Resume-Interview Success, LLC and is an expert in best practices related to resume, cover letter, and Executive bio writing, LinkedIn Profile optimization, job search strategies, and interview coaching.

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Writing a memorable Professional Experience Essay

W hile your MBA application resume will provide a summary of your education, jobs, and community leadership, you will likely have an opportunity to expand on your career in your MBA essays.

However, an essay about your work experience is not merely a list of roles and responsibilities. A Professional Experience Essay is a narrative essay that should bring the accomplishments summarized on your resume to life.

An effective Professional Experience Essay will give the Admissions Committee a sense of the career decisions you’ve made, your most significant achievements in each chapter of your career, and the skills and knowledge you’ve acquired on your career journey. This “walk through your resume” in essay form is your opportunity to provide admissions officers with evidence that you’ve made exceptional career progress and that you have clear potential for future advancement.

This article provides you with the insights and tools you need to build a powerful Professional Experience Essay.

First, we’ll talk about why some MBA application forms ask you to write about your career history, and we’ll share the characteristics of a great answer to this type of essay question.

Second, we’ll provide you with a set of building blocks for crafting a unique and robust essay that summarizes your career history.

Finally, we analyze a sample Professional Experience Essay to illustrate the principles we have taught you throughout this article.

How to Score Top Marks on Professional Experience Essays

You can think of this essay as an executive summary of your career thus far. You are providing the readers in the MBA admissions office with a holistic overview of your work experience, the skills and knowledge you’ve acquired, and how you’ve progressed in your career thus far. So what is the Admissions Committee looking for in an effective Professional Experience Essay?

To score top marks with your essay, you’ll need to provide evidence of distinguished academic and career performance in the top 10% of your peer group and demonstrate your potential for future advancement.

A well-designed essay recounting your professional history accomplishes multiple aims in a minimal amount of space. Your career story must be coherent, concise, and cohesive – it’s not unusual to have to discuss your professional history in 200 words or less as part of a multi-part essay question. If you have a limited number of words to work with, what should you focus on and what should you leave out?

To solve that riddle, we recommend that before trying to draft this essay, you should first define your career goals . Clarity about where you want to go in your career will help you select which elements of your past work experience to showcase in this essay.

That is because a successful Professional Experience Essay will connect the dots between your professional history and your career aspirations. You want your essay to present evidence that you are well-prepared for the post-MBA job you plan to pursue. Demonstrate to the admissions committee you have momentum in the direction of your ultimate career goals.

Of course, you also want to highlight the work experiences and qualities that business schools value , such as leadership, teamwork, and creativity.

Additionally, you want to give the reader a sense that your value to your employers has grown over time. Your overarching goal is to convince the Admissions Committee that you are well-prepared for an MBA and that you have interesting experiences and lessons to contribute to an MBA community.

Finally, let’s not forget that admissions officers will be assessing your “employability” and how well your career story might play with future recruiters.

How can you accomplish all of those goals in a compact and engaging essay? Follow the steps in the next section to construct an effective Professional Experience Essay. To illustrate our guidance, we’ll show you how “Adam,” a private equity analyst applying for an MBA, constructed the content building blocks for his Professional Experience Essay.

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Telling the Story of Your Career

Like a book, your career story should be organized into chapters. Typically a chapter will begin with your decision to take a new job, proceed to the most significant challenges and achievements in that role, and end with a brief recounting of your learning and growth. The bridge to the next chapter summarizes the reasons you decided to take the next step in your career journey.

Your first step in crafting your Professional Experience Essay is to identify the “chapters” of your career.

1. Identify and Outline the Chapters of Your Career Story

Building Block Question: What are the major milestones in your career so far?

Start by asking yourself, “What are the major milestones in my career so far?”. Answering this question will help you to decide how to divide your career into phases. Changing companies is an obvious chapter break, but a step forward inside the same company, such as a promotion, a major increase in responsibility, or a high-profile project, might also mark a new phase in your career. Keep in mind that you won’t have time to detail each stage of your career in an essay – even if a chapter of your career lasted two or three years, you’ll need to summarize the most crucial information in that chapter in a few sentences.

Example: Our fictional applicant, Adam, has two significant chapters to highlight in his Professional Experience Essay.

Chapter 1 was graduating from college and accepting a 2-year analyst position at Deutsche Bank.

In Chapter 2, he took a job as an analyst at a Private Equity shop called Astrix Partners, where he worked for 18 months.

For the rest of this example, we’ll focus only on Chapter 2 of Adam’s Career Story, although Adam would need to write both chapters for his essay.

Once the chapters of your career are clear to you, you should outline each chapter’s contents. Each chapter in your career story should have a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning of one chapter (and possibly the end of the last) is usually denoted by your decision to take or leave a role. This leads us to the next step in building your Professional Experience Essay: explaining the professional decisions you have made in your career.

2. Explain the Reason(s) for Your Career Decision

Building Block Question: Why did you take the job or accept the new assignment?

For outlining purposes, each chapter begins with your career decision: “Why did you leave your old job and take the new one?” Admissions Officers can see what jobs you have had by reviewing your resume. In your Professional Experience Essay, you will explain why you decided to take the job or volunteer for a big assignment.

Ideally, each new chapter in your career was initiated by you and signified a step forward in your career action plan. Even if the career change was unplanned and outside of your control, that’s okay. For example, if you were laid off, focus on the positives instead of hiding the reality of what happened – it’s a chance to show resilience and that you can land on your feet after a setback.

Example: Adam plans to explain that he decided to leave Deutsche Bank and join Astrix because the move fit in with his long-term career plan to become a private equity investor.

3. Discuss Significant Challenges and Accomplishments

Building Block Question: What was the most significant challenge you faced? What did you achieve that you are most proud of?

The next building blocks are the significant challenges and accomplishments during this chapter of your career. Admissions officers enjoy hearing about the difficulties you overcame in this chapter in your career and about some standout moments where you made a real impact on your organization.

Identify the most significant challenge you faced and ask yourself, “What did I achieve that I am most proud of?”. In your outline, jot down quick examples of any standout moments and exceptional achievements at each juncture of your career.

Example: In terms of significant achievements, Adam plans to highlight sourcing a private equity deal, which is quite rare for a young PE analyst.

4. Share Major Areas of Growth

Building Block Question: How did you grow, and what did you learn in this phase of your career? How did you progress?

The fourth building block is your personal and professional growth. You might share knowledge acquired, lessons learned, or skills developed. Often, the most important and interesting things from an Admissions Officer’s point of view are what you’ve learned about yourself in your career so far: a new talent discovered, the emergence of new career interests, or clarity on an existing one.

Your objective is to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experiences from each chapter of your career that will contribute to your future success. By doing so, you ensure that your Professional Experience Essay will provide convincing evidence that you have already made significant progress on your future career path.

Example: Adam’s growth is relatively straightforward. He advanced beyond the transactional activities he performed as an investment banker and is now developing the strategic point of view required of a private equity investor.

After you’ve generated content for all of your career story chapters, take a step back and create a Lead for your story. A Lead is the story’s central message, the executive summary that communicates what your Professional Experience Story is about. If you had to sum up your career in a sentence or two, how would you do it? Some people call the central message of the career story your “elevator speech” – imagine that you had to convey the essence of your career story to an admissions officer during a short elevator ride.

Example: The lead for Adam’s career story is that he’s progressed from a green analyst to experienced private equity professional.

Below you will find an excerpt from the essay that resulted when Adam assembled his content building blocks.

Professional Experience Essay Sample

I was a quantitative economics major at Michigan. Although my education provided me with an excellent analytical foundation, I barely knew an income statement from a balance sheet the day I graduated from college.

(CAREER DECISION) I pursued a position in Deutsche Bank’s leveraged finance group, which provided an excellent foundation for a career in finance.

(CAREER GROWTH) Those two years with Deutsche Bank are where I learned the language of finance and the mechanics of investment banking.

(ACHIEVEMENT) Even amidst lay-offs in other areas of the firm, I was fortunate to be the only one in my start group offered a 3rd-year analyst job

(CAREER DECISION) The 3rd-year offer was tempting. I loved the firm and my team, but I also had an attractive offer with Astrix Partners, a private equity firm with $2.0 billion in assets. I have a real passion for investing. Since junior high, I’ve been trading stocks, and I started my subscription to the Wall Street Journal on my 13th birthday. What’s wild is that I’m now working on the kinds of deals that I used to read about in the Journal.

(ACHIEVEMENT) I really enjoy working on Astrix deals because we have unbelievable access to information and expertise — I talk to industry experts and read phenomenal research reports. I’ve found that I’m good at asking and answering questions like, “What do we have to believe about this company’s position in the marketplace before we would be willing to invest?”

(ACHIEVEMENT) Six months ago, through a family friend, I even helped us source a deal with an optical drive manufacturer in Boston and presented the idea to our investment committee… (example continues)

Final Thoughts

There’s nothing particularly exotic about Adam’s career journey. He has followed a more or less typical path from tier-one investment banking into a private equity shop. Nevertheless, by carefully outlining his professional history, he created a robust Professional Experience Essay for his MBA application.

Although his career path is relatively traditional, he’s managed to connect the dots between his professional experiences and the capabilities he’ll need in the future. By doing so, he’s able to represent his “employability” in the private-equity field post-MBA. Adam’s Professional Experience Story is compelling precisely because it will provide admissions officers with evidence that he’s made significant progress towards his future career goals.

If your Professional Experience Essay indicates professional growth and charts your progress toward your future career goals, then you will instill admissions officers with confidence that you have the skills, knowledge, and relationships necessary to succeed in your career post-MBA.

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How to write Work Experience in your Resume, including job descriptions [20+ Examples]

An experience section as the name suggests lists out your employment. It is made of employment details of all or some of your most significant employments.

A resume works in your favor to get you your ideal job by describing your skills, qualifications, and the results you have brought.

But which section makes the most impact?

It is the experience section of your resume.

With lists and details about your jobs, the experience section is what employers look at the most in your resume.

As a job seeker, it is one of the most valuable sections for you because:

• You have space to put in the most relevant parts of your career
• Being descriptive in nature, it gives you room for adding the most relevant keywords
• You can easily optimize it as per your future job requirements

Job descriptions for the experience section are the easiest to make, as you know what you have done. Follow this post to learn about

Various aspects of an experience section

Where and how to place the experience section, 10 tips to write job descriptions.

An experience section of the resume, as the name suggests, lists out your employment journey. It is made of employment details of all or some of your most significant employments.

Now what does it contain:

• Job/Position Title: What is the role you were hired for. For instance, Marketing Manager, Content Writer, Software Engineer

How many employments to list in your Resume?

• Dates of employment: These include the month and year of your joining a particular job and the month and year of finishing it.
• Name of the employer and location:   Mention the name of the company you worked for, followed by the location of your office. IF your company is headquartered in the USA, but they have an office in India, where you work. Your location would be the city in India.
• Job description: This is what you did during the job. This is the most extensive part of your entire experience section.

It is usually placed just below the skills and summary section. There are three ways you can format the experience section of your resume.

Reverse Chronological

In reverse chronological order, you list the most recent job first and work it back in time. To put it simply, your first employment will come at the end of the experience section.

This is the most preferred format for writing the experience section.

Why it works:

• Lists most recent achievements and skills on the top
• Shows how you’ve evolved in your career
• Plays an important role in demonstrating that you are updated with the industry trend.

Functional means listing your experience basis the type of work you do. This format is independent of chronology

When to use it:

• You are looking for a career change and what you did in the past resonates moe with your potential job
• If you have gaps in your employment history

Chronological

In a chronological format, you list the events or employment in the sequence it occurred. Your very first job will be on the top.

This is the least used format. Here’s why:

• You do not need the employer to know what you did year’s ago
• Your first job might be irrelevant to your present role and what you are seeking.
• Employers want to know what you are doing right now

It can sometimes be tricky to put your data across in a consolidated yet comprehensive form.

Here are some tips to help you write job descriptions that catch the recruiter's eye.

Follow a Consistent Pattern for all job descriptions

The formatting for all job descriptions should be the same across the entire resume. If you are writing your designation first, it should be on the top for all your employments.

Ensure Proper alignment and spacing

You may write the most impressive and impactful job description. But it is incomplete without proper formatting and spacing.

Leave appropriate and consistent space between the two job descriptions is extremely important to make your resume look structured and readable.  

Do not overcrowd with information

Let’s say you are with a company for more than 5 years, you have wrecked on multiple projects, working with several high ticket clients and there are numerous results to showcase, and your role is broad. You have a lot to write.

But saying it all may downplay you. Even if your role is broad, and there is a lengthy list of responsibilities, pick the few that are most relevant to your new prospective role, or those that best demonstrate your strengths.

Be to the point and specific

Being specific here does not only mean puling out information that is not adding value.

It also implies not making your sentences verbose or beating around the bush.

How to make the content easy to glance?

Include relevant keywords.

You’ve cut down the data that is not required and you’ve also made your sentences short and sweet.

Now is the time to add some value.

Add relevant keywords in all your job descriptions. Each of the job descriptions has at least 4-5 points, which gives you enough space for dropping in industry-relevant keywords.

Quantify information

Quantifying information means making it result-driven, and adding figures.

It involves adding numbers and insights that show what you have done for your employers and you have the ability to achieve similar results for your potential employer too.

Unquantified: Served food and drink and took orders in a fast-paced restaurant

Quantified: Served in a 300-seat restaurant, handling up to 5 tables at a time in a fast-paced restaurant

Use bullets and short sentences

To make your resume easy to read and understand, use bullets and short sentences.

Paragraphs make your content look bulky even it is not. Bullets add structure to it.

Short sentences make it easy to glace.

Talk more about work that relates to your target job

You’ve been in your career for a long now. You know a lot and you are having a difficult time squeezing all of it in a page or two.

But you don’t need to.

Pick up the highlights and what you require the most for your potential role. And you will have limited yet impactful content for your job descriptions.

Refrain from talking about soft skills

Soft skills are as important as your core or technical skills. But job descriptions or the experience section is not the right place for them.

• Soft skills can be developed over time
• They compliment your ability to generate results but they actually don’t, barring dome jobs like customer service

Instead, talk about the results you’ve generated and how.

The right place to show your soft skills is the interview table.

Start sentences with action words

There are many ways to start a sentence. You can simply demonstrate your abilities, without using action words.

But verbs or action words help to create an impact when you're delivering information to another reader. They show what you have already done rather than what can you do.

• Welcome over 50 guests daily and respond to all inquiries. Book and schedule appointments for more than 100 clients every week via phone, email, or in person. Ensure proper upkeep and appearance of the front office.
• Develop front office schedules on monthly basis, and track employee attendance and vacations.
• Maintain inventory of products/supplies, and work with nurses and physicians to set up treatment rooms.
• Monitor pre-purchased services/products by clients. Prepare charts for 30 patients with upcoming appointments.  

Whare the keywords to start bullet points?

Examples of Job Descriptions for common Jobs

Job Description of a History Professor

• Delivered lectures to undergraduate and graduate students on topics such as ancient history, postwar civilizations, and the history of third-world countries.
• Assessed individual strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of each student, addressing issues as needed.
• Maintained working knowledge of state-set standardized tests and prepared students to take and pass each, instilling confidence in their capability to demonstrate knowledge gained during the school year.
• Facilitated classroom discussions and encouraged the participation of all students, incorporating relevant reading and current events

Click here for the full resume of History Professor in text format

Job Description of a Radiologist

• Ensure operation of radiology equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements, troubleshooting malfunctions, calling for repairs and evaluating new equipment and techniques.
• Identify patient service requirements by establishing personal rapport with potential and actual customers to understand service requirements.
• Perform routine and specialised x-ray exams including: fluoroscopy, upper and lower GI.
• Obtain specific insurance and patient demographic information including ICD-9 codes.
• Manage 12 to 15 procedures per shift, while maintaining high quality of care.

Click here for the full resume of Radiologist in text format

Job Description of a Human Rights Lawyer

• Represented the corporation in matters involving human rights breaches, such as political detainees, child abuse, unfair labour practices against women employees, and government service access.
• Advised clients in handling agreements and settlements by thoroughly presenting the case to them and educating them of their privileges.
• Published and reproduced newsletters, brochures and pamphlets advocating human rights and exposing human rights violations.
• Collected evidence through investigations and thoroughly reviewed details in lieu of legal matters and provisions.
• Ensured both parties' agreements, payments, and settlements were carried out properly.
• Handled community relations activities with community groups and participated in meetings as a resource person making speeches to large assemblies.

Click here for the full resume of Human Rights Lawyer in text format

Job Description of a Customer Service Professional

• Analyze and scout opportunities for service improvement through regular quality call checks, phone metrics, and relevant KPIs. Provide regular feedback and corrective action to supervisors and representatives.
• Develop and maintain departmental budgets, and ensure the department meets financial goals and objectives.
• Create customer surveys to track customer satisfaction.
• Handle escalated customer complaints, and ensure proper resolution. Hire and mentor employees. Manage workload and ensure compliance with company directives.

Achievements:

• Reduced TAT for managing escalations from 24 hours to 16 hours. Brought down customer service staff turnover by 50%

Click here for the full resume of Customer Service Professional  in text format

Job Description of a Systems Engineer

• Installed and maintained client networks and workstations ranging from small (10 workstations) to large (2 workstations).
• Provided technical support for voice and non-voice data networks.
• Performed duties such as configuration and maintenance of network services including web servers, and FTP on both Windows and Linux.-based environments.
• Executed software and hardware upgrades as scheduled,  including emergency roll-outs.

Click here for the full resume of Systems Engineering Intern  in text format

Job Description of a PR Coordinator

• Assisted in drafting and editing press releases for sending to targeted media outlets.
• Responded to requests for information release or press conferences from the media.
• Prepared and edited organizational publications, including employees newsletters for internal and external audiences.
• Assisted with managing social media channels and campaigns.  and created content for scheduled posts.
• Attended resource fairs, expos, and events on behalf of the organization.

Click here for the full resume of PR Coordinator in text format

Job Description of a Telemarketer

• Accomplished with a persuasive and confident approach.
• Scheduled appointments for sales executives to meet with prospective customers.
• Adjusted sales scripts to better target the needs and interests of specific individuals.
• Provided timely, courteous, and knowledgeable responses to information requests.
• Screened and transferred calls and prepared official phone log correspondence.
• Created detailed spreadsheets containing information on every call that was summarized for management at the end of the week.

Click here for the full resume of Telemarketer in text format

Job Description of a Branch Banking Professional

• Reconcile assets between finance & operations and ensure verification. Research accounting issues for compliance.
• Maintain detailed records of crucial financial transactions.  Develop/document accounting policies to maintain and strengthen internal control systems.
• Conduct risk assessments and identify controls to mitigate risks.
• Create & sustain a dynamic environment that fosters development opportunities and motivates high performance amongst team members.

Click here for the full resume of Branch Banking Professional in text format

Job Description of an Online Teacher-English

• Developed all online materials for and collected a list of resource links for students.
• Assessed students learning through discussions, projects, and formal assessments.
• Graded lessons, tests, and other assignments, and relayed information to parents when necessary.
• Provide consistent feedback to students related to each lesson taught.
• Combined various English teaching methods and techniques to help students improve their results.

Click here for the full resume of Online English Teacher in text format

Job Description of a School Principal

• Ensured adherence to regulatory funding sources across programs and outcomes.
• Modeled expected and appropriate leadership to promote teaching staff and administrative personnel's positive interaction with students and families.
• Facilitated continued education for teaching staff through implementation of quality curriculum training.

Click here for the full resume of the School Principal  in text format

Job Description of a QA Analyst

• Reviewed programming code for mistakes, and created a test automation framework that is used to drive 400+ automated tests.
• Created performance dashboards to track faults and resolutions and to share information with the product team and client support on a regular basis.

Noteworthy:

• Resolved over 100 defects prior to product launch.
• Implemented security testing procedures, resulting in a 5% reduction in software development project cost.

Click here for the full resume of QA Analyst in text format

Job Description of a Project Manager

• Oversaw end-to-end project management including creating scope and timelines for new projects.
• Managed project budget financial tracking to compare budgeted against actual project costs. Identified the resource requirements, organized human resources, assigned responsibilities and coordinated with staff members to complete the project successfully.
• Prepared reports and maintained documents regarding the progress of the project and communicated the same to PMO.
• Interfaced with other functional areas and managed projects with decisions often impacting several units.

Click here for the full resume of Technical Project Manager  in text format

Job Description of a Network Engineer

• Executed network hardware and software purchase, use, maintenance, security, and backup policies and procedures.
• Established and maintained network users, user environment, directories, and security, and trained users on software and equipment usage.
• Responded to network users' requests and questions about their access to network resources and the operation of various software packages.
• Optimized network speed and reliability by maintaining hardware and software, troubleshooting technical difficulties, and ensuring system users' availability.

Click here for the full resume of Network Engineer in text format

Job Description of an Actuarial Analyst

• Assisted in preparing optimization models for supply chain and operations management.
• Used matrix analysis, operations research, and optimization techniques for solving real-world problems.
• Evaluated performance of various products in terms of market capability.
• Contributed to the development of monitoring tools and analytical methods.

Click here for the full resume of  Actuarial Analyst  in text format

Job Description of a Fundraiser

• Assisted the organization with reaching potential donors through inbound calling, social media, email marketing, and other platforms.
• Created all correspondence regarding donations including proposals, marketing material for fundraising events, and more.

Click here for the full resume of Fundraiser in text format

Job Description of a Construction Engineer

• Identify project budget and schedule, conduct site visits, and monitored the project throughout its lifecycle
• Obtain necessary permits, approvals, and other regulatory prerequisites.
• Document and report the project timeline.
• Ensure proper workplace safety and adherence to quality protocols.

Click here for the full resume of Construction Engineer in text format

Job Description of an Industrial Engineer

• Set production standards using appropriate industrial engineering techniques and coordinated results to concerned production units.
• Recommended production improvement methods to support changes in the production standards.
• Planned manpower requirements that resulted in effective control over temporary manpower headcount and increased direct labor utilization.
• Created and maintained current routings, BOM's, and standard costs for manufactured products.
• Identified methods to improve the value chain process by eliminating redundant activities and following more effective processes and procedures.
• Studied methods and planned utilization of facilities, equipment, and materials to improve the efficiency of operations.
• Prepared charts, graphs, and diagrams to illustrate workflow, routing, and material handling.

Click here for the full resume of Industrial Engineer in text format

Job Description of a Scrum Master

• Refined and evolved agile processes for predictable and rapid software delivery.
• Implemented agile methodologies using a Scrum framework throughout the project
• Led all sprint planning, sprint reviews, sprint retrospectives, and daily scrums with the development team.
• Served as the main point of contact to drive effective communication throughout all project phases.

Click here for the full resume of Scrum Master in text format

Job Description of an Animator

• Worked with game designers and developers to assist in developing animations.
• Created models, drawings and illustrations by hand and also electronically.
• Developed timing and pace of movement of characters for a sequence of images and ensured they followed the audio requirements.
• Delivered product-ready graphics in HTML for all marketing assets.
• Worked with art director and immediate creative team to collaborate, visualize and create game-play animations for VR.

Click here for the full resume of Animator in text format

Job Description of a News Presenter

• Obtained and compiled information from various sources that included local police releases, PR releases, and reports from co-workers in the field.
• Wrote new stories in AP style from wire copy, field reports, and conducted telephone interviews to obtain information to be used in stories and bytes to be used on air.
• Performed daily station website maintenance by uploading up to 5 new stories and videos, and cycling out old and irrelevant stories.
• Assisted in anchoring 8 episodes of the show 'Bulletin' for their channel 'ITv news'.
• Generated story ideas, cultivated news sources and provided editorial support in coordination with programming directors.

Click here for the full resume of News Presenter in text format

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Work Experience — The Importance Of Work Experience

The Importance of Work Experience

• Categories: Work Experience

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Words: 511 |

Published: Mar 6, 2024

Words: 511 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

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