How to write a resume - structure, main mistakes and samples. How to correctly describe professional work experience in a resume Resume block work experience to write after the fact

FinExecutive Russia website 2019-05-12

How to describe work experience on a resume

Every day, a recruiter reviews dozens of different resumes for each vacancy. Therefore, only a well-written document contributes to achieving the main task and soon the applicant is invited for an interview. Extensive work experience is evidence of professional skills and abilities. However, in order to truly interest the HR manager, it is necessary to correctly present the information he needs. It is important that in the 2 minutes that the average HR manager devotes to studying the resume of the next applicant, he can understand that it is with you that he can conduct a constructive dialogue.

Work experience on a resume is the main thing any recruiter wants to see. Whether you will be invited to attend or not depends on how competently you present your professional experience in your resume.

Would you like to receive a resume with a competent and effective description of your professional experience?

With our help, you can stand out among other applicants and impress employers.

We offer. Our team finds an individual approach to each client, and therefore you will receive a truly unique professional resume.

I offer you 5 simple rules for describing professional work experience in a resume:

1. We indicate places of work for the last 10 years in reverse chronological order. First, the month and year of starting work - month and year of ending - position indicating employment (full-time, part-time); then the name of the company (in full) and its form of ownership, indicating a link to the company’s website and the city of its location; further – the scope of the company’s activities; and finally (briefly, 5-7 main ones).
2. We indicate work experience, even if it is not confirmed in the work book. For example, you worked under a contract or without registration. First of all, it is important for an employer to see what you know and can do. To avoid unnecessary questions during the interview, be sure to indicate in your resume: month and year of starting work – month and year of ending – position indicating employment (contractor agreement; without registration)
3. If you held several positions within one company (for example, first you were an assistant, then a specialist, then a manager), indicate this in one entry. Job responsibilities are indicated according to the last position.
4. We allocate one entry for working in one company. If the name of the organization changed, you worked in several organizations within the same holding, you moved to the same job for the same owner in another organization (the functionality did not change), we record this as one place of work. It will be easier for the recruiter to perceive your experience and will not give the impression that you have changed jobs frequently.
5. If your work experience is more than 10 years, previous places of work can be briefly outlined in the format: year of starting work - year of ending - name of the organization and its form of ownership - position.

For an employer, it is actual work experience that is important, so it is recommended to indicate in your resume the place where you actually worked. The employer is interested in what practical problems you have successfully solved and how effectively you can solve them in a new place.

If the experience officially recorded in the work book differs from the real one, then at the interview you will be able to explain the situation why your actual work experience is not reflected in the resume. For example, you worked for a friend, but your work book was at that time in another organization. Or for some reason you were not officially employed.

It is easy for an employer to check whether a candidate has worked in the field they are applying for. If doubts arise, the employer may ask you to solve several cases directly during the interview or request recommendations from your previous place of work.

What work experience should I include on my resume—all or the most recent?

1. The resume must indicate relevant experience that goals, which is stated in the resume. If you are a versatile person and have worked in different fields, then in your resume indicate the experience that will favorably emphasize your strengths in the light of the position for which you are applying. If you are capable and ready to work in different specialties, then it is advisable to create a separate resume for each and include relevant experience in it.
2. In experience development should be traced. An employer is more likely to be interested in a candidate who shows progress at every job than a candidate who, for some reason, worked first as a deputy director, then as a storekeeper, then as an economist, and lastly as a sales manager. The transition from one place to another should be logical, showing your development as a professional.
3. Work experience and other resume items should ideally fit on 1 page. Maximum - 2.
4. Work experience is indicated in the resume in reverse chronological order, starting from the current (or last) place of work.
5. If the track record is long, then you can limit yourself to experience over the past 5 years. The employer is more interested in the candidate's current level of qualifications, so recent jobs should be given more attention, while earlier ones can be covered briefly.
6. If the experience in different companies is uniform, then you need to try to find something unique at every place of work. There is no need to duplicate responsibilities from place to place. Put yourself in the employer’s shoes, understand what problems he wants to solve when hiring an employee, and try in your resume to convey to him the confidence that his problems will be solved with you.

Should you embellish experience on your resume?

It is important to correctly present your “advantages”, but at the same time, the information in the resume must be reliable. Be attentive to details- to the exact periods of work in one or another place, to the names of companies, to dates and numbers. Deception in your resume is unacceptable, and inaccuracies identified by the recruiter will characterize you as a person inattentive to details.

Most often, candidates embellish their professional skills and job responsibilities. For example, they indicate fluency in a foreign language, but in fact the level of the language turns out to be mediocre. Or they describe tasks of a higher level than they actually had to solve. Or they list a wider range of competencies than they actually possess.

Presenting it favorably and embellishing it are two different things!

There is no need to embellish, because... the employer will dig deeper and draw conclusions for himself. But how can you profitably present your work experience?

Use the task statements from the job description. When negotiating, the following technique is used: to make the interlocutor feel that you understand him, you simply repeat part of the phrase from his speech:

“It’s very important for us to meet the deadline.”

- It is very important for you to meet the deadline, so...

This is an elementary technique that will work in our case. When describing duties in your resume, use phrases from the job descriptions. Of course, if you simply copy the description of duties from the vacancy into your resume, the employer will think that you are deliberately trying to please and make the desired impression. But if you approach the questions wisely and incorporate certain phrases into your resume, then the employer will get the impression that you and he speak the same language and understand each other.

• " onclick="window.open(this.href," win2 return false > Print

Experience (experiential knowledge) is certain knowledge gained by an individual in the course of personal experiences, impressions, observations, and real actions.

There is no clear interdependence between factors such as age and experience does not exist. It is not at all necessary that an older person will be more qualified than a younger applicant. The baggage of professional experience includes only meaningful work, when the individual performing it analyzes each of his actions and draws appropriate conclusions. Of course, in order to gain as much professional, and especially managerial experience as possible, it will take a lot of time.

There are specialized areas in the labor market that mainly offer vacancies with work experience. Such positions require trained specialists with extensive professional experience. Its presence is the main criterion for hiring. These areas include production, management and consulting.

Let us note once again that it is impossible to draw an unambiguous parallel about the existence of a relationship between the factors age and experience. To put it simply, you can make a mistake by hiring a specialist of mature age, while implying that he is de facto an experienced and highly qualified specialist. Therefore, regardless of the age and merits of the applicant for the position, at least an interview is required with him, based on the results of which the final decision is made.

Jobs without work experience, is it possible to find such a job?

It would probably be completely unnecessary to dispute the fact that any modern employer, in the overwhelming majority of cases, tries to fill a vacant position with the most qualified specialist. And it is desirable that the new employee has a significant experience. In a similar or at least related specialty.

Why did this happen? Everything is very simple - hiring such an employee is a kind of guarantee of his high efficiency. A new specialist hired into the team will not have to divert resources to train him. Having work experience means that a person knows his job perfectly and will perform the necessary duties without any questions. Having professional experience is especially important for young people who have just graduated from an educational institution and are faced with the question of earning money.

You need to think about all this as early as possible, or as they say “yesterday”. After all job without experience, as a rule, implies low qualifications and corresponding wages. Of course, there are firms and enterprises that are ready to hire inexperienced workers who have just completed their studies at a higher educational institution. For various reasons, they consider it beneficial for themselves to train newcomers. But first of all, their benefit is the youth and energy of such specialists.

The problem lies in the fact that such jobs do exist in reality, but there are very few of them and the competition for these vacancies is quite high. But if you put in a little effort and perseverance, you can still find a job that suits you.

Where to look for a job without experience in your specialty

Vacancies with work experience, including without it, can be found when visiting specialized job fairs. They can be held both in places of public importance and online, on the Internet. An applicant without experience can also find a suitable job with the help of professional recruiting companies. The employees of these agencies will do all the necessary work for you. The disadvantage of this search option is the need to pay for the services of specialists.

Another way to find a job will be through the media. Both print and electronic media are suitable for these purposes. Also use word of mouth. Tell your friends, acquaintances and relatives that you are looking for a job. You can even talk to the grandmothers sitting at the entrance, because they can also have extensive family ties. Use all available opportunities, because the desired job may turn up in what seems to be the most unexpected place. And a job offer may come from a completely unexpected person. And in the end, work experience won’t even be needed.

Let’s make a reservation right away that the peculiarities of the work of an inexperienced specialist are that at first they will pay quite modestly, or even practically nothing. The positive thing is that you gain much-needed experience. And this means, after some time, you can safely start searching vacancies with work experience, where the reward for labor will be significantly higher. Therefore, if you agree to work for “food”, realistically assess the situation; it should have a future perspective, that is, it should be useful to you as a place specifically for gaining experience. After all, in this way there is an opportunity to invest in yourself (while working for meager pay). This is important, because you can become an experienced specialist. Many, including dizzying careers, began with just such a seemingly funny job.

The positive point also lies in the fact that having starting experience, you will be able to move up the career levels much more effectively, including looking for another job with better working conditions and pay in a new company.

It’s worth adding that after a while, it’s not at all necessary to search for work in your area of ​​specialization. What is important is that you already have experience working in a team, months or years of communication in a large or small team, as well as the ability to interact with company management. Most employers will generally assume that if you are still young enough, you are not yet qualified to hold a management position. But you can still apply for some vacancies with work experience. After all, even the fact that an applicant for a job previously found a position to earn money and honestly worked for a certain period of time already speaks volumes.

It is quite possible for a student or a young person who has just graduated from university to find a job without experience. Such job seekers are ready to work hard, study enthusiastically and earn money. As practice shows, such a statement is true in most cases. Previously, we wrote about work for students in the article: Work for students - everything from A to Z

Search for vacancies with work experience, how to write a resume correctly

For quite some time now, most of our compatriots have become accustomed to saying the word “resume”, instead of the bony, outdated and much less suitable for employment - “autobiography”.

Of course, almost any applicant may face the difficulties of writing a resume. But for a normal person, this is a very important document. In order to help you avoid unnecessary difficulties, below we will try to briefly understand how to correctly compose a resume. What should this important information document contain, what are the most common mistakes in its preparation.

The main sections of a resume, we compose it correctly

The acquired professional experience and its availability is one of the most important features that characterize you as a specialist for a potential employer. Therefore, when filling out your resume, you need to pay very close attention to this point. Information should be conveyed as correctly and accessible as possible.

Previously acquired qualifications should bring maximum benefit to you. Simply listing old places of work will not be enough. When filling out this important section, proceed from the fact that it will definitely be seen by a potential employer. It is important that the head of the company, after reading the document, understands for himself whether you are suitable for him, whether you have the appropriate skills, and whether you can apply them effectively. It’s good that he decides that you are the most suitable candidate.

Making up the beginning of a resume

Under no circumstances repeat the common mistake that can be found in almost every second resume posted on the Russian-language segment of the Internet. There is no need to insert the word “Summary” at the very beginning of the document. The first thing that should appear on the sheet is the name of the position you would like to fill. It will be very correct if you make the appropriate changes for each individual employer (to whom you will offer cooperation). Slightly adjust the information based on the vacancy.

Pay special attention to the moments in your work history that best characterize you as a professional in your intended field. If you have information about the identity of the person who will read the resume, add the following:

• To the attention of Dear Mr. Ivanov Anton Veniaminovich;

Or something like that, act based on the situation. This is an indicator of upbringing and politeness, which will have a positive effect on the correspondence attitude towards your person.

Post information about your age, marital status, home (if any) and mobile phones, email, and other contact information. The vast majority of employers continue to adhere to conservative views. Therefore, present all data in full accordance with your civil passport.

Main part of the resume

This block contains information about education and professional experience. You should not assume that in this part you can simply indicate the educational institution you graduated from, and the prospective employer will immediately accept you into their team. Today it is difficult to surprise someone with high-profile diplomas, even if you have at least a dozen universities under your belt.

Describe in more detail the alma mater you graduated from, your diploma specialization, and your faculty of study. If you have any successfully completed courses, seminars or other methods of advanced training related to the proposed position, be sure to mention them.

And of course, the most important point - experience. Indicate all the companies and organizations in which you worked, moving from the very last place in reverse order to the first. For each work segment, describe in detail what responsibilities were within your competence. If necessary, describe only the most important ones.

In the “additional information” section, indicate your level of foreign language proficiency. How confident are you as a PC user? Including computer programs Word, Excel and others. An important advantage will be having a driver's license and your own car, since future work may involve travel and business trips.

In the personal qualities section, indicate the advantages of your character (it’s better to make a list for yourself first). Don’t make the common mistake that job applicants begin to obsessively offer their “excellent, super learning ability,” “total openness to everything new,” and the like. If you sent just such a resume, you can be sure that the addressee will perceive such words as a message that you know absolutely nothing. That is, you also need to be taught everything. Hiring in this case is unlikely.

Let's sum it up

As you most likely already understood, there is absolutely nothing complicated about writing a resume. If you approach the issue scrupulously, competently and responsibly, you can safely send out your work history to potential employers. A very important positive moment will be that you sat and thought about important issues. About who you are and what you have achieved so far. What professional skills and qualities have you acquired in recent years? What is your “soul” about, what kind of work do you really need so that it brings only pleasure. What strengths and weaknesses do you have? And a clear and precise answer has already been formulated to these questions.

It doesn't matter whether you consider vacancies with work experience or without it. A well-written resume is half the success on the path to employment in the chosen organization. And, of course, an excellent foundation for the future difficult path of climbing the career ladder.

Related materials:

• 2019-01-12 - 05:03:22 - Anti-plagiarism program: ways to achieve high uniqueness
• 2018-12-17 - 04:24:34 - Psychological preparation for the exam

Many people remember that the most difficult thing was writing the first resume. After all, the applicant has no achievements and lacks any experience. An example of a resume without work experience will help you figure out what exactly you can write when trying to get a job for the first time.

Rules for drawing up a document

Before you sit down to write your first resume, you need to familiarize yourself with how to write it correctly. In addition, it is necessary to take into account that the former student should focus on the column about education and personal qualities. You can include information about courses and additional education in your first resume.

You can also indicate the presence of awards, certificates, participation in olympiads and conferences. It is also a good idea to include internships, even if they were not included in the work book. Even pre-graduation practice and the skills acquired during it may be indicated.

In addition, it would be a good idea to write a competent cover letter and attach, if any, recommendations. They can be either from the head of the pre-diploma internship or from the management of the organization in which you completed your internship.

Basic moments

When writing your first resume without work experience, you need to remember a number of nuances. First of all, you should not be afraid to write about your strengths and professional skills that you acquired during your internship or pre-graduate practice. Don't forget about personal qualities.

But you don’t need to fill out your resume with unnecessary information. For example, when applying for the position of accountant, it is not at all necessary to talk about excellent completion of music school. Although it is quite possible to indicate playing the violin in the “hobby” section.

In addition, it is worth remembering that the employer understands perfectly well that yesterday’s student does not yet have full experience. But you can show that you are active if you provide information about the skills you acquired during your internship and internships.

If you decide to write a resume, then it is better to provide all information honestly. The recruiter can call the company you specified and find out whether you actually did an internship there or just took the documents necessary to write a diploma.