The work experience section of a resume is where hiring managers look to get the details about your employment history to assess your fit for the position. They want to know which companies you’ve worked for, how long you worked for them, what you accomplished for them, what job titles you’ve had, and if you have the know-how to succeed in the job they need help with. That’s a lot of information in a small space! On this page, we’ll show you how to put it all together so you can make a great impression.
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How to write a resume work experience section that gets noticed, with examples
No matter how much (or little!) experience you have, the key to writing a great job history on a resume is to demonstrate how you’ve grown with each experience. Every job represents new responsibilities, so you’ve probably learned new skills, gained more knowledge, and achieved measurable results with each one. This is your chance to tell your professional story, so make sure it’s memorable.
Before you begin writing, take the time to gather your content.
- Review the job description. Make note of the requirements, including necessary skills, years of experience, education and knowledge. Have it handy at all times so you can refer back to it when needed.
- Make a list of every job you’ve ever worked, your job titles, the companies you worked for, their locations, and the dates of employment. If you’ve never had a professional job, then think about experiences you’ve had that have prepared you for the job at hand.
- Reflect on what you did for each job you’ve worked and write it all down. What skills did you gain from those experiences? Write them down. What were your major accomplishments? Write them down.
Now you’re ready to write!
Write your work experience section in reverse-chronological order.
Review your draft. Remove jobs that are irrelevant and older than 15 years. Ask yourself, will the hiring manager care about my very first job from 20 years ago? You might be able to remove it. If you achieved something noteworthy from that experience, such as a prestigious award, then highlight the achievement.
Put numbers to your achievements — employers look for those. Sometimes it’s hard to remember specific numbers, but don’t write something arbitrary. Honesty is critical to a good lasting impression, and you might be asked for proof if interviewed.
Edit it again and rewrite where necessary.
Proofread it.
When you’re happy with your job history, add it to your resume template.
Pro Tip
A memorable work experience section is:
Customized for each job
Written in reverse-chronological order
Achievement-focused
Concise and to-the-point
Properly formatted
If you’re applying for your first full-time job
When you don’t have professional experience, draw from recent volunteer activities, school or community projects, sports, part-time, gig, or seasonal work, internships and apprenticeships. They all count as work experience as long as they are relevant to the job you’re applying for.
An example of how to apply non-professional work experiences in a resume job history section:
Assistant Youth Baseball Coach, San Francisco Little League Association
- Awarded Star Coach-in-Training, 2019
- Prepared weekly schedules for 20 youths.
- Developed positive relationships with families, earning a 100% satisfaction rate.
The combination and functional resume formats work best for applicants seeking their first jobs because they put the spotlight on relevant skills.
If you have steady employment and have been working 10 years or less
Hiring managers tend to look for your most recent and applicable jobs, so keep your work experience section concise and focused. For example, if you are a program manager in the technology industry and you’re applying for a job with the same title in the same industry, then add your most recent program manager positions and internships. However, there’s no need to include your first job as a floral designer.
A work experience example for a job seeker with a customer service background applying for a customer service representative job:
- Fielded all customer complaints with 95% satisfaction rating.
- Resolved an average of 250 requests per week, meeting all benchmarks consistently.
- Commended by supervisors for customer focus, reliability and persuasiveness.
The chronological resume format will display your steady job history and former employers clearly.
Pro Tip
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) scan resumes for keywords that match those listed in the job description because they search for matching qualifications. We advise adding keywords from the job description throughout your work history section. It’s acceptable to repeat a skill from your resume objective or professional summary and your skills section as long as it’s a requirement for the position. For maximum impact, tie it into your job history by describing something you achieved with it but don’t repeat it more than twice overall.
If you have steady employment and have been working for 10 years or more
The trick with writing a work history section when you have over 10 years of experience is keeping it short. It’s difficult to cover a career spanning 20 years without spilling into three or more pages. To keep your resume short and sweet, you’ve got to be willing to let go of a job or two and to know which to leave behind. If you think it’s important to include all your previous jobs, then you can give your current or most recent job the most comprehensive description and focus on select achievements for the others. Remember to use numbers in your older jobs to highlight your expertise. You might have to do a few rounds of revision to get it right.
Example of how to call out expertise for work experience spanning 20 years:
Paralegal Wilson, Barney and Hewitt, LLC 2014–Present
- Support over 50 litigation cases per year for up to five partners and fifteen associates.
- Prepare written discovery responses, legal memorandum, motions, pretrial litigation, and trial preparation for 20+ jury trials per year.
- Contribute research memos to support 40+ successful motions, pleadings and trial memorandums per month.
- Draft 25+ legal court documents, including pleadings, motions, declarations, and subpoenas monthly.
- Prepare 500+ transactional documents, including contracts, leases, real estate transactional documents, and employee handbooks yearly.
Legal Assistant Corporate Law Partners Incorporated 2006–2014
- Conducted extensive research and analysis, including 50+ research memoranda used to support state and federal court briefs.
- Summarized and cataloged 100+ deposition transcripts and documents
- Provided administrative and logistical support to a 25-attorney, business litigation and transactional law firm.
- Managed 300+ legal documents and prepared 200+ responses to requests for production of documents, trial and deposition exhibits, and deposition videography.
Office Clerk Jones & Smith, LLC 2001–2006
While any of the resume formats could work for you, the combination format will help you to emphasize the expertise you highlight in your work experience section.
You are retired or took a career break
Don’t think of resume gaps as a bad thing. Instead, think about what you did during that time away from work, and how you can apply it to your resume. Fill in the gaps of your work experience section with any relevant experience you picked up from traveling, caring for a relative, parenting, continuing education, consulting and volunteering. Highlight significant awards, achievements and coursework. Give the time off its own heading and list significant achievements under it, rather than hide it.
An example of how to highlight significant accomplishments if you have a job gap in your work history:
Family Leave 2017–Present
Took time off to care for critically ill parent.
- Created community watch group that decreased neighborhood crime by 18% in 5 months.
- Hired and trained a team of 10 volunteers.
- Developed partnerships with local law enforcement agencies to create education task force consisting of 6 peace officers.
- Spearheaded a public safety campaign that resulted in a 38% view rate on YouTube.
If you have a job gap, you might consider the functional resume format to minimize the emphasis on your work experience, or the combination format if you have otherwise consistent employment history and want to highlight your achievements.
If you’re changing careers
Transferable skills — the portable skills that apply to multiple industries — can give your job history section a boost if you’re changing careers. They can be soft skills (e.g., communication and collaboration) or hard skills (e.g., Microsoft Word and management) and as long as they match the job, you can use them to show you’re qualified for your new career choice. Dress them up by giving two or three examples of what you achieved by using them for each job you list — the more the better!
An example of how to use transferable skills in your resume work history:
Proactively took on social media campaigns and implemented a strategy that increased customer engagement by 35% in the first month.
The combination resume format is a great choice for career changers with a strong and stable job history because it shows off your experience alongside your skills.
If you’ve changed jobs frequently
Job hopping isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You might have been a contractor or freelancer for most of your career, maybe you spent a lot of time traveling, or maybe you decided to try your hand at different types of jobs for a year or so after school. Whatever the reason, your experiences probably gave you a strong and valuable skill set that you can highlight in your work history section.
To keep the focus on your qualifications for the job, you can choose to omit the months you worked and just write the year, leave out some jobs if they aren’t especially relevant, combine roles, or use a functional or combination resume format. Always emphasize your applicable accomplishments!
Pro Tip
Try combining many short-term jobs into one category within the work experience section of your resume.
For example, if you were a contractor or a freelancer for a year, you could group those jobs like so:
Freelance Work, Writer
- Wrote 100+ medical articles for Health Insurance Magazine. Sept–Dec 2020
- Wrote 300 product descriptions for National Pet Supply that increased purchase rate by 60% in 6 months. June - August 2020
- Wrote 50+ SEO web pages for High Tech Giant that increased click-through rates by 50% in 3 months. Jan 2020 -April 2020
- Food Photographer, Vegetarian Times, May 2020 – Sept 2020
- UI designer, National Geographic Online, February 2020 – May 2020
- Graphic Designer, Smithsonian.com, December 2019 – February 2020
Contract Work, Designer
If you’re applying for a managerial position
Whether or not you have management experience, it’s vital that your work experience section puts the spotlight on your managerial aptitude. Metrics are indispensable in your job descriptions for this type of role.
Example of how to use metrics for a management position if you have experience:
Implemented employee recognition program that reduced employee turnover by 25%.
Example of how to use metrics for a management position if you don’t have direct management experience.
As team lead for a new warehouse inventory control strategy, increased overall productivity of warehouse associate team by 40%.
Choose a resume format that suits your length of work experience and your managerial skill level. If you have experience and want to spotlight your career progression, then a chronological resume format is a good bet.
Resume work history writing do’s and don’ts
FAQ
How do you describe your work history?
The steps to describe your work history are as follows:
Write your work experience section in reverse-chronological order.
Review your draft. Remove jobs that are irrelevant and older than 15 years. Ask yourself, will the hiring manager care about my very first job from 20 years ago? You might be able to remove it. If you achieved something noteworthy from that experience, such as a prestigious award, then highlight the achievement.
Put numbers to your achievements — employers look for those. Sometimes it’s hard to remember specific numbers, but don’t write something arbitrary. Honesty is critical to a good lasting impression, and you might be asked for proof if interviewed.
Edit it again and rewrite where necessary.
Proofread it.
When you’re happy with your job history, add it to your resume template .
Should I list all jobs on my resume?
Only list past jobs that are relevant to the one you’re applying to, and aim to go back only 15 years maximum. If you have more work experience than that and you think it’s applicable and still relevant, then add those jobs but be selective about their descriptions, and choose only the most significant achievements for each. Call out skills that are most important for the job you want to highlight your expertise.
Is it OK not to include dates on your resume?
Always list dates on your resume. Hiring managers want to know how long you were with each company. You can omit months in some circumstances, such as if you want to draw attention away from resume gaps or job-hopping, but you should always include the number of years you worked for each job you list in your work history.
What do I put for employment history if I have never worked?
If you’ve never worked, then add recent volunteer activities, school or community projects, internships and apprenticeships. They all count as work experience as long as they are relevant to the job you’re applying for.
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