Employment history is integral to the resume.
It is the part where you demonstrate your actual, hands-on experience and accomplishment in the field.
Employment history looks good in a resume when it is honest, organized, relevant, and provides just enough professional specifics: numbers, percentage, technical terms, etc.
Accomplishments vs Responsibilities: Whenever possible, list concrete accomplishments – Accomplishments are a better proof of your ability, knowledge, and sincerity, than general job descriptions.
After reading this article refer also to: Work Experience Resume Format: Professional Experience Resume Sample
Employment Resume Examples
Good and Bad Examples of Employment History in a Resume
Take any job. The principle is always the same.
Art Teacher – Bad Example:
- Many years of resourceful and imaginative teaching at Ben Franklin Junior High in Pasadena.
This job history does provide the school name and address, but your actual merit as a teacher remains a little vague.
“Resourceful and imaginative” does not inspire trust. It is unsupported by any professional specifics. No action verbs have been used to indicate what you actually did in your employment.
You may indeed be an excellent professional teacher, but the description is not specific enough for the employer who is sifting through hundreds of similarly written resumes.
Art Teacher – Good Example:
- Enhanced subject-matter learning and gained pupil attention by using various techniques including Smart boards, movies, music, and student performance.
This is a much better example of work history which actually provides an example of an accomplishment. This is much more likely to arrest the employer’s attention.
It uses teaching concepts, such as “subject-matter learning” and “pupil attention.” It shows that the employee is familiar with specific teaching responsibilities.
It is important to list specific activities with concrete objects in order to demonstrate creativity and resourcefulness on the teacher’s part (instead of merely saying “resourceful”). Using an action verb such as “enhanced” will convey enthusiasm for the subject.
Let’s take another example: Sales Resume.
Sales Person – Bad Example:
- 10 Years experience selling various products, with excellent ability to increase business growth and handle daily business operations.
This example gives us the number of years, but that is the only real professional specific. The rest of the sentence could refer to a million other candidates. It says what any sales person should be. But it does not show what you, as a sales person, are yourself.
Sales Person – Good Example:
- Initiated new marketing strategies and designed innovative advertisements by taking advantage of the company’s 2.3 million in used car inventory, increasing sales that year by 5%.
The example begins with another excellent action verb – “initiated.”
It shows creativity, confidence, and independence. It is backed up by enough specifics to suggest that the employee knows what he is talking about.
It gives specific areas of interrelated activities and says exactly how the sales professional used company property and achieved concrete results (which can be verified).
The bottom line is:
spend time writing your employment history carefully, with much attention to detail. Don’t try to suggest a big, but vague picture. It is better to give a few specific projects you successfully and verifiable completed.
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