Organizing Your Resume

When it comes to fashioning a resume, the temptation is to highlight all your achievements and past positions to highlight just how ideal you are for a role. But experts warn a more thoughtful strategy works better. Recruiters only spend around six seconds scanning a resume. It doesn’t need to be an exhaustive detailing of your career history. In fact, less is more. Here are a few resume tips to help you organize your job history effectively.  

Stay Current 

Career coaches and professional resume writers advise you focus on the past 10 to 15 years. Some roles, like those within the federal government or in academia, require more complete career histories. In industries like tech, where in-demand skill sets change frequently, staying on the shorter end and not including more than the past 10 years’ work history is your best bet. While your longevity in an industry might be your best-selling point, on a resume roles, programs and experiences going beyond ten years will likely look irrelevant or dated.

Cut the Fat 

You’ll want to give your current role or any roles you’ve held in the past five years the lengthiest descriptions. As you go back in time, the explanation under each title should get shorter. You also don’t have to incorporate every job you’ve held in that time-span either. If a past job isn’t relevant, leave it off or trim the explanation of that job to include only relevant accomplishments. This will open up more space for explaining other roles that will sell you better to a hiring manager.

Timelines Aren’t That Important 

Finally, if you’ve been in the workplace for a while and the recency of your certification or academic degree is not a selling point, drop the date you earned it from the resume. Including it may leave hiring managers wondering how old is this person or what did they do between graduation and the last job listed.

Keep it simple. Keep it current. Keep it updated. Follow those steps and you’ll be seeing more interviews soon.