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• Work Experience for a Resume:...

Work Experience for a Resume: How to Add it to Get Hired

14 min read · Updated on March 21, 2024

Present your work experience well and you'll blow other applicants out of the water!

For most professionals, the Work Experience section of their resme will be the most important part of their most important career document. This is the part that proves to a hiring manager that you have the knowledge, background, and experience to excel. But, given that it carries so much weight, how can you write and format it for maximum impact?

In this article, we'll examine how to lay out your resume work experience section, what to include, and how to word it. There are plenty of examples too, so that you can visualize how your resume could look. In short, we'll give you the crib sheet that teaches you how to produce a stellar resume that gets noticed for all the right reasons.

Where should I position my resume work experience?

While your work experience is likely to make up the bulk of your resume, that doesn't mean you should put it right at the top. Start with your contact details and headline , followed by a profile summary and your key skills .

Then, you have a decision to make. If you're a recent graduate , or you're aiming for your first job, your qualifications are probably more impressive than any work experience you have. Therefore, put your qualifications section directly under the key skills and position any work experience you have underneath that.

If you're established in your career, however, it's your professional experience that should take center stage. Relegate your qualifications to the bottom of the resume and promote your work experience to start just below your skills.

Pro tip: When you're writing a resume, put yourself in the mind of your reader. Make sure it's easy for them to find the most impressive and relevant information!

How to lay out your resume work experience

First things first – you need to create a basic layout for your resume work experience that you can then replicate for every role. You'll need the following elements:

Section heading

To ensure your resume is easy to navigate, begin with the section heading. You can choose from any of the following:

Work experience

Professional experience

Career history

Career summary

The heading should be in a larger font than the body of the text, so that a reader can immediately identify and jump to the section they're interested in.

Next up, you'll need a subheading for every role you've held over the last 10-15 years. Within that subheading, include:

Your job title. Ideally use your official job title, but if you're going for a similar role with a slightly different title, it's fine to tweak it, or to put the target job title in brackets. The key point is that the job title should accurately reflect what the job actually entails.

The name of your employer. Use their formal name, e.g. “Ford Motor Company” rather than just “Ford.”

The start and end dates of your employment. Just month and year will do – or even just year if you've held each role for a long time. Keep the format consistent, whether you chose “12/2023” or  “Dec 2023” or “December 2023.”

The location. Add the state or country you worked in, unless you've always worked, and will continue to work, locally - in which case location is less important.

When you've laid out this sub-heading, duplicate it for every role so that you have a uniform presentation that looks professional.

Role and responsibilities

Below the sub-heading for every role, you'll need to briefly explain your overall role and responsibilities. You don't need to go into much detail on this – 3 to 4 lines or bullet points should be plenty. The key here is to ensure that someone from outside the company, or someone unfamiliar with the role, can immediately understand what you were employed to do. Quantify whatever information you can, so that the reader can understand the scope of your duties, too.

Achievements

Now we come to the star attraction of your resume work experience section – your achievements! Aim to list a minimum of 3 achievements for every role you've held over the last 10-15 years. Remember, an achievement in this context doesn't mean something personal to you, such as learning to use new computer software. It means a benefit you've delivered to the company.

Start every achievement with a dynamic verb , such as reduced, exceeded, improved, increased, won… the options are endless. Again, quantify everything you can so that the hiring manager can appreciate the impact you've had on the business.

Which work experience is listed first on a resume?

Always write your resume work experience in reverse chronological order – that means your current (or latest) job first, working backwards in time as you go down the page. By doing that, your most recent, high-level, and impressive experience will be the first thing the reader sees.

Resume work experience example

Let's put all that together to see how it works:

Professional Experience

Head of IT                                                                                                                       May 2015 – date

Big Business Inc.

Led a team of 25 Software Engineers and controlled a $30million annual budget to provide IT services to 5,000 users across 15 locations. Directed transformation projects and contributed as a key member of the senior leadership team.

Key achievements

Enabled $5million of savings by overseeing a project to implement a time management system for 2,500 staff

Reduced average support resolution times by 20% by upskilling and expanding the team

Reduced printing costs by $30,000 per year by renegotiating contracts with suppliers

Senior Systems Engineer                                                                                      Jan 2013 – May 2015

Small Business Inc.

Held full accountability for all IT requirements in 3 UK offices, supported 50 users and managed a portfolio of IT projects.

Improved data retention and retrieval by 4 hours per request by transitioning from tape to cloud back-up

Won Manager of the Year for 2 consecutive years

As you can see, the focus of the resume work experience section here is on the value added to the business. By quantifying the scope of the role and the achievements, it's easy for the reader to understand this person's previous experience and how they can make a positive impact in the role.

How much work experience do I put on my resume?

As you'll have seen above, we recommend using this resume work experience format for all the roles you've held in the last 10-15 years. That doesn't mean any earlier work experience is useless and should be discarded! No, it just means that this level of detail isn't required.

Recruiters are usually most interested in your most recent experience. Earlier roles can simply be summarized in an Early Career section, giving just job title, employer name, and years of employment (you can omit the years, or even your earliest jobs, if you're concerned about age discrimination).

Similarly, if you've held many roles in the last 10-15 years, you may want to change the cut-off point to 8-10 years. A resume is flexible! Its job is to show your suitability for the role, so if you're repeating yourself or adding less relevant information, you can start summarizing sooner – it will benefit both you and your reader. As a general rule of thumb, 4-5 roles in detail is usually plenty.

How to write a resume with no work experience

Everyone has to start somewhere! If you haven't started your first job yet, that doesn't mean you can't write an impressive resume . Consider these options:

Include volunteering. If you've worked in a voluntary position , that's ideal – your resume work experience can relate to both paid and unpaid work. Present your volunteering experience the same way you'd present paid experience, as we outlined above.

Create a skills-based resume. If you have no work experience to add, you can create a skills-based resume. Add sub-headings for your relevant skills, with bullets underneath giving examples of when you've used each skill (preferably outcome-oriented).

Leverage school and college experience. Were you the Captain of a sports team? Secretary of a society? Mentor for other students? Pet-sitter? If you lack professional experience, you can draw from every other area of your life to demonstrate to a hiring manager that you have the experience and attitude to succeed in their vacant position.

If you're worried that the work experience section on your resume is a bit light at the moment, now's the perfect time to get out there and beef it up. Ask neighbors if they need a babysitter, volunteer to tutor younger students, help out the elderly lady across the street – get creative in finding ways to build up this part of your resume!

Resume example for students with no work experience

The work experience section of a resume for students with no work experience could look like this:

Work Experience

College  Ambassador at XYZ College (ad hoc)                                                    2022 - 2023

Represented the Computer Science course as a subject ambassador, speaking with prospective students and parents about the course and the college. Answered questions politely and shared relevant information, with the course being over-subscribed following every open evening.

Assistant Golf Coach at ABC Golf Club (part time)                                           2022 - 2023

Assisted with coaching junior players aged from 9-15. Drove golf carts safely and with consideration for other players. Enabled players to progress, improve their skills and enjoy a new sport, resulting in additional memberships at the club.

How to tailor your resume work experience

Now that you've written your resume work experience section, you're ready to start job-hunting. But wait! Don't just fire off your master resume to every vacant job! You may have spent time perfecting the layout and the wording, but there's one final step before you hit send.

With the job posting in front of you, you'll need to tailor your resume work experience to your target role. What does that mean? Well, go through the advert and highlight the key requirements for the role, then make sure they're reflected back, very clearly, within your resume. Aim to use the exact words you've highlighted, so that your resume pops up when recruiters carry out a keyword search.

For example, you may notice that the role requires someone who can code in C#, but your resume currently states “programming.” Changing that one word to “coding in C#” aligns your resume better with the role requirements. Do this with every point you've highlighted and watch your resume fly to the top of the pile!

Resume work experience FAQs

Pulling together your resume work experience can be tricky, so we've pulled the most common questions together to make it easier for you.

Do employment gaps on a resume matter?

Employment gaps are a perfectly normal part of life, so embrace the gap! If you've had a break longer than a few months, though, it may help to positively (but briefly) address the gap on your resume. Here are some suggestions on how you could do that:

2020 – 2023 – Planned career break to raise a family

2018 – 2019 – Career break due to redundancy: time spent pursuing an online course and completing home renovations

2023 – 2024 – Career break due to illness: now fully recovered and fit to return to full-time work 

Should I include work experience that's not relevant to my target job?

Sometimes, life can blow you in unexpected directions. If you've had a role that doesn't align with your current career aspirations, it need not be a problem. Consider these suggestions:

Eliminate the role. If taking the role off the resume won't leave a gaping and unexplained hole, you can simply remove it, no questions asked.

Minimize the role. If removing the role would raise unnecessary questions, include it – briefly. Keep the same sub-headings as usual, but don't dedicate more than a line or two to your responsibilities and achievements, just mention the job and move on.

Reframe the role. Rather than focusing on the irrelevant aspects of the role, just write about the transferable parts.

Can you include volunteer experience?

Absolutely! Volunteering is generally very positively viewed. We described above how a student with no work experience can include volunteering on their resume, but what if you have a solid career already? You have four options here:

Use it to cover a gap. Volunteering can be used to cover a gap in your resume if you include it as part of your work experience section. Treat it as you would a paid role.

Create a volunteering section. If your voluntary work uses relevant skills that aren't coming through elsewhere on your resume, create a separate volunteering section, laid out in the same way as the work experience section. While you won't want to go into such great detail, it gives you the opportunity to highlight information that would otherwise go unmentioned.

Add a brief one-liner. If your volunteering doesn't add any relevant skills or experience, but you still want to mention it, you can add a brief line in your Further Details section – that's where you can include any information to support your candidacy that doesn't fit neatly anywhere else – for example, foreign language proficiency.

Ignore it. There's no obligation to include volunteering on your resume, so if you don't think it adds any value, just leave it off!

Can I leave jobs off my resume?

There are certain situations where it's acceptable to leave jobs off your resume. We mentioned irrelevant jobs above, but you may want to leave them off for other reasons. If you held a job back in the eighties, for example, it probably has very little relevance to your career today. A resume is a sales brochure, not a life story, so there's no harm leaving off outdated experience.

What if you were fired, or left on bad terms? Well, ideally a resume wouldn't have an unexplained gap on it, so you can either include it and hope they aren't asked to provide a reference, or you can take it off and find another brief way to explain the gap. The shorter the time in the role, the easier this will be!

Should I put a short-term job on my resume?

It's not unusual to take a stop-gap job to retain an income between permanent roles. Whether you choose to include it on your resume depends on how relevant it is to your current career aspirations. If it's relevant, there's no harm in including it. You could emphasize that it was a “short term contract” or “maternity cover” to pre-empt questions. If it's not relevant, however, you can pick the most suitable option above where we discuss irrelevant work experience.

How can I show a promotion on a resume?

Congratulations on your promotion, it's definitely resume-worthy! A promotion shows that you've performed well and received recognition from your superiors, and that's definitely something a hiring manager will want to know. Make sure that you include the company name within the sub-heading of every role, as that way any reader will be able to trace your progress within the business. 

You may also want to add a line into your achievements section, if there was a particular reason for your promotion – for example, “Achieved selection into a more senior role having reduced customer complaints by 50% in just 6 months.”

How do I list an internship?

An internship can be included just like any other paid, permanent role. Include the same details and focus on the experience you gained and any value you added to the business.

A little effort now can get you far

The work experience part of your resume is arguably the hardest part to write, but it can have a great impact if it's done well. By following our guidelines on including resume work experience, you'll soon have a resume to be proud of that opens doors for you.

Want to check you're hitting the right notes? Why not submit your resume for a free resume review by our experts? They'll make sure you're hitting all the right notes before you apply for your dream job.

Recommended reading:

9 Soft Skills Employers Want

How to List Education on Your Resume (with Examples)

How to Write a Targeted Resume That Lands You an Interview

Related Articles:

Guide to the Best Margin Size to Use on Your Resume

What to Say When Emailing a Resume (with Examples)

Empathic Listening: Definition, Examples, and Skills

See how your resume stacks up.

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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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How to write a professional resume summary [+examples], how to put your education on a resume [+examples], let your resume do the work..

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How to Write a Resume With No Work Experience

Whether you’re a student, you’ve just graduated, or if you’ve been with one company for a long time, creating a resume when you have little to no work experience can be a challenge.

However, though it can seem intimidating, it’s completely possible to catch a potential employer’s eye – with or without a great deal of professional experience.

Here are three essential job seeker tips perfect for new grads, students, and candidates changing their career paths that will help you land the interview without years of experience on your resume.

1. Write a Summary

While objectives are a thing of the past, summaries work well for people who have limited work experience. They’re the best place you can explain why you should get the job on your resume, instead of listing an impersonal series of dates and places.

All you need to do is write a sentence or two about who you are as a potential employee and any relevant skills or achievements.

As well, if you recently graduated from high school or college, mention your new status in your summary. It will help explain why you have limited experience.

2. Highlight Your Skills

While you may have little or no work experience to discuss on your resume, you’re sure to have skills that you may have acquired in school or while volunteering that qualify you for the job.

One way to highlight them is to break down these skills into individual lists of hard and soft skills for your resume. Draw employers’ attention to these relevant soft and hard skills as a heading and list achievements related to these skills under the appropriate heading.

Check out an example of a functional resume here .

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3. Don’t Forget Unpaid Work Experience

Internships or volunteer opportunities can still count as work experience. If you worked as an intern or volunteered for a significant period of time, include the position on your resume.

Since you already listed your skills on your resume, you don’t need to rehash this information when you are listing internships and volunteer work. Just be sure that you mention the company or not-for-profit organization, the months and years you were in the position and your title.

If you earned any awards specific to one of these positions, it makes sense to list it under the associated position, as well.

Even With Little to No Work Experience…

Building a resume when you have limited work experience can be tough, but it’s definitely possible to make it work. Everyone has to start somewhere, but you don’t have to send in a sparse resume when you are new to the job market.

Emphasize the hard and soft skills that make you the best person for the job with a resume summary and a  functional resume template .

Plus, there are countless ways you can enrich your job application outside of your resume. Try building up your personal brand using social media or learn how starting a blog could help you get your dream job here .

Just starting out in your career? Take advantage of Resume.com’s free resume samples and  resume templates for your resume to get your job hunt started successfully! Publishing your resume on Resume.com will also allow employers search for your resume online! Don’t forget to check out our online job listings to get started on where to apply!

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Does Your Experience Counts As Work Experience (+ Examples)

Not all experience is created equal — but what counts as work experience and what doesn’t? This guide will explain what experience to include on your resume and why

2 years ago   •   13 min read

Entry level position … requires 3 years of experience.

If you've ever noticed a similar phrase on a job ad and seen red, you're not alone. Most jobs — even some entry-level positions — ask for at least some experience in a similar role. The problem is, it's increasingly hard to tell what counts as 'experience' and what doesn't. Is an internship work experience? Volunteering? Hobbies? The answer, unfortunately, is yes and no.

Here's exactly what counts as work experience for your resume, what doesn't, and how to tell the difference.

What counts as work experience (and what doesn’t)

Here’s a short list of things that can — but don’t necessarily — belong on your resume:

• Volunteering
• Internships
• Hobbies and extracurricular activities
• Personal projects
• Babysitting, fast food, and other side jobs
• University coursework

So, how do you work out what counts as work experience and whether to list it on your resume? Follow this simple rule of thumb: If it's the most relevant experience you have, include it on your resume. If you have enough other experience to fill up a one-page resume, leave it off.

How has the idea of traditional work experience changed in 2024?

As we make our way through 2024, we're seeing a shift in what's stamped as 'experience'. Sure, your classic job roles still snag that title, but there's a growing club of contenders.

The modern rise in remote work, the gig economy, and digital skills have redefined the definition of traditional work experience. Virtual roles are now as valued as in-office positions, and proficiency in digital tools and online platforms can greatly enhance a resume as much as paid experience. Post-pandemic employers value adaptability and independence, and modern recruiters are far more open to accepting personal projects, freelance work, and remote learning on your resume than in previous years.

Paid vs. unpaid experience

When deciding if your experience counts as work experience for your resume, paid positions often hold more weight with recruiters than unpaid experience, as these roles typically come with tangible responsibilities and expectations.

However, unpaid roles, like internships, personal projects, and volunteer work, can be just as impactful, especially if they're industry-relevant and showcase the right skills. In both cases, it's the skills acquired, projects undertaken, and accomplishments that stand out to employers.

Does volunteering count as work experience?

Volunteering is a pretty safe bet to include on your resume. Even though it’s not paid experience, most volunteer roles usually have similar requirements to traditional workplaces — things like requiring volunteers to be committed, on time, and perform their set tasks — which makes it one of the best things to include on your resume if you don’t have a lot of paid work experience.

Here's an example:

• When to include it: If you don’t have more relevant work experience.
• When to leave it off: If you have enough paid experience to fill at least one page on your resume.

Do internships count as work experience?

Not exactly — most companies won’t count internships toward the number of years’ required, but this can depend on the company. Regardless, internships are still a great way to demonstrate accomplishments in a professional setting, especially if they’re in the same industry as the jobs you’re applying for.

• When to include it: If the internship was in your field or you can use it to demonstrate transferable skills.
• When to leave it off: If it’s been a few years since the internship(s) and you’ve racked up more experience since then.

Does research count as work experience?

Post-graduate research definitely counts as work experience. If you held a graduate research assistant position, you can list that in your regular work experience section , including the employer, dates, and relevant accomplishments.

Undergraduate research doesn’t officially count as work experience, but you can still list in on your resume. Include your involvement in research projects in a projects, education, or publications section , depending on how you choose to format your resume.

Or here's an example of including a university project on your resume:

• When to include it: If you held a graduate research position or participated in significant undergraduate research.
• When to leave it off: If you were only marginally involved in the research and it doesn’t demonstrate relevant skills or experience.

Does college count as work experience?

No. While the education section is an important part of your resume — especially if you’re still in school or have only recently graduated — it’s not the same thing as work experience. Regardless of how relevant it is, it would look naïve and out of touch to include things like coursework as part of your work experience. List these in your education section instead — if this is your most relevant experience, it can still go at the top of your resume.

• When to include it: If you graduated recently and your degree is the most relevant experience you have.
• When to leave it off: If you graduated more than a few years ago, your coursework is less relevant than more recent work experience.

Do hobbies and activities count as work experience?

Generally, no — which doesn’t mean you can never list them on your resume. Private hobbies aren’t particularly relevant to most jobs, with some exceptions (for example, if you want to use your involvement in team sports to highlight your teamwork skills). More organized activities, like involvement in extracurricular clubs and organizations, are a better way to showcase accomplishments.

• When to include it: If you can demonstrate relevant accomplishment or transferable skills.
• When to leave it off: If it’s a personal hobby without any notable accomplishments, like reading or taking long walks.

Do personal projects count as work experience?

As Work experience? Not necessarily. But as a valuable addition to your resume? Yes! Personal or educational projects can be a great way of demonstrating how you've used your hard skills in action, which is far more persuasive than simply sticking them on a skills list at the end of your resume. If you can, link directly to a GitHub or portfolio so potential employers can judge your work for themselves.

Examples of relevant personal projects for resumes:

• Website design or development : If you've built a website from scratch or revamped an existing one, this can  showcases skills in coding, design, SEO, and more.
• Writing a book or blog : Demonstrates dedication, expertise in a particular area, and writing skills.
• Creating a mobile app : Shows programming skills and problem-solving abilities.
• Art projects : If you're applying for design or creative roles, personal art projects can display creativity and attention to detail.
• Community service projects : Organizing a community event or starting a neighborhood initiative can be great for roles requiring leadership or organizational skills.

• When to include it: If you want to demonstrate relevant hard skills that you haven’t used in a traditional work environment.
• When to leave it off: If it was more of a casual hobby or it’s still unfinished — completed projects make a better impression.

Does babysitting count as work experience?

Yes! Especially if you’re still in school, part-time gigs like babysitting, retail, or food service are a great way to show that you have a good work ethic and some kind of experience.

• When to include it: If you don’t have more relevant paid work experience in your field or industry.
• When to leave it off: If it was a once-off or very occasional thing.

Does fast food count as sales experience?

Yes, if you can demonstrate relevant accomplishments. Again, use common sense when talking about part-time jobs — if a job posting calls for 5+ years’ experience as an account manager and you spent a summer as an assistant manager at a restaurant, you’ll look a bit out of touch if you try to try to claim it’s the same thing.

But if the ad simply asks for “ sales experience ,” you can absolutely list appropriate accomplishments from a part-time job.

• When to include it: If you can include hard numbers or metrics to quantify your accomplishments .
• When to leave it off: If you only spend a few months in the job — especially if it wasn't particularly recent — you might be hard-pressed to list any real accomplishments from that position.

Do short-term jobs count as work experience?

Frequent short-term or contract positions can be challenging to present effectively on a resume. To ensure short-term positions reflect positively, group similar roles or list them under a common heading like "Contract Positions" or "Freelance Engagements". Emphasize transferable skills and notable achievements, even if they were gained in a short period. Using phrases like "accelerated project completion" or "quickly adapted to diverse roles" can underscore adaptability and value in brief employment stints.

What to do if you don’t have enough experience

It's the age-old conundrum: How do you get experience if you need experience just to get a job? Here's how to bridge the gap between your experiences and the requirements of the position and how to search for an entry-level role without any experience:

Get more experience

It might sound glib, but the best thing to do if you don't have any experience is to get some. Instead of waiting around for someone to hire you, why not take advantage of the gig economy and do it yourself?

Go freelance

Engaging in freelance and gig work not only offers experience for your resume but also provides a platform to showcase your skills to future employers. Create a freelance profile on sites like Upwork, Fiverr, or Reddit and advertise your services directly. It might not exactly be your dream job, but it'll get your foot in the door and allow you to list some actual work experience and gain industry-relevant skills.

Consider virtual and remote opportunities

In today's evolving job market, virtual internships are becoming more common, helping you acquire industry experience from any location. Remote projects also offer opportunities to showcase adaptability and digital proficiency and can significantly enhance your resume, especially for roles that value global perspective and competitive digital skills.

Contact recent startups

Recently funded startups are more likely to take a chance on less experienced hires, since they're an unknown quantity themselves. They often don't have strict hiring processes in place, which makes it easier to get your foot in the door. You can then use that experience as a springboard to bigger and better opportunities — or you might decide you enjoy helping to build something from the ground up.

It’s a cliché for a reason: Who you know really is more important than what you know. Reach out to people in your chosen industry on LinkedIn to ask for an informational interview , ask people you know if they have any job leads or if they can connect you with people who might, use your college’s alumni network, and reach out directly to second or even third-degree connections for advice.

Focus your search on graduate schemes

Plenty of employers offer dedicated graduate schemes to target promising entry-level candidates. If you’re in an industry where graduate schemes are common (think fields like finance, management, law, marketing, and even retail), it’s worth searching for these in addition to applying directly for jobs.

An entry-level resume template

Here’s a sample entry-level resume template that looks impressive — without including any paid work experience:

For more entry-level resume examples, check out our professional ATS resume templates .

How to write a resume with limited experience

Crafting a compelling resume with limited experience can feel daunting, but it can be done. Here are some key techniques to effectively showcase your achievements, skills, and potential, even without traditional paid experience.

List accomplishments in bullet points

No matter what you choose to include on your resume, always list at least 1-3 relevant accomplishments in bullet point format. You should start each bullet point with an action verb ( led , organized, revamped, etc.), clearly state what you did, and include the result or some sort of measurable success.

Tailor you resume to the job description

Customize your work experience for each application by:

• Analyzing the job description: Start by reading the job description thoroughly and highlighting the keywords, skills, and experience they're looking for.
• Sticking to relevant experience: If your experience a) isn't directly relevant to the job you're applying for, and b) doesn't showcase any relevant skills or accomplishments, it doesn't belong on your resume. Reorder your work experiences to showcase the most relevant positions at the top.
• Adjusting job titles (with caution): If a previous job title doesn't directly align with your application, consider tweaking the title. However, ensure that it remains truthful and is backed up by references or further details.
• Updating your resume summary: Tailor your summary to align with your intended position, and make sure to include the job title of the position you're applying for.

Highlight transferable skills

You don't need experience to highlight transferable skills that are relevant to the job you're applying for. Soft skills like teamwork, communication, time management , and attention to detail are in demand no matter the industry or role, so choose accomplishments that illustrate them.

Include the right keywords

To make it past modern ATS software, your resume needs to include keywords that align with the job description. As far as the ATS is concerned, it doesn't matter if those keywords reference volunteer work or paid experience, as long as they appear somewhere on your resume.

Upload your resume to the tool below to find out if you’ve included the right keywords and skills for your application. The tool also scans your resume for mistakes and gives you personalized suggestions on how to improvement.

List key technical skills

If you have hard skills — things like proficiency with specific software, programming languages, hardware, or certifications — list them directly in a skills or additional information section. To get a feel for what technical skills are required, scan the job description and browse our database of top industry-specific hard skills and keywords .

If you want to find technical skills relevant to the job you’re applying to, use our hard skills and keywords tool below — it’ll give you a list of skills to include in your skills section .

Create appropriate section titles

Listing other types of experience on your resume doesn’t mean hiding the fact that it wasn’t official work experience. Especially if you’re a recent graduate or applying for an entry-level position, hiring managers understand that you may not have a lot of paid work experience.

Instead of trying to be sneaky about it, be upfront about what kind of experience it really was and let your accomplishments speak for themselves. Some appropriate section titles to use on your resume include:

• Community Involvement
• Hobbies and Interests

Balancing honesty with a targeted resume

It's vital to find a balance between being honest about your work experience and framing it strategically to meet job requirements. Always ensure the skills and experience you claim are genuine. Over-exaggerating or stretching the truth too far can be seen as dishonest and will negatively affect your application rather than helping.

Frequently asked questions

Should i apply for a job if i don’t have the required experience.

Regardless of whether or not your experience is official work experience, Yes. Obviously, there's some common sense involved; if a senior or mid-level position is asking for 7-10 years of work experience and you have maybe one, don't apply. But if it's an entry-level position asking for 1-3 years, or a job asking for 5 years and you have a solid 3 or 4, go ahead!

Job ads often exaggerate how much experience is really needed or describe their ideal candidate when they aren’t realistically expecting to hire someone who ticks every single box. If you have a reasonable level of experience and meet most of the criteria in the job description, go ahead and apply — you won’t look silly or out of touch, and you might even land the job.

Why do job ads ask for more experience than they need?

You should think of the requirements in a job posting more as more of a wish list: In the best possible situation, this is what the ideal candidate would look like. But hiring managers understand that the perfect candidate isn’t always out there, so any reasonable recruiter is going to expect people to apply who don’t meet every single criteria. Just make sure you can tell the difference between a ‘nice to have’ and a true ‘must have,’ like basic qualifications or key skills.

How do I find out how much experience is really needed?

The job ad is the most obvious way, but it isn’t the only way. Search LinkedIn for people with the same job title and look up the company on Glassdoor. This should give you a good idea of how much experience people in that role realistically need and whether the company routinely hires candidates with fewer qualifications than they’re asking for.

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How to List Volunteer Experience On a Resume [W/ Examples]

Let’s face it - first impressions matter. And when it comes to job search, your resume will be the first impression a potential employer will have of you. 

This begs the question: how do you make your resume stand out in a pile of job applications? 

You try to make every section count. And a particularly beneficial one to have in this regard is volunteer experience.

A volunteer experience section can be a great way to showcase your skills if you’re just starting on your career, or even if you have a work experience gap on your CV. It is also an indicator that you are not just any other money-driven applicant, but also someone who cares about giving back to the community. 

But what is the best way - and time - to include volunteer experience in your resume? That’s exactly what this article will show you.

Read on to find out: 

What is a Resume Volunteer Experience Section?

• When to Include Volunteer Experience in Your Resume?
• How to Include Volunteer Experience in Your Resume?
• How to Get Your Volunteer Experience Section Right?

The volunteer experience section of a resume includes any unpaid work you’ve done that could be relevant to your application. In addition to being an effective way to showcase your professional skills, it also shows that you are a purpose-driven person. The studies speak for themselves - volunteering can open a new path to employment. 

You can list volunteer experience either under the work experience section or as a separate section entirely. Below, we’re going to explain how, exactly, you can do both.

But first, here’s an example of how volunteer experience (as a separate resume section) looks like: 

When to Include Volunteer Experience in Your Resume? 

While having a volunteer experience section in your resume can be an asset, it’s not always going to be useful. There’s value in knowing when volunteering can be relevant in improving your chances to get hired and when it can be dead-weight.  

Here’s our cheat sheet on when to and when not to include volunteer experience in your resume. 

• The company you are applying for emphasizes ‘giving’ as part of its identity. Employees at VMware, for example, are given volunteer hours which they can use instead of doing standard work.  
• You have recently graduated and have no work experience . 
• You have extra space on your resume or an employment gap. 
• You are applying for an NGO, non-profit, or charity organization . 
• The volunteer work is outdated. Volunteer work is awesome, yes, but you want it to be as time-relevant for the recruiter reviewing your application as possible. And experience from a decade ago rarely cuts it.
• You can fill up your resume with more relevant sections, such as paid work and education . As a rule of thumb, the first thing a recruiter notices in a resume is paid experience and education - volunteering experience is just a nice-to-have extra. This means you shouldn’t squeeze in volunteer experience if it means cutting out more important sections from your resume. 

How to Include Volunteer Experience In Your Resume

Now that we went over the whens, let’s go over the most important part - how to include volunteer experience in your resume in a way that highlights your skills and emphasizes your achievements. 

As we mentioned before, volunteer experience can be a section of its own or can count as work experience in some specific cases. 

DO include it as part of the work experience section if: 

• The experience is super relevant to the job you are applying for.
• You have otherwise little paid experience. 

For example, let’s say you’re applying for a job in Journalism, but you’ve never worked as a professional in the field. However, you have plenty of journalism experience from years of volunteering at your university’s newspaper. 

Journalism Experience 

Reading Owl Daily

2017 - 2019

• Volunteering experience as Reporter for the University’s daily newspaper. Covered the News section, as well as handled copy editing. 
• Kept track of the newspaper’s online presence and updated its WordPress site daily. 
• Wrote a total of 50 interviews for two years. 

Now, when your volunteering experience isn’t specifically related to the job you’re applying for, you’re better off creating a separate volunteer experience section and formatting it just like the work experience section:

• Volunteering Position
• Organization You Volunteered For
• Responsibilities & Achievements

If you want your unrelated volunteering experience to stand out, however, simply listing your responsibilities and achievements won’t do. Instead, you want to show how the volunteer experience ties you to the job you are currently applying for.   

Confused? Let us cover an example: 

Say that you have been helping at the local animal rescue center for a year, but now you’re applying for a marketing company. Your volunteer experience is not marketing-relevant, but it can be tailored as such.

Volunteer Experience 

• Helped develop an online platform for stray animals’ adoption that saved 100+ dogs and cats, on behalf of the Animal Rescue Center.
• Wrote copy for the online platform and created banners and brochures to advertise it.  

Keep in mind, though, that tailoring is not something that you have to do all the time - volunteering experience is going to help whether or not it’s related to your field.

If you can tailor it to the job, though, that is, for sure, a big plus.

Volunteer Experience Section Example

Looking for some inspiration? Look no further!

Here’s what a well-crafted volunteer experience section looks like on a resume: 

International Federation Red Cross, France

5/2016 - 5/2017

• Provided presentations about Red Cross programs in the community. 
• Assisted the fundraising team with writing grant proposals. 

Now, if you’re listing your volunteering experience as part of the work experience section, here’s how it could look like if you were applying for a job in the communications field:

Team London Volunteer 

Mayor of London Office

09/2018 - 08/2019

• Supported the implementation of a new external communications strategy.
• Created a new e-newsletter to share with a variety of stakeholders to keep them up to date with internal news and to gain new supporters.  
• Generated visual content for the organization’s social media platform. 

How to Get Your Volunteer Experience Section Right 

There’s more to creating a compelling volunteer experience section than just writing it out. Here are our top 3 tips on including volunteering in your resume the right way:

Tip #1: Follow the Format. 

As we mentioned before, there is a pretty straightforward format one can follow to list volunteering experiences.

Here’s what it looks like:

• Your position and/or title 
• Company/Organization name
• Achievements/Responsibilities 
• Volunteering timeframe 

Tip #2: List Achievements Over Responsibilities. 

When possible, you want to focus more on achievements as opposed to responsibilities in your resume (and this applies to volunteer experience, too).

Here’s what we mean by that:

Let’s assume that you have volunteer experience as a research assistant. The responsibilities are pretty obvious - i.e. compiling and distributing questionnaires, collecting and analyzing relevant data, doing statistical and analytical work, etc. 

The HR knows all this - they’re reviewed hundreds of similar resumes, all of which mention the same responsibilities.

If you, however, focus on showing how you concretely contributed to the research, by say, pointing out that 50% of the data analyzed by you was used to advance it, you’d have told the recruiter something completely new and compelling that makes you stand out. 

Focusing on your achievements, when relevant, is your best chance at giving your resume the upper hand. 

To give you a more concrete example, though, here’s a comparison of achievements done right: 

• Compiled and distributed qualitative questionnaires with a 90% response rate. 
• Completed 50% of the data analysis later used to advance the project’s research. 

However, in some industries, you might have fewer achievements to list than in others. If you volunteered at your local homeless shelter, your day-to-day goal probably wasn’t to distinguish yourself but help others. If that’s the case, listing responsibilities is OK. 

Here’s how that would look like in your resume: 

• Registering homeless people into the shelter.
• Unpacking and distributing food aids. 
• Oversee opening and closing of the shelter 2 times/week. 

Tip #3: Keep It Relevant

Only mention your volunteering experience if they’re recent and relevant .

For example, if you volunteered 5 years back, and since then you have worked several professional roles in your field, you don’t need to go back in time and mention that volunteering experience (even if it was an amazing learning experience).

In such a case, your volunteering experience is neither recent (it happened 5 years ago), nor relevant (you probably learned a lot more from your recent positions).

Key takeaways 

And we’re done! By now, you should know everything on how to include volunteering experience in a resume.

Now, let’s recap all the main points we’ve covered:

• Volunteer experience can be a huge plus to your job application, especially if you are a recent graduate, have a gap in your resume, or are applying to an NGO.  
• List volunteer experience either as a separate section or as work-related experience (if your volunteering experience is related to the job you’re applying for). 
• When listing your volunteering experiences, when possible, include achievements over responsibilities. Responsibilities are what put you on the same plate as all other applicants - your achievements are what set you apart! 

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