Resume Help - Experience Section Format

Hello again readers:

I am pleased to offer the second installment of the résumé critique. Today we are going to take a look at a section of a professional experience section of a client’s résumé. Meet Sharlene. This is part of the professional experience section of her résumé.

Overall Impression: Needs a lot of work.

Reason: In addition to poor formatting, including extra spaces and dashes that are not uniform in size, Sharlene is not providing enough detailed information to highlight her achievements.

Changes Required: Sharlene needs to focus on providing the reader with clear examples using the SAR method: S: Situation; A: Action; R: Result.

This will allow her to quickly make an impact. You see that under Company XYZ, she uses a few bullets, while for company ABC, she uses a paragraph and then bullets. The style of the résumé needs to be consistent throughout.

The biggest issue with Sharlene’s professional experience section is that it lacks focused examples indicating how her efforts impacted the business.

General Comments: Sharlene has but one chance to make her first and lasting impression. She chose Arial as her font. The company name, location and dates are a bigger size (11pts.) than the content, which is the most important part! For the professional information Sharlene used 9 pt Arial. This font is too small and difficult to read on most computer screens without playing around with zooming or screen resolution.  Don’t make the reader work any harder than she has to.  

Selecting an appropriate font and font size is important. The aesthetic value of the document plays an important role in engaging the reader. If anything, Sharlene should make the font in the professional experience section larger to keep the reader from squinting to see the information. The dates of employment and location are not the information that should be larger.

In an effort to strengthen the content, Sharlene needs to provide compelling examples of her contributions. Given her background and line of work, she should be supporting her information with metrics that demonstrate her ability to add value. 

Click the image above to see a full size screenshotWould you like to have your resume reviewed in the blog? Send me your resume and I will feature a section in a future weekly resume critique.  Critiques will go up every Monday.  Don't worry if you're shy! I will redact all personal and confidential information to protect your privacy.

Send me your resume to Debra@careersdonewrite.com