How to Write Professional Experiences on Resume

In this article, we will understand what professional experience is and tips on how to write it on your resume and thus succeed in applying for a job.

What are professional experiences?

These are the experiences related to the work you have already done, which may be formal or informal.

That’s why it’s worth old jobs you’ve had, such as internships, freelance work and even volunteer work.

It is important to mention in your resume experiences that are related to the position you are applying for.

This way the recruiter will be able to see that you have experience in the area and will be able to select you from among the candidates.

Why is it important to pay attention to professional experiences?

Because it is through them that you show the recruiter your experience.

The resume should be as practical and attractive as possible, as the HR professional takes less than a minute to read it and if the professional experiences as well as other points on the resume are not well described, he will lose interest and discard it.

That’s why it’s essential to pay attention to professional experiences and write them in the best possible way and thus attract the attention of the recruiter and have more chances of being selected.

Tips for writing professional experiences on your resume

When writing your professional experiences on your resume, it is essential to follow some tips to stand out.

Let’s meet them.

Use active voice

When writing your professional experience, never use the passive voice, prefer the active voice, as in addition to being easier to read and understand, it highlights your achievements.

See the example:

Passive voice: Customer service was done by me.

Active voice: I performed customer service.

The sentence sounds much better in the active voice than in the passive voice. Also, you should use action verbs to highlight your activities.

Don’t forget the keywords

You should also pay attention to the keywords found in the job description.

A good strategy is to use them when writing about your professional experiences.

This will make it easier for search engines to find your resume, in addition to showing that you have the characteristics the recruiter is looking for.

That’s why you should read the vacancy announcement carefully and check which characteristics are required in the position and which ones you have.

Use the same term as the one the company used when describing your professional experiences so that the “robot” can find you.

Finally, write in a understandable way so that not only is it easily found by the search engine, but it is also understandable to the recruiter.

Remove irrelevant information

Your resume should be descriptive, but at the same time objective, as it cannot exceed one page.

That’s why it’s good to remove irrelevant information such as skills and knowledge that have nothing to do with the position.

You should also narrow down the details of the parts that are not relevant, such as professional experiences that have nothing to do with the job in question.

Show how your skills were used in practice

To show that you are competent for the position, it’s nice to demonstrate how your skills were used in practice.

For example, when saying that you have sales skills, you should show in what situation it was used and how it contributed to the results of the company you worked for previously.

So your chances of showing the recruiter that you are a good candidate and being selected are greater.

Use hard data

When showing your results in professional experiences it is essential to use concrete data such as numbers and statistics.

Like, for example, increasing annual sales by 20% or being responsible for training 35 people.

That way you show that you have an entrepreneurial characteristic, which companies are increasingly valuing.

Write assignments in lists

When describing the attributions of your professional experiences it is important that you write them in lists.

As the running text tends to take longer to read and can draw the attention of the recruiter.

The lists are more objective and thus make it easier for the recruiter to read your resume.

Describe your duties in detail

Although the curriculum must be objective, something that you must describe well are your attributions, that is, the tasks you performed in your previous experiences.

That way you will show the recruiter your skills.

However, you should only put information that is relevant to the vacancy in question.

Show how the activities developed you

It is also important to show how the activities helped you to develop professionally.

For example, if you performed customer service, you can say that you have developed your communication skills.

If you were a leader in a project, you can say that it helped to develop your leadership skills.

You should analyze each assignment and see how they contributed to your development.

Link your training with professional experiences

If you went to college, but didn’t get a job in the area, but you’re still working, you should show how the professional experiences you’ve had helped you develop in your career.

That’s why you must relate each activity you did with your training, for example, if you studied Marketing and worked as a salesperson, you can relate skills in sales and customer service.

You will also be able to mention what you learned at work and that can help you in your career, that way your resume will have more consistency and coherence with what you are looking for.

 How to write professional experiences in the resume?

Now that you’ve checked out the tips for writing your professional experiences on your resume, you’ll see how to actually write them through a step-by-step guide that we’re going to show you.

Analyze the job profile

The first thing you should do is analyze the vacancy profile and see which professional experiences you’ve had best relate to it.

That way you can show that you performed tasks similar to what is being asked and that way you will have a better chance of being selected.

Put the dates of the experiences

When writing professional experiences, you should put the start and end dates, so that they follow a timeline.

In this way, the recruiter will be able to assess how your evolution has been over time.

You must put the start and end month and year, and you must order the experiences from the most recent experience to the oldest.

Learn how to break down your activities

Although it is necessary to describe the activities, you must be careful to detail them in the right measure so that the curriculum does not become too long.

That’s why you should stick to the keywords in the job description and detail your functions based on them.

This way, you will only put what is most interesting and that will attract the attention of the recruiter.

You must describe the activities in up to two lines and provide accurate information that proves your experience.

Follow reverse chronological order

When writing professional experiences you should start from the most recent experience to the oldest.

This will make a better impression on the recruiter, as it will show the skills that have been developed in the present.

write in a simple way

Do not use complicated words when writing your resume, because even if you have a background in which you use specific terms such as law, medicine and engineering, the recruiter does not have the same background.

Therefore, a simple language will be easier to understand and analyze your knowledge and experiences.

Write differently for each vacancy

You shouldn’t copy and paste the resume text for every vacancy, as this shows that you didn’t put it together neatly, which will not be well received by the recruiter.

That’s why you should write a differentiated resume taking into account the vacancy in question, in order to show that you are the ideal candidate.

Highlight your achievements

It’s also essential that you highlight your achievements and show how your experience has helped you grow professionally.

That way you will be impressing the recruiter who will be able to select you for the vacancy.

How to organize professional experience in the resume?

To organize the professional experience you must follow the following order:

• office;
• company;
• period in which he worked;
• List up to six roles and achievements you’ve had.

When listing your activities and achievements, you should consider the job description and see what fits best.

Let’s see an example for you to visualize better:

social media analyst

Company X

April 2018 to present

Responsibilities

• monitored the metrics of customer pages on social networks;
• worked together with the marketing team;
• created Powerpoint presentations for clients;
• I used my fluent English to serve international clients.

Achievements

• I created strategies that increased the amount of likes on the pages by 30%.