How to Write Work Experience on a One Page Resume?

Summing up your entire career on a single piece of paper definitely does not sound easy at all. Applying for a new job is definitely very overwhelming. However before we jump to the topic of this article straight away, consider this situation-
You are the Human Resource Manager of a private firm. You have to go through resumes to hire a new employee. When you go through a resume, the first thing that your eyes go to is the work experience section. If you spot a number of relevant keywords in the details about your previous job, only then you will continue with their background information, contact information, and so on.
As explained in the situation above, it should be evident by now that the first thing that recruiters want to know when going through your resume is whether you are fit to work with that job or not.
Thus by now, we know two basic things - 1. Human Resource managers take a maximum of 5 seconds to take the first look at a resume. 2. Within those 5 seconds, the first thing that strikes their eyes is the work experience section.
Thus by now, we have established that the work experience section is one of the most important sections of your entire resume. A one-page resume is one of the best options of its kind. A one-page resume is simple and sophisticated both at the same time. Once you have figured out the introduction of your resume, you move on to the work experience section.

In this particular article, we will guide you through a step by step process in which we will give you tips and tell you how you can write a killer work experience section in a single page resume. So without further ado, let us get straight to our article.

Major sections of How to Write Work Experience on a One Page Resume? Writing a killer work experience section in a one-page resume sounds pretty difficult but on the contrary, if you know the basic process of management it is pretty easy if you can segregate your huge work experience into two major sections that are-
i. Relevant jobs or jobs that are relevant to the field that you are applying for. ii. Irrelevant jobs or jobs that are not relevant to the field that you are applying for.
Let us assume that you have a huge job experience, but let us get real for a second. Deep in your heart even you know that all the jobs that you enlist on your resume are not necessary and it is the high time since you remove them from your resume.
In a one-page resume, you are trying to avoid taking a lot of space. In these cases, you should focus only on the relevant jobs. By relevant jobs, we mean only mentioning those jobs which are closely related to the job you are applying for.
We know that it is difficult to divide all your jobs into mainly two categories so we will give you an example below so that you get a knack of what we have been saying since the beginning of this article-
For example- Let us assume that you are applying for a job in pharmaceuticals and you have huge work experience and you are confused about the number of jobs you should include in your resume. To determine this you have to follow a very simple two-part process. For the first part of this process, you will only pick those jobs which are closely related to the field you are applying for. The second part of this process involves you in removing the jobs which are irrelevant and by irrelevant we mean those jobs that are not related to your field in any way. Thus cut out the irrelevant ones that are, you would mention your experience at a private medicine manufacturing firm as a service coordinator but you would not be mentioning the fact that 5 years ago you used to be a waitress at a cafe.

Popular Questions related to Resumes Moving on to the next segment of this article, we will be considering a very popular question with respect to resumes. The question is as follows-
1. Do gaps, flaws and periods of unemployment cause a negative impression on your employer? This is a very popular question and we are confidently pointing out that this is not true at all. Contrary to popular belief throughout the world from experts in the 90’s-
i. Huge spells of unemployment or gaps in your resume do not matter to your employer as long as it is followed by professional experience. ii. According to a study, employment gaps on your resume do not matter as long as it is not longer than 9 months. iii. However, a long gap only matters when the person is seeking a low paying or a menial job.
Thus to sum up that 3 point answer, we can say that with the rise in the levels o unemployment times have changed since the ’90s. Contrary to popular belief that long gaps of unemployment are red flags in your resume, employers now know that getting a job of your own desire has become difficult in today’s job market and thus a period that is no longer than 9 months does not create a negative impact on your employer.
As we have answered one of the most popular questions regarding resumes above. We will now move on to the last segment of our article, which can also be classified as a major constituting part of your resume. So without further delay let us move straight on to it.
2. What to include in your work experience? When it comes to the question of what to include your work experience? You have to focus on a very simple format because the simpler you keep these things the better they look, with all steps we try to make your resume less complicated and more simple.
The simple format mentioned above which you are supposed to follow is explained below- On a one page resume you are trying to save space, so do not include unnecessary details. The details that you are supposed to mention are given below-
i. Name of your previous employer: Briefly state the employer that you used to work for, do not include references as they are not necessary. If your employer will need references they will contact you.
ii. Date of joining and date of leaving: This is pretty important as it provides data for your work experience. We advise you to not shroud gaps of unemployment under huge work experiences, as we have already explained below that unemployment gaps do not cause a negative impression on your employer.
iii. Your position at your previous job and how it is related to the one you are applying for: State the position that you had at your previous job and mention how those skills will help you in fulfilling your job at the firm that you are applying for.
iv.Your achievements: Mention the promotions that you received throughout that job. If you received any awards for being excellent at your job, make it a point to include them as well. Pointing out that you were excellent at your job through these achievements leads to a very positive impression on your employer.
These are all the tips and the suggestions that you will be needing to write an impactful and skilled work experience section in a one-page resume.
We sincerely hope that these tips helped you and that you have already given a start to drafting your resume.

How to Write Work Experience on a One Page Resume - Examples
For your reference, we have included two examples below so you get the knack of the points that we were trying to make-
How to Write Work Experience on a One Page Resume - Sample 1

How to Write Work Experience on a One Page Resume - Sample 2