Work experience

If it is possible, quantify your experience to demonstrate progress due to your work. For example, cite monetary budgets saved, numbers of machines administered, etc.

You should describe your work responsibilities with an emphasis on achievements using action words to communicate your skills. List the most important and related responsibilities first.

Identify the most relevant work experiences and describe them fully. Be brief with the irrelevant experiences or omit them.
Sometimes, you could divide your work experience into two categories: Relevant Experience and Other Experience.

You must tell what you did at your job, what you learned. See also the Extracurricular activities section.

Do NOT say what you ARE (your experience will speak for you): be concise and direct (remember that employers have only a few time to read your resume).

First structure

Here is a good structure:

THE HEADING

In the heading of each experience, you should include:

• the title of your position,
• name of organization,
• location of work (town, state),
• dates (ex. Summer 1994; 1994-95 academic year).

If your title did not show what you were doing give an explicit one.

THE TEXT

You should describe your experience. Employers want to know what you did at your job, what you learned, and what you accomplished.

They do NOT want a section where you state that you are reliable, creative, thorough, and perfect. SHOW those attributes through a job description, don't just TELL them.

A poor example:

Student Teacher, September 1997 - November 1997
PATASKALA SCHOOL OF ORIGAMI RESEARCH, Pataskala, Ohio
I was responsible for the class, and I taught students in math, English, science, and reading. Also, handled class disciplines and did projects.

This text is difficult to read, and the accomplishments of the teacher aren't clear.

A good example:

Student Teacher, September 1996 - November 1996
PATASKALA SCHOOL OF ORIGAMI RESEARCH, Pataskala, Ohio

• Taught a class of 35 students
• Developed lesson plans
• Implemented developmental discipline in classroom
• Co-ordinated science projects (one per month)

This is much easier to read than a paragraph.

Second structure

Here is another possible structure:

Company name and address. Type of training period. Dates
Your title. Description of the work done. What the work involved. The result for the company.

Examples: a long description:

Oct 1994-June 1995. INTELL-VISlON, Lille, France - Engineer Internship.
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND AUTOMATION ENGINEER: Analysed the needs of a manual production line and designed a program to successfully computerize the process. This involved Pascal & structured Basic programming in PC- DOS & Allen Bradley Servo-vision environments. ALCATEL-CIT successfully used this system, and thus increased output quality control of electronic telephone card production.

This very complete description of work experience is clear, strongly structured and has a powerful impact on the reader.

Notice the use of the word successfully

Two Shorter descriptions:

Oct 1994-June 1995. National Service. Maintenance of computer equipment (Hardware & Software). This involved constant contact with different suppliers and maintenance companies. or:

June 1992: six-week project at CNRS (French National Scientific Research Center). Study, design and construction of a control circuit for an avalanche photodiode functioning in Geiger mode. I learned about high-speed electronics and how to use material and time efficiently.

Vocabulary

The French word "realisation" could be replaced by the phrase "Study, design and construction".

A "stage" is an internship, a work placement, or a training period.

Other sentences & vocabulary:

or