Why Is A Resume Important For An Older Professional
When applying for a job you will often compete with applicants of all ages. A well-written resume demonstrates the valuable experience you offer but also minimizes any risk of age bias from hiring managers. Showcasing your most impressive and relevant abilities can provide more opportunities for you and help get you an interview.
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Colors And Design Of Your Work History On A Resume
The first rule to follow when you write your employment history is to keep it simple in terms of style and formatting.
If youre not a professional designer, your resume format should not have fancy graphics and colors.
Thats true of every section of your resume.
Pick one accent color at most , one or two fonts total, and one or two heading sizes.
Youll notice all three resume employment history samples above keep colors to a minimum and focus on the content itself. Thats what you should do as well.
You want the employers focus to be on your past work experience, not on the styling and colors of your resume, so dont distract them too much.
Examples Of Work Experience On A Resume
Here are a few examples of work experience on a resume to see the differences between a first draft and the final draft. How do you describe your experience in the most succinct way possible?
Example #1: Work Experience in CV for a Teacher.Lets say youre applying to be a middle school science teacher at a popular independent school. The new job description emphasizes the importance of involvement outside the classroom. They specified that theyre looking for teachers looking to grow through professional development throughout their time there.
First Draft:
- Developed and carried out a student-driven curriculum in three sections of Earth Science
- Annually advised 20 students to track growth and address individual challenges and strengths
- Invited to attend NAIS annual conference to develop modern social-emotional learning classroom tactics
Example #2: Work Experience in CV for Content Marketing Manager.Content Marketing Managers encompass a very wide range of responsibilities. The recruiter will have a general sense of your job experience no need to start from scratch but results-based, specific bullet points will thrive here.
First Draft:
- I manage a team of freelance copywriters at a major NYC marketing agency and ensure they got their work in on time
- I talked to clients and figured out what would be best for their brand
- Before everything was published, I proofreadit all
Final Draft:
First Draft:
First Draft:
Final Draft:
First Draft:
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Certified Public Accountant Resume
Use this template
Why this resume works
- Certified public accountants perform wide-ranging duties, but that doesn’t mean your resume should cover everything you’ve ever done. its likely the accountant job description covers a specific range of responsibilities and skills, so youll need to condense your experience according to what it lists.
- To keep stay on a single page, keep your bullet points short. Ideally, every point should be one sentence and a maximum of three lines long.
- List accomplishments and achievements by all means, but dont clutter your space with empty adjectives or adverbs. Words like successfully and as needed are generally assumed, so leave them out.
- Even if you’re far in your career, your CPA resume must include your applicable education and certifications.
- Certifications need their own section, but you dont need to add much more than the name of your certificate. You can include the organization that offers the certificate, but most hiring managers will know that information already, so don’t stress about it.
Related Resume Guides
Show Off Your Skills And Show Progression Of Skills
Another way to prove that you havent stagnated in your tenure at one company is by emphasizing skill progression and showing a wide range of skill sets.
Using subheadings is a great way to do this separate subheadings allow you to list a large number of skills without making your skills section difficult to read. It can also give the illusion of having a more varied skill set, even if all your skills came from the same job.
Breaking your skills section into subheadings allows you to highlight different skill sets.
Read more about the top resume skills and keywords in demand across different industries and positions.
If you want to find hard skills and keywords relevant to the job youre applying for, use our skills search tool below itll give you a list of skills to include in your skills section.
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Where To Put Your Work Experience On A Resume
The role and importance of your employment history section depends on the type of the resume you choose to write.
Depending on where youre in your career, you can choose to write either a chronological, functional or combination resume.
- Chronological resume is built around the employment history section. Great for professionals with several years of work experience. Presents information in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent events being placed first. The most commonly used resume style. Order of sections: Contact Information > Professional Summary > Work Experience > Education > Skills > Others.
- Functional resume puts forward your your skills, accomplishments, job traits and personal characteristics. Great for fresh graduates, students, and people who are changing careers in other words, for those who might already have the skills but lack experience. Contact Information > Professional Summary / Resume Objective > Skills / Projects > Work History / Education > Others.
- Combination resume contains elements of both the chronological and functional formats by including your relevant skills and accomplishments first and then detailing your employment history and education. Great for students, fresh graduates or career changers who dont really fit elsewhere.
In most cases, your work experience section should come right after your contact info and professional summary.
Start With A Competencies List
Hook the recruiter before she gets to your experience or discovers your age. The key here is to tell the recruiter exactly what you have to offer, at the top of your resume, below your contact information. You can do this by writing a summary of qualifications or summary statement advertising the best reasons to hire you.
Create a list of your assets that are relevant to this specific job and showcase them in the spot where the recruiter looks first. For example, if you work in HR, you might break out your specialty skills, such as payroll, recruiting, benefits administration, training or wellness.
Avoid listing cliches as your skills, recommends Ladders, such as that you are loyal, dependable and reliable.
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Final Takeaway For Improving Your Accountant Resume
The hardest part of writing your accountant resume is getting started, so congratulate yourself on starting your resume journey! You’re one step closer to creating your best-ever accounting resume. We’ve laid out all the essential tips, including optimizing your skills section, formatting, metrics, and resume customizations, so you can write an amazing resume in no time.
We also have a host of tools to make resume writing easier. Try uploading your resume to our resume checker to see how your resume stacks up against our AI-powered tips. Or, if it’s time to write your resume for the first time, you can use our resume builder with built-in formatting standards and corresponding recommendations to keep the process stress-free, easy, and quickleaving you time to also craft a killer accountant cover letter for your dream accounting role.
No matter what stage you’re at, we’re here to help, and we wish you the best of luck!
How To Write A Work Experience Section
Begin with your current or most recent job and continue with the previous ones. The description of each job position should include the following information: name of the company, their location, job title, dates, responsibilities and achievements, promotions, and awards.
Sounds simple enough, doesnt it? Despite that, the employment history section is probably the most difficult to write. Much of the difficulty comes from the sheer amount of information you have to include in this section.
Also, most difficulties only appear once you stop writing it. Is your work experience section too short? Is it too long? Does it look somewhat chaotic? Dont worry. This is how you can include some of the most common mistakes:
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Use Modern Resume Formatting
Here are some tips to follow to ensure your resume formatting is up-to-date:
- Write your resume using the latest version of Microsoft Word using default resume margins and spacing submitting a resume created with an outdated version of Word can reveal your age too early in the hiring process
- Pick a modern resume font, such as Cambria or Arial
Let’s Start By Looking At An Example
First, lets take a look at what your resume could look like with only one job on it.
Doesnt look so bad, does it? In fact, at first glance, its hard to even tell that youve only held one job and thats the point. Not to hide the truth, of course, but to show real progression regardless of how many companies youve worked for.
Theres one simple rule when it comes to writing a single-job resume:
Show career progression.
Here are some quick ways to show career progression on a resume:
- Highlight promotions
- Show a progression of roles and responsibilities
- Demonstrate a wide range of skill sets
- Highlighting transferable skills
- Use numbers to show impact
- Get more experience
Id recommend uploading your resume to the tool below itll let you know if your resume shows enough progression, soft and transferable skills and impact.
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How To Format An It Specialist Resume
To really showcase your IT expertise, you need pick the best format.
The most common resume format is reverse-chronological, and its for good reason. Essentially, it allows the hiring managers to immediately see how you can benefit the company. We recommend IT Specialists start with this format.
The following resume formats can also work well:
- Functional Resume If your IT skills are stronger than your work experience, we recommend a Functional Resume format. Its ideal for CS graduates who lack the work experience or those who have gaps in their work history.
- Combination Resume As the name suggests, this format combines both Functional and Reverse-Chronological formats. It focuses on skills AND work experience, so is ideal for IT Specialists who have some work experience.
With your format sorted, its time to arrange your resume layout.
When youre developing a piece of software, you need to create the best user experience possible, and this is the same when creating your resume.
Highlight Your Tech Skills
We live in an increasingly technological world, and most jobs require at least basic computer skills. Show your technical expertise on your resume so hiring managers dont assume that youre an older worker who hasnt kept your technical skills up-to-date.
Here are some examples of skills to list on your resume that show your target employer youre experienced:
- Names of the latest software or equipment in your industry
- Microsoft Office
- Remote communication platforms
Provide data and examples of how you used your technical skills to create value for your employer. Giving hard numbers and examples helps convince the hiring manager youre qualified for the job.
If you lack hard skills required for your target job, ensure your resume includes examples of how youve used your soft skills to quickly learn similar information in the past.
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Director Of Software Engineering
Started off my career developing software applications for payment terminals and never looked back there after. Today I am proud to be versatile with the kind of projects and companies I have worked with & the tremendous software development & management experience of 15+ years in the payments industry is something that makes it distinctive
List The Right Accountant Skills
When recruiters post an accountant job description, it’s not unheard of for them to receive upwards of 100 resumes. With the sheer number of applicants, companies can’t carefully review every accountant’s application. They applicant tracking system software to help weed out applicants before a recruiter reviews them, which saves time and gets rid of candidates without the right experience.
Applicant tracking systems work by using algorithms that match keywords from the company to keywords in your resume. So even if you’re highly qualified for a job, your resume may be thrown out if it doesn’t include the right keywords. To avoid this, you need to know how to include job-appropriate skills on your resume .
What are the right skills? The right skills will vary depending on the accountant role. Read this excerpt from a sample accountant job description and see if you can pick up on the essential skills:
Greenhill is seeking a certified accountant who can tackle every level of the accounting process, from balancing ledgers to researching the law and analyzing data to ensure efficient and effective operations. This position is ideal for candidates who are jacks-of-all-trades! Must possess strong public speaking and collaboration skills while demonstrating initiative and the capacity to conduct independent work.
- Accounting applications: Quickbooks, ERP, Concur, Taxjar
- Data analysis and research presentations
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I Looked To See How Much Experience They Had In Areas Required For The Job
You may also want to include a headline or summary statement that clearly communicates your goals and qualifications. Resume format for hr rich experience in maintaining and enhancing organizations human resources requirements, possess excellent knowledge of human resources policies and best practices. Marketing manager with over eight years of experience.
Include A Cover Letter With Your Resume
While some employers are happy with a resume, others will require a cover letter.
This is not the time to leave things to chance, so we recommend writing the best IT cover letter possible.
Cover letters are the perfect finishing touch to any application.
In fact, nothing comes close to their power at showing your desire to work for this specific company.
Heres the perfect structure you can use for your IT Specialist cover letter:
You should complete the following sections:
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Why Bother Writing It
Its super important. We hate to use the word important, but
Your work experience section is the most important part of your resume. In fact, when you think resume, the work experience section is probably the first thing that comes to your mind. And youre 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 past experience. A well-written work experience section is a crucial element because it shows that you have the necessary qualifications.
Spend Time On The Summary
The career summary section is where an older worker can shineyour accomplishments are usually strong and theres a level of expertise that younger workers havent reached yet, says Isaacs.
Keep in mind that you dont want to sound out of touch. Ditch industry jargon that might not be obvious to recruiters who may very well be younger than you. Also, its OK to say experienced, but dont say over 25 years of experience.
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Content Marketing Resume Summary:
|
A content marketer with 5 years experience creating compelling content that sells across multiple media platforms. Passionate about creative writing and detail-oriented especially in adapting different styles and tones that will suit my audience. |
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A content marketing expert with more than 5 years working experience in developing compelling content that easily sells across multiple media platforms, as seen in Huffington Post, Forbes, NY Times, and etc. Accustomed to creating different types of content such as infographics, webinars, videos, and articles. |
Read through both.
You can clearly see that the first summary is pretty dull, boring, and it doesnt have anything that makes a recruiter want to invite them to an interview, unlike the second example, where the hiring managers have social proof that makes it memorable
In the case of a content marketing resume, you want to showcase industry authority by having your name out there and flaunting it to your hiring managers.
Finally Create An Impact With Relevance
One of the most important keys to having an impactful resume is to include the most relevant information to the position. While it might be tempting to add everything to your resume, quality carries more impact than quantity, and taking the time to edit your previous work experience can be what ultimately helps you get hired for the position. Try to take the extra time to cut and refine the information you do put on your resume to make sure its presented as efficiently as possible. The effort is well worth the time, as your resume is often the first impression you give to a hiring manager.
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