Avoiding Repetitive Experience Descriptions on Resume

Kudos first for planning in advance — and for doing the research — with regard to your resume. Resumes are extremely important documents, and I am always amazed at how many bad resumes I see — poor focus, too wordy, ugly/boring appearance, with typos and misspellings. Resumes are one of the main tools with which prospective employers judge you — and help them decide whether to call you for an interview.

The key element of resumes you are missing is that a resume is not some statement of job duties or descriptions. A resume is about showing how you took a job and made it your own — and helped the employer in the process. A resume highlights your key accomplishments in every job. And even when you have held similar jobs over a long period, you should still have quantifiable accomplishments in every position.

So, you certainly could make a chrono-functional resume, where the job-seeker chooses about three broad functional skills areas, but what would you list under the functional categories? Not job duties. In addition, most employers loathe functional resumes. I think a standard chronological resume would work fine for you as long as you take the time to sit back and examine your accomplishments in each job.

Here are some Quintessential Careers resume resources that you may find useful:

• To get some help and guidance in identifying your accomplishments, check out this Job-Seeker Accomplishments Worksheet.
• Evaluate your current resume with this Resume Critique Worksheet.
• For some general tips on improving your resume, read this article: Ten Easy Ways to Improve Your Resume.