Your work experience section is an overview of your previous job’s responsibilities and achievements that shows you’re qualified for the job you’re applying for.
According to our Hiring Trends Survey, hiring managers rank work experience as the most important part of a resume, so it needs to be clear and easy to scan.
This guide will show you how to list your past roles effectively, with examples you can reference and tailor to suit your needs.
Our resume builder can make you a resume in as little as 5 minutes. Pick the template you want, and our software will format everything for you.
What to include in your work experience section
Your work experience section should highlight both the roles you’ve held and the impact you’ve made. Each entry should include:
- Your job title
- Company name and location
- Dates of employment (month and year)
- 3–5 bullet points detailing your key responsibilities and accomplishments
How to format your work experience section
A clean, consistent format makes your resume easier to read and helps hiring managers find what they’re looking for quickly.
1. Create a dedicated section for your professional experience
Create a distinct section specifically for your work experience after your contact information and resume summary and choose an appropriate title.
Different titles for your work experience section
- Work Experience
- Professional Experience
- Employment History
- Relevant Experience
2. List your most recent work experience first
List your most recent work experience at the top of your work experience section, then go back in reverse-chronological order.
Listing your work experience chronologically on your resume shows hiring managers how you’ve progressed in your career and how your skills have developed over time.
For example:
Marketing Coordinator
BrightSide Digital, New York, NY
June 20XX–Present
- Developed and launched targeted email campaigns that increased open rates by 35% and generated over 500 qualified leads
- Manage company social media accounts, growing Instagram followers by 60% in one year
- Collaborate with design and product teams to create branded marketing materials and landing pages
- Conduct market research and competitor analysis to guide campaign strategy and positioning
Marketing Intern
Urban Bloom Agency, Remote
January 20XX–May 20XX
- Supported campaign planning and content creation across Facebook and LinkedIn
- Wrote blog posts and newsletters, driving a 20% increase in website traffic during the internship
- Used Google Analytics to monitor campaign performance and report on key engagement metrics
3. Add bullet points to each entry
Bullet points help break down your experience into digestible, scannable pieces of information. They not only make your resume easier to read but also help highlight the most important contributions you made in each role.
Under each job, add 3–5 bullet points that highlight how you used your skills to contribute to the organization’s success.
Your resume should use the present tense for bullet points in your most recent work experience entry and the past tense when writing bullet points for previous roles.
Here’s an example of effective bullet points on a resume:
Registered Nurse
Virginia Veteran’s Hospital, Richmond, VA
Dec 20XX – Present
- Provide direct quality care to patients including daily monitoring, recording, and evaluating of medical conditions of up to 20 patients per day
- Coordinate workforce management objectives with a focus on individual, departmental, and hospital-wide initiatives
- Lead and mentored 10 newly licensed nurses in developing and achieving professional expertise
How to make your work experience stand out
Think of your work experience section as your personal highlight reel. The goal isn’t just to show where you worked, it’s to prove that you delivered results.
Here’s how to write a resume that showcases the value you’d bring to your target role:
1. Describe achievements instead of responsibilities
Emphasize accomplishments on your resume instead of just listing your past job responsibilities. This transforms your resume from a mundane list of tasks to an engaging narrative of your professional contributions.
Compare these examples to see how effectively listing achievements can strengthen your resume:
Effective bullet point
Implemented a system for tracking business leads that boosted sales by 47%
Ineffective bullet point
Tracked business leads
2. Tailor your bullet points to the job you want
While it might sound time-consuming, your work experience bullet points shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all.
Take the time to write targeted bullet points that showcase specific skills and experience related to the job you’re applying for.
Carefully review the job posting, identifying important keywords and qualifications to make sure your resume matches what the company wants.
Then, incorporate some of those keywords naturally into your bullet points, like this:
Digital Marketing Specialist
TechNova Solutions
Jan 20XX–Present
- Spearheaded digital marketing strategies that increased website traffic by 150%
- Created and implemented SEO tactics, resulting in a 40% increase in organic search traffic
- Produced engaging content for blog posts, social media, and email campaigns, boosting click-through rates by 25%
- Utilized Google Analytics and other social media management tools to analyze marketing data and optimize campaign performance
3. Begin each bullet point with an action verb
Hiring managers see tons of resumes that start each bullet point with phrases like “responsible for” and “tasked with.”
Language like this is passive and doesn’t describe what you actually achieved at work.
Instead, you should begin your bullet points with descriptive action verbs that clearly show hiring managers what you accomplished in previous roles.
Here are some examples of action verbs being used to effectively describe a job seeker’s work experience:
- Organized a work safety initiative that saved the company money on worker’s comp
- Developed new communications protocols that improved connectivity between the company and clients
- Optimized product delivery logistics that accelerated order fulfillment for customers
4. Add numbers to back up your achievements
Whenever possible, use numbers to quantify your accomplishments. Hard data makes your achievements more credible and shows the scope, speed, or significance of your work.
Here are some examples of work experience bullet points that include numbers:
- Increased annual sales by 30% by running a marketing campaign in a new market
- Saved the company $280,000 per year on printing costs by purchasing two high-end printers and supervising user training
To quantify your own resume, consider mentioning:
- Clients acquired
- Dollars saved
- Customer satisfaction increased
- Revenue generated
- Employees trained/managed
- Customers served
- Expenses reduced
- Attrition rate decreased
- Sales numbers improved
- Deadlines met or projects completed on time
- Conversion rates
- Compliance scores
- Number of processes automated or streamlined
- Quality control improvements
Real work experience section examples
Use these real-world examples as inspiration when writing your own work experience section.
Entry-level applicant
Marketing Intern
BrightView Agency, Remote
June 20XX – August 20XX
- Assisted with content creation for social media campaigns, contributing to a 25% increase in engagement during the summer quarter
- Scheduled and tracked email campaigns using Mailchimp, helping grow the subscriber list by 1,200 users
- Conducted competitive research to support new client pitch decks
- Participated in weekly brainstorming sessions and presented campaign ideas to the creative team
Customer Service Associate
GreenMart Grocery, Springfield, IL
September 20XX – May 20XX
- Provided fast, friendly service to over 100 customers daily while managing checkout and returns
- Resolved customer concerns and questions, earning consistent positive feedback from supervisors
- Trained 2 new hires on POS systems and store procedures
- Maintained clean, organized front-end displays and supported inventory stocking
Mid-career applicant
Project Manager
Innovatech Solutions, Boston, MA
March 20XX – Present
- Lead cross-functional teams of 10–15 members to deliver SaaS product launches on time and within budget, contributing to a 30% revenue increase over two years
- Implement Agile workflows that reduce project turnaround time by 22%
- Oversee a $1.2M annual project portfolio and maintain a 95% client satisfaction rate
- Mentor junior project managers and develop standardized onboarding materials adopted company-wide
Junior Project Manager
DeltaBridge Consulting, Boston, MA
May 20XX – February 20XX
- Managed end-to-end client projects in the healthcare and finance sectors, including budgeting, timelines, and stakeholder communication
- Improved reporting efficiency by developing a custom dashboard in Excel, cutting data retrieval time by 40%
- Facilitated weekly stand-ups and quarterly retrospectives to optimize team performance
- Spearheaded a company-wide knowledge-sharing initiative to document lessons learned from past projects
Senior-level applicant
Director of Operations
NorthBridge Systems, Chicago, IL
February 20XX – Present
- Oversee strategic planning and daily operations across three business units, impacting over $25M in annual revenue
- Lead a team of 40+ across operations, logistics, and customer success, improving cross-functional alignment and service delivery
- Implement performance tracking systems that increase operational efficiency by 28% year over year
- Collaborate with executive leadership to define company goals and align operational strategy with growth objectives
Operations Manager
GlobalTek Solutions, Chicago, IL
July 20XX – January 20XX
- Managed end-to-end operations for a national tech services provider, supporting 20+ client accounts and a $10M annual budget
- Spearheaded a supply chain optimization project that reduced overhead costs by 18%
- Developed vendor evaluation protocols and renegotiated contracts, saving the company $500K in under 12 months
- Launched a training and development initiative that improved team retention by 35%
Business Process Analyst
CoreOne Logistics, Minneapolis, MN
August 20XX – June 20XX
- Analyzed and restructured fulfillment workflows, cutting order processing time by 40%
- Built custom reporting dashboards that gave leadership real-time visibility into KPIs and inventory trends
- Partnered with IT to lead a successful ERP system implementation, training 50+ staff across three departments
- Identified gaps in customer delivery timelines and implemented solutions that raised satisfaction scores by 20%
Volunteer work
Volunteer Project Coordinator
Helping Hands Community Organization, Seattle, WA
January 20XX – Present
- Coordinate logistics and scheduling for monthly community outreach events serving 300+ residents
- Lead a team of 12 volunteers, assigning tasks and ensuring events run on time and within budget
- Developed a digital tracking system for donations and volunteer hours, improving reporting accuracy by 40%
- Collaborate with local partners and sponsors to secure resources, increasing event capacity by 25%
Marketing & Communications Volunteer
Food For All, Remote
June 20XX – December 20XX
- Created content for social media campaigns, boosting follower engagement by 50% within six months
- Designed email newsletters and donor updates using Mailchimp, contributing to a 20% increase in recurring donations
- Supported the launch of a volunteer spotlight series that improved community engagement and visibility
Frequently asked questions about writing a work experience section
Here are some frequently asked questions about how to put work experience on a resume:
Can I just put years on my resume?
Yes, you can just put years on your resume. Leaving the exact months you were employed off of your resume is an acceptable way to downplay a gap in your work history and make your experience appear more consistent.
However, don’t imply you worked somewhere for a year when you only worked there a month. If employers think you’re lying on your resume, they won’t hire you.
How far back should my experience go?
A good rule of thumb is to include the last 10–15 years of relevant experience. For most industries, hiring managers are most interested in your recent work. However, you can go back further if the older role is highly relevant to the job you’re applying for.
What jobs should you put on a resume?
You should put relevant jobs on a resume. That includes:
- Full-time and part-time roles
- Internships
- Freelance or contract work
- Volunteer roles that provided you with transferable skills
You can also include other jobs if they demonstrate transferable skills for the position you want. You don’t need to include every job you’ve ever had, just the ones that tell the right story about your qualifications.
Can you leave jobs off your resume?
Yes, you can leave jobs off your resume. Your resume is an overview of your most relevant experience and skills for a specific position, not a list of every job you’ve held.
You can (and should) highlight any position that’s relevant to the job you want, while leaving off any jobs that don’t improve your chances of getting hired. For example, any older jobs that aren’t important to your current career path (like a babysitting job you had as a teenager)should be left off your resume.
How do I explain gaps in my employment history?
If you have a gap in your resume, briefly address it in your cover letter if needed, and focus on how you used that time productively. Examples include:
- Taking courses or earning certifications
- Freelance, volunteer, or contract work
- Caregiving or health-related reasons
Be honest, but keep the focus on the skills and strengths you bring to the table now.

Lauren Mastroni
Digital Content Writer
Lauren Mastroni is a Digital Content Writer dedicated to creating engaging content and providing actionable advice that empowers people in their job searches. An enthusiastic contributor to the Resume Genius team, Lauren has a passion for developing valuable resources for job seekers. Lauren holds an M.S. in Psychology from University of Derby and currently lives in Taipei, Taiwan. She enjoys learning all she can about the career space, and is committed to helping job seekers of all experience levels navigate the job hunt and advance their careers. You can reach Lauren at lauren@resumegenius.com.
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