How To Write Experience In A Resume (With Examples)

The purpose of your resume is to communicate your qualifications and experience to a potential employer. The work experience section can help you showcase that you have the necessary skills to become an asset to the organisation. So, it is important to outline your experience in such a way that it appeals to your potential employer and shows that you can meet their expectations.

In this article, we will show you how to write experience in a resume and provide various examples of well-written job experience sections for different job roles.

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How To Write Experience In A Resume?

The work experience section should include detailed and relevant information related to your job history. Follow this step-by-step guide to list your work experience in a resume and make a strong impression on your prospective employer:

1. Include your previous employers

Always provide the full names of all the companies for which you previously worked. It is best to list your work history in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent job at the top, followed by the next most recent and so on. To ensure that the section is not too long, exclude any work experiences older than ten years. In general, employers prefer a resume that displays the three most recent employment history.

2. Mention your job location

You also should include the location of your previous company. You do not have to provide the full address. Just mentioning the city and the state is sufficient. If any of your past work experience was work from home, you can either mention your current location or simply write “remote work” in the job location part.

3. Specify the dates of employment

Next, you should mention the start and end dates of each employment. The start date is when you started working, and the end date is your last date of employment with a company. Use the month-year format. For those who have gaps in employment due to higher studies, marriage, illness or maternity leaves, you can simply list the years of employment.

4. Write your job title

Clearly mention your job titles in the previous companies. Be specific when specifying the job titles. Instead of mentioning that you were a “Developer”, mention that you worked as a “Java Developer.”

5. List your responsibilities

In this part, you do not have to list down the job description of your previous employment. Try to concisely describe your significant responsibilities and skills, which helped you complete a task. To make a strong first impression, club your responsibilities with a key impact by using percentages or numbers to measure your performance.

For example, rather than writing “Responsible for increasing website traffic by using SEO techniques,” an SEO specialist can say, "Increased website traffic by 20% in a year by using SEO best practices.”

Related: 6 Universal Rules for Resume Writing

6. Mention your promotions

You can even mention any promotions you received in your previous jobs. This helps show your potential employer that you performed exceptionally well to earn a promotion and can make you a more appealing candidate.

7. List your awards and recognitions

You can either choose to include your awards and recognitions in the work experience section of your resume or list them in a separate section. These awards show that you can excel at your work. A few ways to list them are:

• Won the 2019 Employee of the Year at Onkar Infotech

• Awarded the top sales honour for maintaining high sales

• Named "Most Valuable Teammate 2020" by Shree Pharmacy

• Recognised for providing excellent patient care in the gynaecologist unit with about 500 deliveries yearly

8. Choose the right work experience format

When it comes to formatting your work experience section, you have mainly three options to choose from:

Reverse chronological format

In this format, you will list your work experiences in reverse chronological order. This means that your most recent job will come at the top. This is a common format used by candidates who have a few years of consistent work experience, as it helps them showcase how they progressed through their career.

Functional format

In the functional format, you will only mention the names of your previous employers and durations of employment. Instead of listing each job you performed, you can simply mention your skills and achievements relevant to the position you are applying for. The functional format helps highlight your skills and achievements over the job positions you held. That is why this format is perfect for those who have significant gaps in their employment history.

Combination format

The combination format is flexible and allows you to showcase your work experience to emphasise your strengths. For example, suppose you are currently working in an entry-level software development position. In that case, your skills sections may include soft skills like critical thinking and problem-solving, while your hard skills will include Java and SQL. In the combination resume format, your work experience section should elaborate on how these skills helped you excel in your previous jobs.

Related: Resume Format Guide (with Examples)

How do I describe a work experience in my resume?

For many employers, your work experience section is one of the most important parts of your resume. This section gives them a quick idea of your employment history. It also indicates that you possess the skills and experience necessary to succeed in the role you are applying for. The best way to describe your work experience is by including all the information related to your work history. The way you showcase your work history on your resume can put you on the shortlist of desired candidates.

When describing your work experience, use keywords from the job description that aligns with your experience. You can even mention your unique skills and abilities or the leadership position you held. Use the work experience section to distinguish yourself from other candidate s. Keep it informative yet brief by including only relevant information.

Related: How to Write a Resume Employers Will Notice

Work experience examples for a resume

Here are seven work history examples for a resume. Use these as an inspiration when writing your work experience:

Example 1: Pharmaceutical representative

Kishore Pharmaceutical Ltd. | New Delhi

Senior Pharmaceutical Sales Representative | Jan. 2018–June 2020

• Sales coverage of east and west Delhi and parts of Noida

• Value-added selling resulted in a 25% increase in customer-based relationship growth

• Transformed the bottom-ranked East Delhi territory to become a top producing revenue generator

• Consistently exceeded sales goals by 10% every quarter

• Grew share of new medication in the market by 5%

Example 2: School teacher

Vivekananda School | Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Mathematics Teacher | July 2016–March 2018

• Developed and implemented engaging lessons to achieve a 95% success rate in state board examination

• Designed specialised sources for students that helped them improve test score by 50%.

• Monitored student progress and worked with other teachers to create and coordinate coursework and lesson plans

• Delivered lessons using the real-life application for better understanding of the students

• Implemented long-term goals for 100 students to achieve 90% benchmark in national Olympiads.

Example 3: Nurse

Subhas Chandra Hospital | Kolkata, West Bengal

Registered Nurse | August 2016–Present

• Offered care to up to 15 critically ill patients

• Used recovery centred approach to reducing the length of patients' hospital stay by 20%

• Generated 98% patient satisfaction rating

• Provided patient counselling and educated them on the importance of a healthy diet

• Supervised and assisted entry-level nurses with patient care

Example 4: Accountant

Afro Ltd. | Remote Work

Senior Accountant | Sept. 2015–Present

• Saved ₹5,00,000 by fixing a tax-reporting error

• Automated the preparation of employee's compensation accrual and reduced the preparation time by 10 hours every month

• Prepared and analysed financial statements and reports

• Managed accounting activities to ensure compliance with accounting principles

• Assisted in migration of balance sheet from one software to another

• Maintained customer confidence and protected the operations by keeping financial information confidential

Example 5: Restaurant manager

Tasty Treat Restaurant| Vadodara, Gujarat

Restaurant Manager Nov. 2017–Present

• Resolved customer complaints which reduced loss in revenue by 4%

• Implemented controls on inventory wastage to reduce the variable cost by 10%

• Hired, trained and coached 25+ staff members on health and safety standards and customer service skills

• Established customer service program for customer-facing staff members. Boosted customer satisfaction by 15% within a year of program implementation

• Partnered with chefs and introduced signature dishes that doubled the revenue in three months

Example 6: Web Developer

Ethene Technologies | Remote Work

Freelance Web Developer | Feb. 2019–Present

• Prototyped an average of 15 new product in a year

• Increased user experience by 20%

• Implemented coding best practices that reduced rework by 25% and cost by 12%

• Received a website award for Best Navigation and Structure 2019

Example 7: Human resource specialist

HiTech Corp | New Delhi

HR Manager | June 2017–Present

• Reduced lead time of recruiting by 25%

• Conducted on-the-job training and increased employee productivity by 14%

• Implemented employee retention programme and increased retention rate by 10%

• Managed all human resource functions in 50+ IT company

• Handled training, payroll processing and interviewing

• Became 2019 Employee of the Year