I used to be confused about how to organize a résumé during high school and in early college; my jobs, while plentiful, were unrelated to my real career aspirations.
I bounced from a farm store to a gas station/deli, and then landed at a seafood café (where I stayed for five years). I also worked (throughout college) at an auto parts store, a pawn shop, a recycling center, and a hospital, where I was a groundskeeper for two summers. Eventually, I finally quit all my temp jobs to work more closely in my desired career area, taking up jobs as both an editor at my campus newspaper and as a writing tutor at my university’s writing center. A lot of us rack up part-time jobs that seem out of place on our résumé when it comes time to apply for that first “real job.”
How are you supposed to present your work history, skills, and responsibilities and not overwhelm the page with bullet points and subheads?
I decided to surf online to find out what the experts say about organizing a professional résumé when your work history looks like a patchwork quilt (like mine). One company’s site recommended grouping similar jobs together under one heading or dropping least important jobs so that your more pertinent positions shine. CareerJournal.com has an excellent list of articles containing résumé tips, pointers, and how-to’s for building your next résumé.
Finally, education is also an important thing to note on your résumé. Once I graduated college, I inserted my education (read: I have my degree now!) at the top of my résumé, because the positions I was applying for required a degree.
I also changed the “experience” heading to “relevant experience,” thus indicating I only included the jobs related to the one I was applying for.
Hopefully this helps you when it comes time to move on from that summer job to a school-year gig, or from your college career to your first big interview.
Now, back to work–at the job my résumé helped me land.
