Your resume is not a history book

Your resume is not a history book! When job seekers are in their 50s and 60s, it isn’t uncommon to think their resume should include every job. They want to put every job in chronological order complete with dates. But your resume isn’t a history book.

Your resume is not a history book!

Recognize that your resume MUST be a strategic marketing document. Written well, your resume highlights your value, clearly defines your success stories, and positions you with the keywords matching your target.

Yes, I also said target. Just like your resume is not a history book, it can never be a one-size-fits-all document. Don’t blast off your resume at any potential job.

At Design Resumes, I work with you to target your resume. As we create a career marketing strategy resonating with the contributions you have made. Your resume should deliver a resounding story of how you can provide value to the company you are targeting.

Do you have short-term jobs in your history?

Delete them. Why list 6 months or 9 month jobs? If you created a branded story reflecting your value during the last 10 to 15 years, you have no reason to list short-term older jobs.

What if you have significant contributions but they are 20 years old?

Create an Early Career Profile or a Prior Background section listing the title, company name, and total years. Did you have multiple positions with the same company? List them with the total years in each role.

Only when your contributions pass the time test and no outdated technology or low value information, add a bullet beneath it.

Early Career Profile

XYZ CORPORATION, Pittsburg, PA (11 years)
Facilities Engineer (4 years) | Production Supervisor (5 years)| Manufacturing Engineer (2 years)

OR example of detail:

Early Career Profile

Director – Product Engineering | XYZ SYSTEMS, Division Candid Industries, Santa Ana, CA | 16 Years

Rapidly promoted within first five years from Senior Metallurgist to Director of Product Engineering.

Directed broad-based engineering staff of up to 100 engineers, tasked with creating safe and quality engineered aero system products, specifically landing gear for Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed, and Northrup-Grumman platforms for commercial and government markets.

• Spearheaded full product lifecycle in collaboration with diverse engineering design team from multiple disciplines. Teams included Structural, Mechanical, Material Science, Electrical, Test, and Reliability, Maintainability, and Sustainability Engineers as well as dedicated Procurement Agents and Manufacturing Engineers.
• Orchestrated initial industry systematic approach to steering design team to manufacture and deliver complete aircraft landing gear systems to market to airframe developers (Boeing and Lockheed).

Repeat after me “My resume is not a history book.”

Think deeply about the value and contributions you brought and then create that strategic marketing document.

Need help? Hire me. As a Certified Master Resume Writer, I can take the pain out of writing your resume and even make it fun. We work together to discover those forgotten contributions and position you to win your next role. To find out how, Click Here.