💼 Work Experience
💁♀️ What is the Work Experience Section?
This is the most critical section of your resume and typically takes up the most space. It’s also the part that resume reviewers pay the most attention to.
If you don’t have work experience yet, refer to the guidelines below to create a 👩💻 Projects section.
✅ Basic Writing Rules
List in Reverse Chronological Order
- Your most recent job should appear at the top.
- Resume reviewers read from top to bottom and prefer seeing the most recent experience first (since it’s the most relevant).
Use General Job Titles
- It’s better to use general job titles rather than the company-specific ones to help reviewers understand your role. For example, if your official title was IT Admin but you were doing Software Engineer work, list yourself as a Software Engineer.
- It’s common to leave out the “Junior” in job titles and use levels like Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, or Staff Software Engineer to reflect your experience and role.
- For instance, in the finance industry, “Associate” or “Vice President” might be used instead of Software Engineer or Senior Software Engineer, which can confuse reviewers unless you’re applying for another finance job.
- Avoid internal company jargon (product names, project titles) that resume reviewers won’t understand.
Use a job title that reflects the role you actually performed.
For example, if you worked at a startup as a software engineer but also took on senior-level responsibilities and are applying for a senior software engineer role, you can list your title as Senior Software Engineer. Just be sure you can back up your claim with evidence of your responsibilities.
Note: If you’re applying to big tech companies, well-known startups, or large corporations where job titles are public, it’s better to stick to the official title.
Recommended Date Format
- Use
Jan 2025 - Dec 2027with a mix of letters and numbers. - Avoid
09/10 - 08/12since it can be unclear whether 09/10 means September 2010 or October 2009. - If the position lasted more than five years, it’s fine to just list the years, like
2020 - 2025.
Use Bullet Points
- For readability, use bullet points instead of paragraphs. Resume reviewers are more accustomed to reading bullet points in the Work Experience section.
- Avoid sub-bullet points, as they make your resume more complicated and harder to read. If necessary, limit yourself to one level of sub-bullet points.
- It’s best to use either dots (•) or dashes (-) for bullet points. Avoid using colons (:).
Don’t Use Personal Pronouns
- Since your resume is about your work, there’s no need to use
I,We, orOur. - Everything listed on your resume is assumed to be something you did.
Use Power Verbs
- Starting your bullet points with Power Verbs (or Action Verbs) is a basic but essential resume writing technique. For example, instead of saying
Made, useDeveloped, and instead ofDeveloped, useLed the development oforSpearheaded the resolution ofto convey responsibility and initiative. - You can easily improve your verbs by asking tools like ChatGPT for suggestions. Just input your sentence and ask: “Can you suggest stronger verbs for this sentence?”
- Here’s a helpful resource: Power/Action Verbs for Your Resume and Cover Letter.
Leave Out Routine Tasks
- Don’t include routine tasks in your Work Experience. For example, “Collaborated with team members using Git to develop a web application” is too common to be useful to resume reviewers.
- If this is the first thing a reviewer notices, even well-written sections can be overlooked. Resume reviewers often use a “see one, know all” approach, which is why they can assess a resume in about 7.4 seconds.
- Rather than filling your resume with routine tasks or generic details, focus on readability by using proper spacing and clear formatting.
- Avoid mentioning irrelevant tasks or miscellaneous duties anywhere on your resume.
✨ XYZ Formula
The XYZ formula is a simple way to structure your accomplishments: “Accomplished [X], as measured by [Y], by doing [Z]“. It consists of three key elements:
- Accomplished [X]: The impact
- Measured by [Y]: The measurable result
- By doing [Z]: The specific contribution
❌ Before
- Built a pub-sub message brokering system for news content delivery.
✅ After (Using the XYZ Formula)
- Led development of a pub-sub message brokering system for reliable news content delivery, reducing message loss from 8% to 0% by introducing AmazonMQ’s virtual topics.
- Accomplished [X]: Led development of a pub-sub message brokering system for reliable news content delivery
- Measured by [Y]: Reduced message loss from 8% to 0%
- By doing [Z]: Introduced AmazonMQ’s virtual topics
🤷♀️ Why Use the XYZ Formula?
The XYZ formula is effective because it helps you condense the most important parts of your Work Experience: impact and specific contributions. It provides a clear, concise way to showcase your achievements using bullet points.
We recommend using the XYZ formula for your resume and the STAR method for interview responses. The XYZ format can feel too rigid for interviews, where more detailed explanations are better.
STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result, and it helps you break down your responses by explaining the context, your objective, the actions you took, and the results. Preparing your answers using the STAR method ensures you stay focused and avoid rambling during interviews.
📚 Recommended Resources
- Create Your Resume for Google: Tips and Advice
- My Personal Formula for a Winning Resume
- Google Recruiters Recommend the XYZ Formula for Improving Your Odds of Getting Hired
🍱 3X3 Template
💁♀️ What is the 3X3 Template?
The 3X3 template is a work experience writing template created by resume.guide to help you quickly and effectively present the information resume reviewers need.
This template was developed using feedback from over 1,000 job applications and interviews, as well as insights from recruiters, hiring managers, and professional resume review services.