Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own. 

Defining what counts as professional experience

I’ve worked a fair number of paid jobs in my relatively short life, and each could be included in the “Professional Experience” section of my résumé. Some jobs helped me develop customer service skills, some taught me how to manage teams, and some just kept the rent paid. I also recently finished an online course on Futures Thinking, and spent the last year editing a website, blog, and other media for a women’s leadership & philanthropy organization. Neither of those were paid (in fact, I paid for the opportunity to do both of those things!), but I built skills doing both. But which ones count? Any of them that have skills transferable to the job you want. Yes, any. That may include unpaid positions, volunteer opportunities, jobs where your title didn’t match your responsibilities, and everything in between. As you’re getting ready to refresh your résumé or send a connection request to a hiring manager, step back and identify the skills they want. Once you know which experiences have taught you those skills, then you’re ready to make that résumé stand out. If you’re getting stuck, you can start with CMD’s Skill Mapping Packet.

How to include skills on your résumé

First things first, we’ve broadened the definition of professional experience based on all the other ways you’ve built skills. Thus, it’s time to change your “Professional Experience” section title. Let’s use “Experience” – it’s nice and broad, and allows us to include all kinds of things underneath. Now we can add in only our relevant skill-developing experiences. We want to tailor our résumé to each job we apply to. Yes, this can seem tedious if we start over every time, but my way to streamline this is to have a “Master Résumé” that includes all my experiences for me to pick from. Each experience includes a variety of bullet points describing what skills I gained and how (making sure they include numbers and action verbs) so I can simply grab the ones I need for each résumé creation. If you have particular skills that you’ve developed but don’t have specific experiences you want to call out (like languages you speak or software you’re fluent in), include those in a “Skills” section in your résumé. Now you’ve created a résumé that shows you’re a perfect match for the job you’re applying to! But what if, as you’ve read through dozens of job descriptions, you realize that the future job you want you are missing skills or key requirements for?

How to chart your future path by seeking out specific experiences

Say you’ve gone to school for and worked as an engineer for ten years, but you realize that you need more team management skills to make a career change into the project management side of your organization. Don’t fret, this is a great opportunity to leverage your other experiences and find new ones! First, determine if you have built those skills outside of work. If so, bring those examples up with your manager and others who can help you make the career change. If you need to build those skills, find ways to work in the community that could do so. Find organizations that you have shared interests with (and use your hobbies as cues). If you love exercise and being outdoors and need those team management skills, you could volunteer as a Team Lead for a local nonprofit organizing a road race or cycling event. Plenty of small organizations always need extra hands, and reaching out with your skill development in mind is a great way to ensure you both get what you want out of the experience. Need a little push or some extra help as you get started on your résumé revamp? Schedule a free consultation with CMD, and go get that dream job!

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

Grab the nearest writing utensil and something you can write on. Have them? Great! Now, on that sticky note, piece of paper, or back of a receipt, answer this: “How would you define experience?” What did you come up with? What does that mean for you when you approach the dreaded “Professional Experience” section on a résumé or job application? What counts as professional experience? How do you include that on your résumé? And how do you chart your future path by seeking out specific experiences? Let’s address each of those questions individually.

Defining what counts as professional experience

I’ve worked a fair number of paid jobs in my relatively short life, and each could be included in the “Professional Experience” section of my résumé. Some jobs helped me develop customer service skills, some taught me how to manage teams, and some just kept the rent paid. I also recently finished an online course on Futures Thinking, and spent the last year editing a website, blog, and other media for a women’s leadership & philanthropy organization. Neither of those were paid (in fact, I paid for the opportunity to do both of those things!), but I built skills doing both. But which ones count? Any of them that have skills transferable to the job you want. Yes, any. That may include unpaid positions, volunteer opportunities, jobs where your title didn’t match your responsibilities, and everything in between. As you’re getting ready to refresh your résumé or send a connection request to a hiring manager, step back and identify the skills they want. Once you know which experiences have taught you those skills, then you’re ready to make that résumé stand out. If you’re getting stuck, you can start with CMD’s Skill Mapping Packet.

How to include skills on your résumé

First things first, we’ve broadened the definition of professional experience based on all the other ways you’ve built skills. Thus, it’s time to change your “Professional Experience” section title. Let’s use “Experience” – it’s nice and broad, and allows us to include all kinds of things underneath. Now we can add in only our relevant skill-developing experiences. We want to tailor our résumé to each job we apply to. Yes, this can seem tedious if we start over every time, but my way to streamline this is to have a “Master Résumé” that includes all my experiences for me to pick from. Each experience includes a variety of bullet points describing what skills I gained and how (making sure they include numbers and action verbs) so I can simply grab the ones I need for each résumé creation. If you have particular skills that you’ve developed but don’t have specific experiences you want to call out (like languages you speak or software you’re fluent in), include those in a “Skills” section in your résumé. Now you’ve created a résumé that shows you’re a perfect match for the job you’re applying to! But what if, as you’ve read through dozens of job descriptions, you realize that the future job you want you are missing skills or key requirements for?

How to chart your future path by seeking out specific experiences

Say you’ve gone to school for and worked as an engineer for ten years, but you realize that you need more team management skills to make a career change into the project management side of your organization. Don’t fret, this is a great opportunity to leverage your other experiences and find new ones! First, determine if you have built those skills outside of work. If so, bring those examples up with your manager and others who can help you make the career change. If you need to build those skills, find ways to work in the community that could do so. Find organizations that you have shared interests with (and use your hobbies as cues). If you love exercise and being outdoors and need those team management skills, you could volunteer as a Team Lead for a local nonprofit organizing a road race or cycling event. Plenty of small organizations always need extra hands, and reaching out with your skill development in mind is a great way to ensure you both get what you want out of the experience. Need a little push or some extra help as you get started on your résumé revamp? Schedule a free consultation with CMD, and go get that dream job!

Michele Mandula

She / Her / Hers 

Graduate Student | SCAD

Recent Posts