Tips for Writing a Resume Job Description

A job description is one of the most important parts of your resume. What do you need to know to write job descriptions in your resume? Find out with our tips!

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Resume Job Description

When you’re listing past work experience on a resume, you’ll typically want to include a description of the job that you were performing. This description is similar to the description that someone might use if they were trying to advertise the job for other job seekers, but it’s a bit different in that it’s trying to show off the best things you did to prospective employers. If you’re looking for help in writing your resume job description, here are a few suggestions to keep in mind.


What Is a Resume Job Description?

So, what is a resume job description? This is a section that you use in a resume to showcase how you excelled in your professional experience. It’s a few sentences that you put directly under a job title, and it highlights what you accomplished while in a specific job position. Some people choose to list these as bullet points rather than a short paragraph. As you write your resume, you’ll pull from your job descriptions to write your resume summary or resume objective. Job descriptions help you show hiring managers that you have experience and know what you’re doing.



The Most Important Things to List

Now that you know what a resume job description is, how do you create one? In your work experience section, you’re going to include the following information for each of your past jobs:

● Your job title
● The name and location of the employer
● Your dates of employment
● Your job responsibilities
● Soft skills and hard skills you used and developed
● Measurable achievements and awards
● Specific numbers that indicate how you helped the company

Here’s an example of how a job description might look for your resume:

Customer Service Representative
Company Name, Phoenix, AZ
Jan 2014 – Oct 2018
Talked to over 100 customers per day. Increased customer satisfaction by over 24% overall through complaint management. Reduced amount of customer returns by 11% over the first six months.

Note that the sentences are short and snappy, utilizing action verbs as often as possible. Optimize your job descriptions so that they provide as much information in as little time as possible. You can also use this tactic for writing about internships.


Connecting Your Job Descriptions To Other Elements of Your Resume

How do you ensure your job descriptions look like they fit in that section of your resume? First of all, use the same skill words that you see in the job description. These are resume keywords, and using them reflects an image that the recruiter is actually trying to see. Hiring managers want to know that your work history and general job application are full of the skills that they’re actually looking for. Plus, it’ll help you get through applicant tracking systems (ATS) that employers often use to scan resumes.

Next, it’s a good idea to use your job descriptions to prove your skill set. If you say that you have great communication skills in your skill section, you want to also show that you’ve used those communication skills in previous jobs. Otherwise, the recruiter has nothing to go on as evidence you’re actually using those skills.

Lastly, tie your cover letter and your resume together. If you mention specific percentages in your resume, you can point to those percentages in your cover letter as well. It always pays to be consistent in your job application.



FAQ: Resume Job Descriptions

Q: What’s the difference between a resume job description and a corporate job description?

In simplest terms, a resume job description showcases what you did for a company, while a corporate job description showcases what a company wants. Additionally, a resume job description will often be shorter. If you’re trying to stick to a one-page resume, you need to keep things as concise as possible.

Q: How much resume job experience should I list?

You should typically list up to the last 10 years of experience in your resume. Experience that dates back longer than that ago is less likely to matter to employers, unless they’re seeking someone with extensive experience. Remember to list your job experience in reverse chronological order so that a potential employer sees the most recent, most relevant job experience first.

Q: How do I use a resume job description to connect seemingly non-relevant work experience?

Even if you were in a completely different field, your skill set may still be applicable in a new job. First of all, use action words. “Delegated assignments to team members” looks much better than “Had many team members underneath me.” Next, look at resume examples from your field. Note how they talk about their past experiences, and take inspiration from their job description examples. This way, you can write a professional resume that takes information from all of your work experience, even jobs that don’t seem relevant.

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