How to Write the Work Experience Section of Your Resume
The section that gets you hired. How to structure each role, write bullets that land, and lead with results instead of duties.
Your work experience section is where the job is won or lost. Most people fill it with duties. The ones who get interviews fill it with results.
Structure each role the same way
- Job title, company, location, dates on one line.
- 3–5 bullet points below, most impressive first.
- More detail for recent, relevant roles; less for older ones.
Duties vs results
- Duty: "Responsible for managing social media accounts."
- Result: "Grew Instagram following from 4K to 22K in 8 months, driving a 15% lift in referral traffic."
The first describes what you were supposed to do. The second proves what happened because you did it.
The bullet formula
Start with a strong action verb, describe what you did, and end with a measurable outcome:
[Action verb] + [what you did] + [result / impact].
"Redesigned the onboarding flow, cutting new-user drop-off by 30%."
Quantify — even without perfect data
No metrics? Use scope and proxies: number of people, frequency, volume, time saved, before/after states. "Handled 60+ support tickets a day" is a number. "Cut invoice processing from 3 days to same-day" is a result.
Common mistakes
- Starting every bullet with "Responsible for."
- Listing tasks with no outcomes.
- Using the same generic bullets for every job — tailor them to the posting.
- Writing paragraphs. Bullets scan; paragraphs don't.
The tailoring edge
For each application, reorder and reword your bullets so the ones most relevant to that job come first and use the employer's terminology. Same real experience — framed for the role in front of you.
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