How to Organize Your Résumé
Consolidate and list the major jobs to land the interview.
by Shane Christopher

The details of your résumé are vitally important, but for a moment, I’ll ask you to increase altitude to 30,000 feet and scan the horizon for the big picture. I believe that unless you tell someone why something is important, they’ll never listen to you. So I’d like to tell you why it’s important to organize your résumé by major jobs held.

Treat your résumé like your “professional life story.” Paint a self-portrait for hiring managers that makes them want to interview you. If your professional life is only four years old, then include greater detail on your  résumé than someone with 24 years experience. Keep this rule of thumb in mind: one résumé page for every 10 years of work.  

Recruiting managers will spend only a few seconds scanning your résumé for important components and qualifications. If it’s riddled with extraneous information and you make them work to find it, your résumé may very well be discarded. Tell your story in a cogent, organized manner to show how you’ve progressed.

How did your responsibility increase with each job? How well did you do relative to your peers in each job?

Can you organize sections of jobs in a readable, concise manner?

On that last point, attendance at military training schools is an area where you can consolidate. I recommend that you lump training into one section.

Wrong
May 2008 – Sep 2008
U.S. Naval Academy
Annapolis, Md.
Plebe Summer First Lieutenant
As stash ensign, ensured that all midshipman rooms were maintained in a professional manner.

Oct 2008 – Dec 2008
Naval Aviation Schools Command
Pensacola, Fla.
Driver
Drove a van to transport midshipmen to the Naval
Aviation Schools Command.

Jan 2009 – Mar 2009
Naval Aviation Schools
Command - Pensacola, Fla.
Student
Participated in land and water survival training and basic aerospace engineering and aviation navigation training.

Apr 2009 – Sep 2009
VT-10
Pensacola, Fla.
Student
Graduated first of 24 students in the basic phase of flight school.

Oct 2009 – May 2010
Naval Air Training Unit
Randolph AFB, Texas
Student
Graduated 5th of 30 students in the advanced phase of flight school.                       

Does the hiring company really need to know all those details and five sections to describe them? Remember, they’re just  impressed that you completed the entire body of training. The minute details of your travels while there are unimportant. Here’s a better way to illustrate that same training in one résumé bullet:

Right
May 2008 – May 2010
Naval Aviation Training
Md., Fla. and Texas
As a naval aviation student, successfully completed land and water survival training, prisoner of war training and basic and advanced flight coursework through classroom, simulator and in-flight training.

Graduated first of 24 officers in basic phase and top 20 percent in advanced phase. Earned Navy wings of gold in May 2010.