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Making your promotions noticeable at a glance
You can be especially proud of your work history if you've been promoted within a company. So go ahead, this is your chance to brag!
Potential employers will be impressed by your promotions because they indicate employment stability and high performance. Let's look at ways to show off your promotions in your Work History section.
Job-Hunt Hint
You may have two or three "job titles" that could fill an employment gap on your resume. If so, choose the title that is most relevant to your Job Objective.
Imagine that you have been promoted three times within a company called Harrison Productions. Notice what kind of impression you might make if you used this format:
- 1998-present President, Harrison Productions,Chicago, IL
- 1997-1998 Vice President, Harrison Productions, Chicago, IL
- 1994-1997 Producer, Harrison Productions, Chicago, IL
At first glance, the employer is likely to think you are a job-hopper who had three jobs in four years. (Ouch!) Only upon closer examination might she understand that your three jobs were at the same company. But what if the employer doesn't take the time to figure that out? You will have made a negative impression when you had an excellent opportunity to make a positive one.
I suggest organizing the same information in this way:
| 1994-present | HARRISON PRODUCTIONS |
| Chicago, IL | |
| President, 1998-present | |
| Vice President, 1997-1998 | |
| Producer, 1994-1997 |
Notice how the second version makes it immediately clear that you were a loyal employee who had multiple promotions. The good news is that this concept applies to both the chronological and functional formats.
Zipping Along
When Shane Mathews wrote his resume in 1999, he wanted toshow off his promotions at his last two companies. By grouping his job titles as subsets under each company heading he achieved twothings:
- He made it easy for employers to see that he'd been promoted.
- He avoided having to go into detail about each job title.The employer surely appreciated this smart move.
Career Casualty
If you've owned a business, don't say so on your resume. In the hiring world, it's often thought that once people have worked for themselves, they'll never make a good employee again, because self-employed people like being the boss and are driven by the profit motive. A way around revealing your self employment is to give yourself a job title in your business, choosing a title that supports your current job objective, if possible.
Job-Hunt Hint
When lining up text in a column, always use tabs instead of the space bar. Then your words will align perfectly every time.
Bonus Check
If you're running short on space, be creative in how you present your work history information. Check out the sample resumes in Appendix B, "Portfolio of Sample Resumes," and throughout the chapters in this book to find clever techniques that save a line hereand there.
Grass Underfoot
Dianne Woo was concerned that a potential employer would view her as stagnant because she'd worked at General Electric for so many years. To avoid creating such a negative image, she separated her job titles under the company heading and inserted achievements for each one, as you can see in her resume. Doing so made it obvious the grass hasn't been growing under her feet!
If you have many years at the same organization, emphasize your promotions by placing bullet-point achievement statements under each job title. Doing so will give your Work History a sense of dynamism and diversity, thereby countering the image of being a stuck-in-the-mud that sometimes comes from exceptional longevity at one company.
Straight Up
Barry Rizkallah presented his comprehensive career at Chevron in a concise list in the Work History section of his functional resume.
At a glance, the reader could see that Barry was an accomplished marketing professional--why else would he have been promoted through such a healthy tenure?
Bonus Check
If your potential employer isn't likely to recognize a company you list in your Work History, you may want to give some explanation as to what industry it is in or what product it sells. You can do that by writing a short overview statement immediately beside or under the company name.