TL;DR
List every job in reverse chronological order: company name, your job title, start and end dates in Month YYYY format, and 3-5 bullet points per role. Each bullet starts with a past-tense action verb and ends with a result where you have one. Include paid jobs, relevant internships, and significant freelance work. Leave out roles under 2 months unless directly relevant. Describe what you achieved, not what your duties were.
The work experience section is the part of your resume that hiring managers spend the most time on. It is where they decide whether you can actually do the job. Yet most people write it as a list of past duties rather than a record of what they accomplished. This guide covers exactly what to include, how to write each entry, and what to cut.
The four fields every entry needs
Every job listing on your resume should include exactly four pieces of information:
- Company name - the full legal or well-known trading name of the employer
- Your exact job title - the title on your contract or official HR record, not a rewrite
- Start and end dates - in Month YYYY format (for example, March 2022 - August 2024)
- Bullet points - 3 to 5 per recent or relevant role, describing what you did and what it produced
The most overlooked field is the job title. Many candidates tidy up their title to sound more senior, but this creates a problem with ATS keyword matching. Applicant tracking systems compare your resume against the job description word for word. If the posting asks for a "Software Engineer" and your resume says "Tech Lead" because that is how you thought of your role, the system may not surface you as a match even if the experience is identical.
Use the title on your contract. If your actual responsibilities were significantly broader than the title suggests, clarify that in the bullets, not the title field. For more on how ATS systems read your resume, see our guide to ATS-friendly resumes.
Month YYYY, not just years
Writing only years (2022 - 2024) hides short tenures and gaps. Recruiters notice. Use Month YYYY for both the start and end of each role. For a current role, write the start date and "Present".
How to write strong bullet points
Every bullet point follows the same formula: action verb + what you did + measurable result.
The action verb is always past tense for previous roles, present tense for your current one. Choose a specific verb that reflects the nature of the work: "Led", "Built", "Reduced", "Launched", "Negotiated". Avoid vague openers like "Responsible for" or "Helped with".
Here is the formula in practice:
Weak: "Managed a team of engineers."
Strong: "Led a team of 6 engineers to ship a product rebuild 2 weeks ahead of schedule, reducing customer churn by 12%."
The strong version answers three questions the weak version ignores: how big was the team, what was the outcome of the work, and what did that outcome mean for the business.
Not every bullet will have a precise percentage. That is fine. If you do not have a hard metric, describe scope and outcome: the number of clients, the size of the budget, the volume of transactions, or the change in the product. A bullet with scope and a clear outcome is stronger than a bare duty even without a number.
Duty lists look like AI-generated filler
33.5% of hiring managers say they can spot an AI-written resume in under 20 seconds (TopResume, 600 hiring managers, 2025), and 62% say un-personalised AI resumes frequently lead to rejection (Resume Now, 925 HR workers, 2025). A column of generic duty bullets is the fastest way to look like a template, not a candidate.
How many bullets per role
The number of bullets should match the relevance and recency of the role.
- Recent or directly relevant roles: 3 to 5 bullets. These entries do the most work on your resume and deserve the space.
- Older roles (5+ years ago) or less relevant positions: 1 to 2 bullets, or omit entirely if the role adds nothing for the target job.
- Very early career jobs (first job out of university, summer roles): 1 bullet or none once you have 3+ years of experience.
The goal is a page that front-loads your strongest evidence. A reader should be able to see your best work within the first 15 seconds of scanning. Older, thinner roles dilute that signal when they take up equal space.
As a general guideline: keep your two or three most recent roles detailed, compress older ones into 1-2 lines, and cut anything beyond 15 years unless it is directly relevant to the job.
What to include vs. what to exclude
Not everything that appears on your LinkedIn should be on your resume. The work experience section should be edited for the specific role you are applying to, not a complete CV of your entire career.
| Include | Exclude |
|---|---|
| Paid full-time and part-time roles | Jobs under 2 months (unless directly relevant to the target role) |
| Relevant internships (paid or unpaid, if substantive) | High school or very early casual jobs once you have 5+ years of experience |
| Significant freelance or contract work | Roles with duties that do not transfer to the target position |
| Major volunteer roles with directly transferable skills (for example, a volunteer project manager on a large community initiative) | Roles where you were dismissed or the context requires extended explanation - address those in a cover letter instead |
| Short-term contract roles where the output was significant | Multiple very short stints at the same company type - compress them into one entry or omit |
The 2-month rule and the 5-year threshold for dropping early jobs are widely-used practitioner guidelines, not universal recruiter policy. Adjust based on the seniority and field of the role you are targeting.
How to handle gaps in your work history
If you have a gap of three months or more between roles, do not try to hide it by stretching dates. Recruiters check, and a discrepancy discovered later can end the process immediately.
A gap is not automatically disqualifying. For caregiving, health, further education, relocation, or a layoff during a downturn, a brief honest explanation in a cover letter is usually sufficient. Longer gaps or more complex situations are worth preparing for in the interview.
For a full approach to addressing employment gaps, including which phrases work and which backfire, see our guide on how to explain a career gap.
Matching your bullets to the job description
The work experience section does double duty: it convinces a human reviewer and it passes ATS keyword screening. Both require the same thing - language that matches what the job description actually says.
Before you submit, read the job posting and note the specific skills, tools, and verbs it uses. Then check your bullets. If the posting asks for experience in "stakeholder management" and your resume says "internal communications", consider whether you can use the posting's language without misrepresenting your role. Often the work is the same; the terminology just needs to match.
This is where MORT's ATS checker helps. MORT is an AI job-matching platform for people who want to apply to more relevant jobs in less time. It scans thousands of company career pages, scores every job 0-100% for compatibility with your skills and experience, and generates a tailored resume for each application. The ATS checker surfaces the keywords a specific job description is asking for that your current resume is missing, so you know exactly where to make edits before you apply. Use the MORT resume builder to build and tailor your resume against each role.
For a step-by-step walkthrough of manual keyword matching, see our ATS-friendly resume guide.
Frequently asked questions
How far back should my work experience go?
Most professionals should cover the last 10 to 15 years. If you have under five years of experience, include everything. Beyond 15 years, you can omit older roles unless they are directly relevant to the job you are applying for, or are the strongest entry on your resume. Early career jobs you have since outgrown rarely strengthen an application for a senior role, and cutting them gives recent work more space.
Should I include freelance or contract work?
Yes. List freelance and contract work the same way as a full-time role: company or client name, your title (for example, "Freelance Marketing Consultant"), dates, and 2-3 bullets. If you had several short engagements in the same field, group them under a single heading such as "Freelance Web Developer, Various Clients" with the overall date range. Do not leave contract work off your resume - it shows real experience and self-direction.
What if I have gaps in my work history?
A gap is not disqualifying, but address it rather than hoping the reviewer does not notice. Do not alter dates to close the gap. If the period was for caregiving, health, education, or relocation, a brief honest note in your cover letter is usually enough. Gaps under three months rarely need explaining. For the full approach, including what to say and what to avoid, see our guide on how to explain a career gap.
Do I need a measurable result for every bullet?
No, but include one whenever you have it. If a bullet has no hard metric, reframe it to show scope or outcome: the size of the team, the number of accounts, the volume of work, or the change it produced. "Managed customer accounts" becomes "Managed a portfolio of 40 enterprise accounts, maintaining a 95% renewal rate." Scope and outcome are stronger than a bare duty even without a precise percentage.
Tailor your work experience to every role
MORT is an AI job-matching platform for people who want to apply to more relevant jobs in less time. It scans thousands of company career pages, scores every job 0-100% for compatibility with your skills and experience, and generates a tailored resume for each application. Stop sending the same bullets to every posting and start applying with a resume that matches what each role is actually asking for.
Sources
- TopResume AI-in-hiring survey, 2025 (33.5% of hiring managers spot an AI resume in under 20 seconds; 600 hiring managers): topresume.com
- Resume Now AI Applicant Report, 2025 (62% of hiring managers say un-personalised AI resumes often lead to rejection; 925 HR workers): resume-now.com