How to Write the Work Experience Section
6 min read
Your work experience section is where you win or lose the interview. Learn how to write achievement-driven bullets with metrics that pass ATS and impress recruiters.
Lead with achievements, not duties
The biggest mistake on resumes is listing responsibilities ("Responsible for managing the team") instead of achievements ("Led a 5-person team that cut delivery time 40%"). Recruiters already know what your job involved — they want to know how well you did it.
The bullet formula: action verb + what + result
Every bullet should follow this pattern:
- Start with a strong action verb (Led, Built, Reduced, Increased, Launched).
- Describe what you did, concisely.
- End with a quantified result (%, $, time, scale).
- Example: "Reduced infrastructure cost 31% by migrating workloads to Kubernetes."
Quantify everything you can
Numbers make achievements credible and scannable. Even "soft" roles have metrics: people trained, tickets resolved, satisfaction scores, hours saved, events run. If you don’t have an exact figure, a reasonable estimate ("~20 hours/week saved") is better than nothing.
Formatting for ATS
- Use a standard heading: "Experience" or "Work Experience".
- Order roles in reverse chronological order (most recent first).
- For each role: job title, company, location, and dates (month + year).
- Use simple bullet points — avoid tables, columns, and text boxes that ATS parsers mangle.
Put this into practice
Build an ATS-friendly resume on a live canvas — free, no sign-up.
Create my resume — FreeFrequently asked questions
How many bullet points per job?
3–6 for recent, relevant roles; 2–3 for older or less relevant ones. Prioritize your strongest, most quantified achievements.
How far back should my work history go?
Generally 10–15 years. Older roles can be summarized briefly or omitted if not relevant to the target job.
What if I have employment gaps?
Use year ranges rather than months to minimize small gaps, and consider a brief line explaining significant gaps (caregiving, education, etc.). Honesty plus framing beats hiding.