Section 10: Your Resume
Professional Experience
Your experience section provides an in-depth look into your current and past work. For highly specific military job titles, consider equivalent titles that someone not familiar with the military would understand.
A recruiter may not know what an Infantry Squad Leader does, but they do know what an Operations Manager does.
You can include a 1-2 sentence overview for each role to clarify the role and responsibilities. This can be particular helpful for military roles, where additional context can help the reader understand what your job entailed.
Your focus should be on your current or most recent role, since this is what recruiters are likely most interested in and will read first. You can include 4-5 bullet points for this role. For earlier experience, 2-3 bullet points for each role is acceptable.
Bullet points can be formatted in the following manner:
Skill: Accomplishment + Measure of the accomplishment + Action taken
A common mistake is focusing too much on responsibilities and not enough on accomplishments. It's great that you were entrusted to oversee equipment valued at $10 million, but how was the team or organization improved because of your efforts?
Accomplishment-oriented bullet points provide evidence. They reinforce that you have the skills and experience to succeed in the role, especially when accomplishments closely match to the requirements in the job posting.
Similar to the optional Career Highlights section, each bullet point starts with the primary skill utilized, bolded for enhanced readability.
Finally, metrics (25% / $375k / 35 employees) capture the magnitude of your impact. You didn't manage A FEW employees. You managed 35 employees. You didn't save SOME money. You saved $375k. It doesn't have to be exact to the nearest penny, but should be accurate and honest.
Project Manager, U.S. Army
Nov 2020 - Present
Managed high-visibility projects of varying scope and complexity across the Americas and Asia to strengthen local infrastructure capabilities and improve stakeholder relations.
Project Planning: Led a $16M project to enhance 10 miles of critical city roadways, balancing constraints across 5 teams to deliver the project on-time and within budget..
Change Management: Key advisor to 7-person team, directing the adoption of project management software for 2k+ employees; gathered requirements, created user roadmaps, and oversaw employee training.
Stakeholder Engagement: Forged strategic relations with 12 senior officials, overcoming multi-national barriers to craft a first-ever program to escalate quality of life concerns for 4k local citizens.
Education
Your formal education and certifications can be added here. For certifications, include those that are relevant to the role. It won't benefit you to list that you're an EMT if you're applying to a cybersecurity role.
Non-relevant information may do more harm than good. You're adding additional content the recruiter must search through to find what is truly important. When in doubt, ask yourself, "Does this contribute to being seen as the top candidate?" If not, consider removing it.
For college degrees, some job posting may require a particular field of study, while others are more general. You can also list degrees or certifications you're currently working on in the following format:
Bachelor of Science, Psychology, University of Texas (Estimated Completion: May 2026)
Bachelor of Business Administration, University of Michigan
Project Management Professional (PMP), Project Management Institute
Key Skills
The final section is for key skills, categorized further into technical skills, core competencies, and additional information.
Technical Skills: Commonly called "hard skills," these relate to specific products, services, or programs. Jira (project management software), encrypted multi-channel radios, and JavaScript (programming language) are example technical skills.
Core Competencies: These are the "soft skills" that are more generalized, yet equally important. Examples include project planning, communication, and stakeholder management.
Additional Information (Optional): This section is a catch-all that can include work experience not listed elsewhere, volunteer work, and side projects (if related to the role).
Technical Skills: SQL | Tableau | Jira | Agile | Scrum | Google Workspace | Microsoft Office
Core Competencies: Requirements Gathering | Stakeholder Management | Budget Planning | Verbal & Written Communication | Team Development
Additional Information: Westwood Veteran Center | Volunteer Project Manager | 3 years
Managed 5 end-to-end outreach projects, securing $40k in state funding while delivering consulting services to 300+ community members.