Your career is constantly evolving, and you should be tailoring your resume along with it. You shouldn’t be using the same resume 10 years into your career that you did when you first graduated. Many people fall into the trap of simply tacking on their most recent experience. Then, they move on without bothering to go back and edit what was already there. This can lead to your resume becoming too long, confusing, and filled with repetitive content. Not exactly the best first impression to make on a potential employer.

Instead, take steps to update your resume and have a polished document that is ready to go for when your next opportunity arises.

Standard Resume Elements for Every Career Stage

There are certain features of your resume that will remain consistent throughout your career journey. They may look a little different the more experience you gain or appear in a different order. However, they’ll always be included. These sections include:

  • Contact Information (in the body of your resume, never the header/footer sections!)
  • Summary
  • Core Competencies
  • Education
  • Professional Experience

Next, we’ll take a closer look at how you should be tailoring your resume at each stage of your career to make the strongest impact.

Entry-Level Resumes

Professionals with two years or less of experience generally fit into this category. This includes college students and recent graduates. As an entry-level candidate, your resume should be one page in length. Depending on your experience and involvement at school, in the community, or in the workforce, it may go to two pages.

Summary: Since you’re just starting out in your career, it can be tempting to use an objective statement that says what kind of position you’re looking for. However, you should be using a summary instead that focuses on your qualifications and what makes you a good fit.

Core Competencies: This section may be more heavily weighted toward soft skills versus hard skills. That is okay because you’ll develop more hard skills as you go. If there are certain areas you focused on in your training or degree program, such as software systems, make sure they’re included.

Education: Put your education at the top since it is probably your strongest asset at the moment. It also shows that you have recent training and certifications. If appropriate, you can list some specific courses you took that are related to the type of job you are pursuing.

Professional Experience: If you are currently working, have previous work experience, or have done any internships, you’ll want to add them to your resume. Don’t worry about jobs you had in high school unless that is the only experience you have. Highlight the skills you gained and the impact you made. If you’re lacking relevant professional experience, focus on major projects you did during college that show how you applied what you were learning to real-world situations.

Other Information: Were you involved in any professional organizations on campus? Did you do any volunteer work? This can help to show your initiative and leadership.

Mid-Level Resumes

Mid-level professionals typically have between two and 10 years of experience. Your resume should be two pages long but can go on to three in some situations.

Summary: At this stage of your career, you have a better idea of what you enjoy doing and what you’re good at. You can tailor your summary to reflect these things and the areas where you excel. For instance, instead of an HR generalist, maybe you want to pursue a role in talent acquisition or total rewards.

Core Competencies: Pare down the generic skills that are expected of someone at your level and start building up your list of job-specific skills. Review job postings to find keywords that employers are looking for and where you have experience so you can be tailoring your resume toward these roles.

Education: Now that you have more than two years of experience and may have held more than one position or worked for multiple companies, you’ll want to shift your education to the bottom of your resume. You can remove classes you took in your degree program and internships as well if you’re a few years out. Instead, list professional development courses you have taken or new certifications you have earned.

Professional Experience: Show any promotions you have received and higher-level responsibilities you have taken on. Keep track of metrics you’ve achieved and incorporate those as well to provide quantifiable results and demonstrate impact. Your experience should be geared toward core functions of the role, special projects, and how you have added value. If you have served on any committees, include those too.

Other Information: It is still a good idea to highlight your volunteer experience along with any presentations you’ve given, publications you have, or other notable awards.

C-Suite/Executive Level Resumes

By this point, you are probably 10 to 15 years into your career or more. You may have worked your way up through one or more organizations. Having a two- to three-page resume is appropriate to encompass the major highlights and show who you are as a leader.

Summary: This section should emphasize your skills as a trusted leader within an organization and your ability to lead teams, drive strategy, cultivate change, and make sound business decisions. It’s a higher-level overview of what you bring to the table.

Core Competencies: The skills you list should reflect what is expected of someone in an executive role, such as impactful leadership, regulatory compliance, global business operations, financial management, or stakeholder relationships.

Education: Your education should be listed at the bottom with the years you graduated removed, unless you recently completed a degree or certification or are currently enrolled in a program.

Professional Experience: Shift away from the day-to-day operations and a tactical focus to more strategic level leadership. Instead of being the one doing the tasks, show how you’re directing and developing others to do these things. Showcase initiatives you’ve launched, major changes you’ve implemented, and how you’ve helped shape and guide different organizations.

Other Information: You may want to add additional sections if you serve on any advisory boards, are part of professional organizations, have publications from research or thought leadership, or have been a speaker at industry events.

Tailoring Your Resume to Support Career Advancement

Your resume should be a fluid document that changes along with your career. It should be an accurate representation of who you are, what you can do, and what you have achieved. Are you unsure about how you should be tailoring your resume based on where you are and where you want to head? Working with a professional resume writer can be advantageous and help open the doors to more opportunities. Contact Grammar Chic at (803) 831-7444 or resumewriting@grammarchic.net to get started!