How To Write A Career Path On Your Resume: What to Include and What to Avoid

If you’ve ever tried to plan your future, you know that it can be tricky. What job should you look for? Where can you find work and opportunities? How will your future goals affect the choices you make? To help you strategize, include a career path on your resume so that recruiters and hiring managers can see how your skills and experiences relate to certain jobs.

A career path is a series of related jobs that take you from beginner (internship) to experienced professional (full-time job). These paths are often used by people who want to advance in their careers; however, they can also come in handy when trying to figure out where to focus your efforts or what types of jobs match your interests.

How to write a career path on your resume

When creating a career path on your resume, keep in mind the following:

- Where you are now. A career path is not simply a list of jobs you have held in the past. This is the most important part, so don’t miss it. If you don’t show where you are now, why you are where you are now, and where you are headed, you won’t be taken seriously, and you will be deemed as someone who doesn’t know what they want, don’t know where they are, etc. Don’t be that person.

- Why you want to be a certain type of professional. A good resume will help hiring managers understand what you want to do, so include a few sentences about why you want to work in the industry or profession listed on your resume. For example: “I am interested in the telecommunications industry because I want to work on the development of a new method for speeding up the transmission of data.” This type of information will help hiring managers understand what you want to do and may encourage them to consider you for positions that are not listed on your resume.

- Background information. If you have a degree, volunteer experience, or other achievements that are unrelated to your work experience, include them on your resume. For example: “In addition to winning several awards for my poetry, I also completed 400 hours of community service. These activities demonstrate my commitment to service and my ability to interact with people.” This type of information on your resume will help hiring managers understand your skills, personality, and experience and may encourage them to consider you for positions that are not listed on your resume.

What should you include in a career path on your resume?

- A career path heading. Companies like to see what you are trying to do, so the first thing they glance at on your resume is your career path heading. This heading should be short and to the point, and it should indicate your career path.

- A short description of your career path. This should be between two and five sentences and should include information such as why you are trying to work in the industry/profession listed on your resume, your experience, and skills.

- Every job you’ve had in your career path. If you have a longer resume, you can, of course, skip over these details; however, this is probably the most important part of your resume. Every job you’ve held (even if it was years ago) provides information about your work experience and skills that can help hiring managers get a sense of who you are.

What shouldn’t be included in a career path on your resume?

- References. Even though some recruiters may ask for references, most of them will not ask for them until after they have conducted a phone interview with you. And if they do ask, do not include your references on your resume. This is because the only thing a resume is used for is to give you context about the person you are trying to hire.

- Work hardships. While some people may write about how they dealt with a hardship, most will leave this information off their resume. Even if a hardship is related to a job that you’ve had, most hiring managers will not understand the connection. Therefore, don’t include information that is unrelated to your work experience on your resume.

- Long-term goals. While some people may mention their long-term goals on their resume, most will leave them off. This is because you should focus on your work experience, skills, and achievements in the present.

Keep reading

Now that you know how to write a career path on your resume, you also know what to avoid. With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at some other resume tips that can help you write the perfect resume.

- A resume is not a job interview. While a job interview is the most important part of the job search, a resume is still an important part of the job search process. The more you tailor your resume to the job description, the better your chances of getting an interview.

- Address the recruiter/hiring manager by name and title. This is standard practice and it shows that you respect the person who will be reviewing your resume and helping to determine your future.

- Keep your resume to one page. This is important because it allows you to highlight important information and keep your resume from being too long and complicated.