What to Include on a Resume

Put everything down — experience that seems irrelevant to an advertised job may qualify you for something better at the same company. October 2, 2007

Question
I have a resume from a corporate background. For the last two years I have been working in the woodworking industry and I plan to continue in it. I'm not familiar with resumes in the woodworking industry. Should I include my corporate history, or tailor it to my experience beginning with my early carpentry days?

Forum Responses
(Business and Management Forum)
From contributor Y:
It depends what position you are looking for with your new job. Usually it's best to tailor the resume to the job. If that's difficult to do because you do not have much woodworking experience, try to think of common tasks that an employer can extrapolate from. For example, highlighting areas where you had responsibility or tasks that called for attention to detail.

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From the original questioner:
Thanks for your reply. I don't think it’s so much a matter of not having enough to present, but I didn't know if while looking for a carpentry position, adding information from a specific business background would be superfluous.

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From contributor R:
Your work history is relevant. Put down what you did and if not obvious, what your responsibilities were. Two years is very relevant time-wise. The further back in time you go, the less detail you should put down about the position.

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From contributor W:
I hired for a large millwork company for over 22 years and will suggest you list all positions throughout your career with positions held and a summary of responsibilities. Certainly focus a bit more intently on the recent woodworking positions, since this is now your focus.

Many times I interviewed individuals for an advertised position only to realize that they seemed to be qualified for another impending and sometimes even more significant role. Occasionally the interviewee and I realized that we should be discussing an opportunity of greater value to us both when we had the chance to understand more about each other.