Resume content

by Debbie Woodbury
(Fredericksburg, VA)

I have 18 years of legal secretarial experience but have been out of the field for approximately 7 years and within that 7 years have worked as a bartendiing for 4 of those years...how do I go about listing the bartending positions in a way they will see the emphasis on my legal secretarial experience. I want to return to an office position but have had no luck getting interviews.

Thank you for your help.

Debbie

Answer

Hi Debbie,
 
Each resume that you write should be geared toward a specific job or career field.  To help accomplish this, you can use a functional resume to highlight your legal secretary experience.
 
With this resume style, you can highlight specific skills that are required for the job you are seeking.  Since your legal secretarial work is more relevant than your most recent work history, you’ll want to pull that information to the forefront of your resume.
 
Start your resume with a career summary. In the career summary section, use bullet points to list your experience and accomplishments that are related to the job you want.
 
This will be the first information on your resume, and your chance to grab the employer’s attention.   Make sure you highlight the information that is most relevant to the legal secretary position.  Include information such as:

• Related education
  
• Skills and experience you have gained
  
• Specific accomplishments you have made as a legal secretary

You can follow the career summary section with a job experience section.  Here you can list your previous jobs, including the bartending jobs to show that you have a steady work history. 

Use bullet points to detail your accomplishments for each job.  You could place the most information under the legal secretary positions to draw more attention to those jobs.
 
Click here for more information and instructions on how to write a functional resume.
 
The key is to draw as much attention as possible to your skills and accomplishments that are most relevant to the job you are seeking.

Good luck in your job search!
 
Sincerely,
 
Victoria E.