The One-Employer Resume

If your entire career has been devoted to working with just one company, creating a dynamic resume that will look attractive to new employers is a daunting task. Employers will be apprehensive about your ability to adapt to a new company culture, and may also be concerned about the possibility that your one-job career indicates a lack of motivation.

Convincing a potential employer otherwise requires reworking a standard resume format so that instead of highlighting your short work history, your professional skills and accomplishments are brought into focus.

Add a Branding Statement

Following under your name and contact information, head your resume with a qualifications summary that summarizes your transferable skills and professional qualities. A good summary will capture the reader’s interest, and they’ll be hooked long before they notice that your shorter work history.

Emphasize Skills and Accomplishments with Subheadings

Group your relevant professional skills and achievements together under subheadings—this will help highlight your versatility as a worker. Use bullet points to list each item, and emphasize your energy and enthusiasm with plenty of action words.

Show your Career Progression

If your career has included promotions, add your job titles to the employment section of your resume. List your main achievements and responsibilities for each position, and try to emphasize a different skill set for each.

Emphasize your Flexibility

If you’ve spent many years working for the same employer, it’s very important that your resume show that you are a flexible and adaptable worker who can handle a variety of tasks and situations. If your work history includes promotion, you can use this section to show your versatility by emphasizing different skill sets for each position you’ve held within the company.

Quantify your Achievements

The bottom line for most companies is that they want to know how hiring you will increase their profits. Show them you’re a good prospect by quantifying your accomplishments—don’t just say you increased sales in your company, give a percentage figure. If you saved money for your company by implementing new procedures, include how much you saved (and use the percentage and dollar sizes instead of saying it in words—those signs always stand out in a resume).

Add Non-work Experience

Many employers will be concerned about your ability to adapt to a new work environment. Including work such as internships, volunteer work and memberships with professional organizations can help show that you will be able to fit in comfortably in a new work place.

Also, please review our Resume Writing section for resume examples, tips and tools.  If you need more help, please consider using a Career Counselor.