TIPS FOR WRITING EFFECTIVE EMPLOYMENT HISTORIES

The Job Description Summary

It is often helpful to begin your job description with a summary, or an overview of what you did. It typically consists of a string of items and is very effective in helping a reader quickly understand what you did. A job description summary might look something like this:

Research databases and create surveys to analyze trends and to identify opportunities for improving customer support strategies.

For this sign manufacturing company, prepared financial statements and supervised payroll, billing, and accounts receivable personnel.

Directly responsible for all phases of investment analyses, development, and management of properties.

Coordinated all aspects of the Early Childhood Special Education Program, including hiring and training of staff and support professionals, and the design and implementation of curriculum.

Supervised and trained a lending staff of four in credit and business development efforts.

Interviewed, counseled, and educated patients and families preceding and following open-heart surgery.

Even before learning the details in the rest of each job description, the reader has a good overview of what the person did. It is fine to start off with “Responsible for ...” but don’t overuse it. Notice that only one of our examples used “responsible for ...”

Several Jobs Within One Company

Sometimes a person will have five or six changes in job title within one company, during a four- to six-year period. Frequently the person was promoted and kept all or most of the previous responsibilities, and then added others. To describe each job separately would be redundant and unnecessary. Look for any two jobs that were essentially the same, and treat them as one.

What To Call Your Employment Section

There are a variety of words and phrases you can use to head your employment section: Employment, Employment Experience, Work Experience, Professional Experience, Employment History, Work History, and Experience are all good terms. I typically use Employment, and sometimes Professional Experience. Each of the terms is a good term so pick the one that feels right for you.

If all of your work has been in one major field, and you intend to stay in that field, you can use that term when listing your work experience. You could call it Healthcare Administration Experience, Automotive Experience, Engineering Experience, or Financial Administration Work History.

Dates

Dates should be used on nearly all resumes. If you have no time gaps between jobs or short gaps, you should usually use the months and years you started and left. If you have long gaps, you can indicate the year you started and the year you left.

When to use month and year (example: 5/87-3/93):

1. No gaps in employment.

2. Short gaps of less than five months.

3. One gap of more than five months, several years ago.

Employers prefer to see month and year and may wonder if you are hiding anything by omitting months. On the other hand, if you reveal long gaps between jobs, employers may question your perseverance and dedication. With this in mind, decide what is best for you.

Location Of The Job

Your resume should indicate the city and state you actually work in, not the location of your company’s national headquarters. If you work out of your home, include your city as your location; if you live in a suburb, include either the name of the suburb or the more familiar name of the large city you live near.

Clarifying What Your Company Does

If you work for General Motors, General Electric, or Boeing, there is no need to explain what the company does. If your employer is Eastside Masonry Products, it is also unnecessary to elaborate because the company name explains its type of business. If you work for SLRC Corporation, though, you may want to explain in the resume. Handle it this way:

SLRC, Inc., Boston, MA 1996-1999

Sales Rep—For the second largest distributor of electronic components in the Northeast, increased sales over 20% each year.

Sales Rep for the Northeast’s second largest distributor of electronic components. Increased sales over 20% each year.

Sales Rep—Increased sales over 20% each year for SLRC, the Northeast’s second largest distributor of electronic components.

You can also use such phrases as these to explain what business your employers were in:

For this social service agency…

For this social service agency providing help for the homeless…

For this agency responsible for eliminating chemical hazards in the work place…

For this not for profit company…

For this software development firm…

Scope Of The Job

The scope of a job includes such things as the products and services of the company, size of company in terms of gross sales, the size of your department in terms of people and dollar budget, the budget you personally work with, and the number of people supervised. It is useful to include the scope of the job if doing so will clarify your level of responsibility or any other key point. To describe the scope of a job you might say, “Managed all finance, accounting, and data processing functions for this $80 million manufacturer of outdoor equipment.” Or you might say, “Supervised a staff of four supervisors and managed a department budget of $1.2 million.”

How Much Detail And Space Should You Give?

Principles (not laws) to keep in mind:

1) Your current or most recent position is described in the greatest detail as long as it is similar to the type of job you are seeking. Each preceding job is described in slightly less detail.

2) If the job you held three jobs ago is closest to what you’re seeking, devote the most detail to it.

3) Jobs held many years ago and jobs that have nothing to do with what you want to do in the future can usually be described in two or three lines, or handled as Previous Employment.

How Far Back Should Your Descriptions Go?

If you are a college graduate, go back as far as your first full‑time job after graduation. If you went to work right after high school, go back to your first serious full‑time job. If you’ve had a lot of jobs, you can write about your four to six most recent positions, but also include a previous employment section, which merely lists prior positions without descriptions.

Although some of your earlier jobs may not be applicable to your current occupation, employers are still curious about where you’ve been. Such positions require only a very straightforward two- or three-line description of duties. Or, you might present this information in a prior employment section where you would include your job title, employer, and dates, but would not use any job descriptions.

If you feel certain that it would be detrimental to include all of your jobs, simply do not list those in the most distant past. If you do so be sure not to show dates for education, or any other information which would give away your age or would indicate that some positions are missing.

Current Job Is Less Valuable Than A Prior Job

Generally, it’s wise to devote less space to a current, but less valuable job, and more space to an earlier, more relevant job. Another option can be effective: you can separate your experience into two segments, calling one Related Experience and the other Additional Experience.

The related experience section would come first and would generally have the greatest detail. Except for the fact that you have two employment sections, Related Experience and Additional Experience, it is a standard reverse chronological resume. Within each category you should list jobs in reverse chronological order and show the correct dates. Showing the information in this way makes it clear to the employer that even though you are using an atypical format, all jobs have been covered. More importantly, it means that the employer will read your relevant experience first.

Avoid Long Sentences

An effective job description combines short, medium length, and longer sentences. A common mistake in resume writing is to create one long job description using a series of semicolons. It makes the resume hard to read. There is simply no reason to create such a job description. The following will show you why:

Duties: Writing all local copy for top-rated contemporary radio station involving: Dealing with a broad range of advertisers from fashion to food; supervising flow of ad materials from sales through production to on-air status; communicating with advertising agencies re: national advertisers; voicing special news reports, ski reports and various commercials; and overall, maintaining efficient station continuity and copy excellence enhancing advertiser/station relations and decreasing commercial errors.

Quite a mouthful, isn’t it. Below is a more readable version. With a little editing here and there, it also has more impact.

Write all local ad copy for this top-rated contemporary radio station. Deal with a broad range of advertisers from fashion to food and supervise the flow of ad materials from sales through production to on-air status. Communicate with advertising agencies regarding national advertisers. Provide special news reports and act as on-air voice for numerous commercials. Have significantly improved advertiser relations by improving copywriting, reducing on-air commercial errors, and making station operations more efficient.

Repetitive Jobs

There are times when you may have had virtually the same job with two or three separate organizations. Take, for example, a real estate agent who has worked for three real estate companies. The duties will not have changed so the agent will want to explain the duties only once and then show what makes him or her effective. You don’t have to write, “Same duties as above,” which seems awkward. It might look like this:

McKenzie Real Estate, Seattle, WA; ReMax Real Estate, Bellevue, WA; Cole Real Estate, Redmond, WA 1989-1997

Real Estate Agent—Developed a strong real estate referral base by specializing in home listings throughout northern King County, selling homes ranging from $450,000 to $2.5 million. At each branch became either the number one or number two producing agent. Developed a reputation for holding deals together and getting full price for home sellers.

McKenzie Real Estate, Seattle, WA

ReMax Real Estate, Bellevue, WA

Cole Real Estate, Redmond, WA

Real Estate Agent, 1989-1997—Developed a strong real estate referral base by specializing in home listings throughout northern King County, selling homes ranging from $450,000 to $2.5 million. At each branch became either the number one or number two producing agent. Developed a reputation for holding deals together and getting full price for home sellers.

Emphasizing You Were Recruited

Sometimes it’s a nice touch to emphasize that you were recruited, indicating your employer sought you out either directly or through a recruiting firm. It also implies that you were happy in your previous job, were not actively looking, and that you left only because a great opportunity was presented to you. At the beginning of your job description you might write, “Recruited away from previous employer by the president of XYZ,” or “Recruited away from previous employer and given a mandate to turn around sales and improve quality.”

Including Volunteer Experience

Sometimes volunteer experience provides more supporting evidence of your ability to succeed in a new field than any paid experience. Or, if not more valuable, then at least valuable enough that you would want to include it among your work experience. If you choose to include volunteer experience among your work experience, you do not need to label it volunteer. Generally you should just treat volunteer experience like a job, listing the organization and dates as you would if it was employment. Of course, if you feel it is important to indicate that it was volunteer work, you can say so. A good way to handle it is right after the job title by stating, “In this volunteer role, had responsibility for ____, ____, and ____. When incorporating volunteer experience into your work experience, call your employment section Experience or Work History rather than Employment or Employment History.

You’re Overqualified For Your Job Objective

Perhaps you’re seeking a position with a $20 million company and you recently held a senior position with a $250 million company. Coming from a larger company is often considered a bonus by a potential employer, but if you think it will hurt you, simply don’t mention the size of your previous employers. Another option is to call your company “a multimillion dollar company” instead of a $250 million company. If you led a department or branch of 120 employees in your previous position and you’re likely to have only ten in the job you’re seeking, you might change it from “Managed department staff of 120” to “Managed a large department and had full responsibility for meeting production quotas.”

Job titles can also be intimidating. If you want to tone down your background, determine whether it might be appropriate to also tone down your job title. This works best in organizations that really don’t rely on job titles or where people have more than one title.

The primary way to tone down your resume is in the job description. The premise in resume writing is that everything you write must be true. It is your right, however, to withhold certain information. With that in mind you can simply choose to not mention some of your duties or not indicate your full level of responsibility. Rather than describing your strategic responsibilities, you might concentrate on the tactical side. If you had full P&L responsibility for a branch, you might simply exclude that piece of information. Mention the more mundane aspects of your job.

The real dilemma is what to do with your results. If you cut production costs 8%, saving $45 million and you want to join a firm with total sales of $45 million, you would just mention the 8% reduction. If you have a major result in an area that would unlikely be part of your responsibility, you might choose to not mention that result.

Another form of overqualification comes when you are seeking a position that is at least one level below your last experience. Perhaps you’re a project manager for a software development group and you’d rather step back to simply being a senior programmer without all the headaches of project management. Or perhaps you’re an engineer who has risen to management and you’ve determined that you prefer the hands-on work of a design engineer. Even in your management job description, you would emphasize whatever design work you did during that time.

Giving this advice is difficult for me because I believe so strongly in selling your results and your potential. Unfortunately sometimes you can overwhelm people with your background. They may assume you would quickly become bored with their little company or that you would quickly tire of having less responsibility than in the past. It is also possible to intimidate people and cause them to feel that you would quickly be seeking their position. Write your resume in such a way that a hiring manager will not feel intimidated by you nor feel you would quickly become bored. In the cover letter and later in an interview indicate why you find the job attractive. If the hiring manager truly believes you want the job, you will likely not receive the income you enjoyed in the past, but you may end up with a nice job that you really enjoy.

Gaps Of Six Months To One Year

Job seekers are typically ultra-sensitive to any perceived problems with their work history. This often includes concern over gaps in employment. Most gaps are non-issues and don’t deserve any concern or thought.

It is true, however, that if you’ve been unemployed for six months or more, some employers will begin to question why. They may wonder why an organization has not hired you by now.

Look for ways to cover the gap. If you did a little consulting on the side you could mention that. You will need at least one real client, however, because employers will typically ask about your consulting, partially out of interest, and partially out of curiosity as to whether you actually did some consulting. You could even provide some consulting for free just to cover that time, even though your primary focus has been job hunting.

If a 4–12 month gap occurred prior to your current or most recent job, it is generally best to simply ignore it. There’s nothing you can do about it and some employers won’t even notice it. Certainly you should not make dates prominent. Those who do notice the gap may be mildly curious, but if you have recounted your successes, the gap will have virtually no impact on your being invited to an interview. Sometimes it will be both helpful and appropriate to simply list the starting year and ending year of employment instead of month and year. Frequently this will cover your period of unemployment.

If you are currently unemployed, and have been for over six months, determine if just using a year-to-year format will help you. If so, that is the first thing you should do.

Gaps Of One Year Or More

I had a client who hiked the Cascade Crest trail from Canada to Mexico and took a year off work to do it. Hiking through the Cascade Mountains down into the Sierras is a huge undertaking, one that many start but few complete. He was proud of his accomplishment, but it was important to fill that time with something valuable if possible. We called it a sabbatical and then took one sentence to describe what he did. It was perfect.

If you have gaps of over one year you can choose to ignore them or try to fill them in.

Women should often simply ignore the gap. Employers often assume that you took time out to care for children. You may in fact have been desperately looking for work, but the reader does not need to know that.

Perhaps you were doing several things during a two-year work hiatus, including taking care of an ill relative. Maybe you had been laid off and were looking hard for work when your relative became ill. You may have been a full-time caregiver or perhaps you dropped in every day for an hour or two. In either case you could show that on your resume:

Home care provider for terminally ill relative 1997-1999

Full-time home care provider for a terminally ill relative 1997-1999

Other options include:

Independent travel to Asia and Africa 1996-1997

Personal travel 1996-1997

Adventure travel 1996-1997

Travels to Indonesia and Thailand 1995

Full-time parent and PTA volunteer at Robert Frost Elementary 1989-1997

Full-time parent 1989-1997

Home management 1989-1997

Family management 1989-1997

Independent study 1994-1997

Professional development 1994-1997

Personal growth and development 1994-1997

Student 1996-1998

Volunteer 1993-1995

Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity 1993-1995

The key thing is to determine what you were doing during that work gap and then determine what is the best way to present it. Whatever you state, be prepared to answer questions about what you actually did during that time period when you go to an interview.

Indicating that you consulted during that time period often helps fill in the time. It is important that you actually had some clients since employers will often ask about that. Your consulting may actually account for only a few weeks out of a one year period, but at least on the resume the time is covered. Be prepared to discuss it in telephone screening interviews and face to face interviews. If the employer discovers that you’ve really only had two one-day assignments, the feeling will be that you were deceptive in the resume.

Work Through Temp Agencies

If you worked for a significant period of time through temporary agencies, it is generally best to simply mention the one you got the most assignments from. If you had a long-term assignment with one organization you could choose to list only that organization and not the temp agency that placed you there.

If some of the organizations you provided temporary services for are well known, you might want to mention some of them.

Blaylock Temporary Services 1996-1998

Office and Administrative Services—Provided clerical services for local firms with assignments ranging from one to twelve weeks. Functions included project management, developing improved systems, desktop publishing, reception, bookkeeping, and collections. Worked for such firms as Merrill Lynch, IBM, Nordstrom, State Farm Insurance, Matthews & Sons, and Jones & Jones Construction. One of the most highly sought temps with Blaylock because of ability to quickly learn existing systems and procedures.

Below is a section of a resume of a person who was seeking permanent employment in the human resources field. Much of her HR experience was gained while working through temp agencies. She felt no need to list the temp agencies since she wanted to put the emphasis on these longer term projects that were more HR oriented. Her shorter stints and those that had nothing to do with HR are simply not mentioned.

LONG-TERM CONTRACT SERVICES 1992-1996

Projects typically ranged from 6 to 15 months. Major projects:

Regal Insurance Group—Employment Specialist

• Provided recruiting services for technical and administrative personnel, including offer letters and reference verification.

• Performed periodic EEO surveys and ensured all goals were met.

• Researched and worked with Corporate Counsel in a training awareness program for supervisors regarding the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Digital Equipment Corporation—Employment Specialist/Recruiter

• Recruited qualified candidates for a hardware design program. Interfaced with department managers and Corporate Relocation Services. Authorized and explained appropriate relocation benefits to managers.

• Provided employee counseling and problem resolution.

• Promoted, planned, and coordinated the Software Business System personnel database, which significantly increased personnel data available to management. Participated in the design of a redeployment plan.

• Developed, implemented, and directed a Reward and Recognition program for a 500-person project, with the award budget totaling $150,000. Program was well received by management and employees.

• Designed a new-hire orientation for the Northeast region.

Unisys—Transition Team

• Initiated and facilitated employer relocation and outplacement services for 95 engineering and manufacturing people. Provided job search training, skills assessment, career counseling, and advocacy.

• Coordinated with 45 high-tech firms to arrange employment interviews both locally and out-of-state. All employees successfully transitioned to other positions with Unisys or outside companies.

IBM—Employee Benefits Office

• Researched, interpreted, and communicated benefit-related issues to coworkers and clients. Acted as liaison between employees and insurance companies to resolve claims.

• Worked with insurance companies to effectively introduce new programs to employees. Assisted in new-hire orientation, 401(k), medical, vision, and dental programs.

Bullets Versus Paragraphs

One debate in the world of resume writing is whether job descriptions should be bulletized or composed using paragraphs. There are fairly strong arguments for both sides. I will cover the arguments for both sides and then explain why I prefer paragraphs.

Like many controversies this one has no simple answers. You need to know the arguments for both sides so you can decide what will work best for you. That is always at the heart of any issue concerning your resume. You don’t care what has worked best for others. Your only concern should be whether doing something a certain way will benefit you.

Bullets—The primary argument used to justify bullets is that it makes your resume easier and quicker to scan. In addition, it is usually cited that employers typically devote only 20–30 seconds scanning a resume before deciding whether to place it in the reject pile or in the to-read pile. For that reason it is believed that the bullet resume passes the first test more frequently.

Paragraphs—The argument for paragraphs runs like this: If the paragraphs are kept to 3–7 lines, they are actually easier to read than bullets because most of the text we read—books and newspapers—uses paragraphs rather than bullets.

Let’s look at the two arguments. Both bullets and paragraphs can work well for a person. The most important issue is using them properly. If you have too many extremely short bullets, or numerous bullet points of two or three lines, the benefit of bullets has been negated. If you use paragraphs and most are 8–12 lines, such a large block of text will not invite the employer to read the resume. Eye appeal is important in a resume, but neither bulletizing nor using paragraphs is automatically the most eye appealing.

The biggest problem I have seen with bulletized resumes is that they tend to provide too little information. Because the job seeker believes employers want short resumes that can be fully reviewed in thirty seconds, the job descriptions tend to be extremely short. The bullet resume often succeeds well in the first phase of scanning resumes, when the reader is merely determining whether the job seeker has the basic experience that is sought. When the person does have the right experience it will usually end up in the “I’ll read” pile, also known as the “I’m interested” pile. So out of 80 resumes, often only 20 will make it to the “I’ll read” pile.

Out of the 20 that make it through the scanning phase, only about ten people will be called. The problem for the overly brief, bulletized resume, is that it often lacks supporting evidence and the details that the employer needs to determine who has the right qualities in addition to the right experience. Usually all 20 people who are in the “I’m interested” pile have excellent backgrounds and are very capable people. The reader is now seeking additional information to determine which ten really have everything or nearly everything desired. The reader is also trying to assess other qualities such as the work ethic, whether the person will fit into the work group, and whether the person has the potential to succeed and get promoted.

The problem at that point of the selection process is that the bullet resume often lacks sufficient detail. Most bullet resumes concentrate on listing past duties and tend to be devoid of results. Because of this the bullet resume often does quite well in the screening stage, but it often gets filtered out in the more detailed evaluation phase. There is simply too little information. The reader just doesn’t know enough to decide whether the individual should be brought in for an interview.

The problem with the paragraph resume is that it is often verbose. The writer often fails to produce a solid second and third draft, and as a result, is sending out a bloated resume. When it is visually unattractive and hard to scan, it rarely makes it through the scanning stage.

So, the problem is not so much one of style but presentation. My bias, however, is that a well-written and well-designed paragraph resume will usually outsell the well-written, well-designed bullet resume, but not by much. That is why you should decide which one you believe will work best for you. As long as you follow all of the recommendations for producing a top-quality resume, you’ll do fine.

The job description below is a well-written and visually attractive paragraph-oriented job description. There are no unnecessary words—everything included helps demonstrate that he is an experienced and effective store manager.

Store Manager—4/98-Present. For the third largest music retailer in the Midwest, maintain profitable store operations. Supervise 16 employees and execute corporate sales programs. Evaluate inventory levels and order CDs that will sell in our market. Record and track store sales and overhead costs. Maximize retail sales through effective space allocation, merchandise presentation, and signage.

Recognized as a highly effective trainer and manager. Six of my trainees have been promoted to store manager. Exceeded the monthly revenue plan 23 of the last 24 months. Improved video sales 120% in the first year of a marketing program I developed and tested for the region. Increased store profitability by increasing sales 27% in 1998 and 24% in 1999, while at the same time decreasing labor costs 4% and reducing theft 65%.

The example below is identical except that it uses one large block of text instead of dividing it into two paragraphs. Just the simple process of breaking up the text with two shorter paragraphs and providing more white space makes the above job description more inviting.

Store Manager—4/98–Present. For the third largest music retailer in the Midwest, maintain profitable store operations. Supervise 16 employees and execute corporate sales programs. Evaluate inventory levels and order CDs that will sell in our market. Record and track store sales, payroll, and overhead costs. Maximize retail sales through effective space allocation, merchandise presentation, and signage. Recognized as a highly effective trainer and manager. Six of my trainees have been promoted to store manager. Exceeded the monthly revenue plan 23 of the last 24 months. Improved video sales 120% in the first year of a marketing program I developed and tested for the region. Increased store profitability by increasing sales 27% in 1998 and 24% in 1999, while at the same time decreasing labor costs 4% and reducing theft 65%.

Now let’s look at this job description in a bullet format.

Store Manager—4/98–Present.

• For the third largest music retailer in the Midwest, maintain profitable store operations.

• Supervise 16 employees and execute corporate sales programs.

• Evaluate inventory levels and order CDs that will sell in our market.

• Record and track store sales, payroll, and overhead costs.

• Maximize retail sales through effective space allocation, merchandise presentation, and signage.

• Recognized as a highly effective trainer and manager. Six of my trainees have been promoted to store manager.

• Exceeded the monthly revenue plan 23 of the last 24 months.

• Improved video sales 120% in the first year of a marketing program I developed and tested for the region.

• Increased store profitability by increasing sales 27% in 1998 and 24% in 1999, while at the same time decreasing labor costs 4% and reducing theft 65%.

The above bullet format looks good and is easy to read. It provides valuable information with all the bullet points being either one or two lines in length. The example below uses most of the same information, but it has been intentionally shortened to reflect how a typical bulletized resume reads. In this case the writer ends up making the job description too short and simply does not give the reader enough information. In this version the resume loses its heart and soul. Although the key results have been kept in this version, you no longer get a real sense of the person. He just seems more like a set of duties.

Store Manager—4/98–Present.

• Maintain profitable store operations.

• Supervise 16 employees.

• Execute corporate sales programs.

• Evaluate inventory levels and order CDs.

• Record and track store sales and overhead costs.

• Maximize retail sales.

• Recognized as a highly effective trainer and manager.

• Exceeded the monthly revenue plan 23 of the last 24 months.

• Improved video sales 120%.

• Increased profitability by increasing sales 27% in 1998 and 24% in 1999.

From this you can see that both the paragraph format and the bullet format can work well. How well you write each job description ultimately has more to do with the success of your resume than whether you use paragraphs or bullets.

Shifting Careers Or Industries

Any time you make a career or industry shift, you face disadvantages. By definition you’re lacking knowledge or experience that most of your competitors possess. Somehow you must overcome these deficits.

First, thoroughly study the career field and industry. Read back issues of the trade journals that people in your new field or industry read. Learn the jargon and learn about the issues that have received the most attention in the past three years. Locate a textbook that covers all aspects of your chosen career field. Textbooks are great because they’re comprehensive. For example, I loan a textbook to clients who want to enter human resources. It covers virtually every aspect of the field without going into too much detail.

Next, talk to three or four people in your desired field or industry. From your reading you should determine areas in which you hope to gain clarification. Pose your questions to these people and get advice on how to enter the field. Ask who the best organizations to work for are. It is also good to say something like, “My background is this and this and my strengths are this and this. Is there anything that will prevent me, or make it difficult for me, to enter this field?”

Once you have the confidence you can make it in the field, you’re ready to start your resume, or take your current resume and adapt it to your new field or industry.

Adapt is the key word. Perhaps your current resume mentions a certain duty. Based on your research you realize that in your new field that same duty is known by a different name or term. You would use the term best recognized in your new field.

You should also have been studying job postings you’ve found in newspaper ads, Internet sites, and on company web sites. What are they generally looking for? Are there some areas of knowledge and experience that keep popping up? If so, and if you have that knowledge and experience, make sure it is fully covered in your resume and cover letter.

If you’re missing a key piece of experience, but you’ve done similar things, describe it in such a way that a hiring manager or recruiter will recognize the similarity. Even if your accomplishments come from quite a different field, make the accomplishments prominent because it is critical that an employer can see you’ve been successful in the past. Employers recognize that those who are successful in one field will likely be successful in another.

Sometimes it works well to have a section labeled Highlights, where you would pick out key projects or experiences which used critical skills needed in your new field. Or you might want to consider a functional resume that also utilizes fairly extensive job descriptions.