How to Write About Your Job Experience? – Interview with Teodor Dimokenchev

A Jobs.bg inverview with the founder of CareerPro – Teodor Dimokenchev

Read the original interview in Bulgarian here.

Why is it important to put your most recent experience at the top of your resume?

“In 99% of cases, I’m interested in where you’ve ended up, not where you started from. If you already have several years of work experience, don’t waste the readers’ time with your three-month internship or your summer waiter jobs,” says Teodor Dimokenchev. “For the same reason, we put education after experience, unless you have almost no work experience at all. Make it easy for recruiters to say ‘yes’ to an interview with you.”

Is it a good idea to have a section at the beginning of the resume where the candidate shares their characteristic traits?

“My advice in most cases is not to use such an introductory section (aka “executive summary”). This part is useful only if you want to draw attention to something specific — for example, why you are looking for a job in a field different from your previous experience. Featuring skills like ‘results-oriented,’ ‘team player,’ or ‘critical thinking’ is just meaningless.”

And how can a person demonstrate these qualities through their resume?

“The hiring manager wants you to demonstrate these skills so they can be sure you can actually work in a team. And demonstration happens by describing your experience in certain positions well — what exactly you achieved and how.”

Could you give an example?

For example: “Increased sales by 8% through regular employee training sessions.” Here you demonstrate the skill of training people, to some extent teamwork as well, and the measurable result of those skills. If you describe your qualities well through your experience in this way, there is no need to repeat them at the beginning of the resume.

When starting from the last held role, is it mandatory to follow chronological order, or should the accumulated experience be presented based on its relevance?

“This is one of the cases where an introduction at the beginning can be useful. In such situations, I prefer to see a short introduction at the top of the resume rather than rearranging the positions chronologically.”

Why?

“The resume tells your professional story, and when you move the roles around, it becomes much harder for someone to understand what your exact professional path has been. We don’t want to create puzzles for the reader to solve — we want to present our professional history in the least burdensome way possible. In 99% of cases, describing the positions in reverse chronological order does a good enough job.”

---