Hiring managers receive anywhere from dozens to even thousands of resumes and job applications daily. That's why a well-crafted resume is crucial to helping you stand out from the competition. And your experience section in particular—where your resume job descriptions live—really needs to shine.
This section highlights your previous experiences—whether in a formal job, internship, volunteer work, or other roles—demonstrating your achievements and capabilities.
To make an impact, you need to strategically tailor your experiences and skills to align with the job you’re applying for, showing recruiters that you’re a perfect fit for the role.
Below, you'll find key tips on how to write job descriptions for resumes and examples to guide you through it.
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Job descriptions for resumes: Why does it matter?
When you apply for jobs, you'll see a description of the role and what the company is looking for. To really stand out, your resume should match those requirements as closely as possible. That’s where the job description section comes in handy. It’s your chance to highlight past experiences and make sure they align with the job you’re aiming for.
Your resume job description should include:
- Job title
- Company name
- Date of employment
- Location
- Responsibilities and achievements
Of course, this section alone won't land you a job—your whole resume should be written to impress the recruiters. However, when you're an experienced professional, even if you're not a senior in your position yet, well-written job descriptions can at least guarantee you some interviews.
How to write a resume job description in 4 steps
The following tips will give you some insights into what this section of your resume should look like—and what hiring managers are looking for in candidates' resumes.
1. Start with a clear heading
If you're not new to resume building, you probably know that each section of the file should have a heading. It should be clear and concise, telling the recruiter exactly what they're going to read next.
Here are some examples:
- Experience
- Work Experience
- Professional Experience
2. Lay out basic info about your role
Next step is filling out the experience section—or whatever you decide to name it—with your professional background. You'll always start with basic information from each job (or internship, volunteer work, and such), like your title, the company name, location, and date of employment.
For example:
Work Experience
Sales associate
Moon Store
Orlando, FL
July 2022-August 2024
You can change the order as you see fit—for instance, putting the company name first and your title second. However, it's important to keep the same formatting throughout the resume, so be sure your choice works well for every experience.
There's no set amount of experiences you should include in your resume. But keep in mind that, ideally, it should only have relevant and recent experience, listed in reverse chronological order (from the most recent to the least recent). Additionally, most recruiters prefer a one- to two-page resume, max.
3. List achievements instead of tasks
Now, it's time to write the actual job descriptions. It's typically ideal to use bullet points and one to two sentences for each. As a standard, most resume templates have three to four bullet points for each experience, but you can use more (or less) as long as the information is relevant and you're not simply trying to fill out the page.
In describing your role, avoid falling into the trap of only listing job responsibilities. Muse career coach Andrea Gerson says that candidates should expand task-focused language into action-driven, accomplishment-oriented information.
For example, instead of writing “Performed X, Y, and Z,” try “Performed X, Y, and Z, which led to [achievements].” “This information showcases your capabilities—which is exactly what employers want to see,” Gerson says.
A commonly used formula to describe accomplishments within your roles is the context-scope-outcome strategy. You start with action verbs, show how you fulfilled each responsibility, and finish with an achievement that resulted from those actions. If possible, present your achievement with a quantifier, meaning metrics or numerical data that illustrates the impact of your work.
If you have a hard time identifying your impactful actions and accomplishments within your job responsibilities, Gerson suggests asking yourself these contextual questions:
- What was the setting I was working in?
- Was it a fast-paced pizzeria? If so, how many customers were served on a daily/weekly basis?
- If it's a smaller company that's not very well-known, what products or services did they provide?
- What was their scope of operations? Local, regional, global?
- Who was their target customer base?
4. Describe the company in the first bullet point
Your resume job description could also benefit from including some relevant context about the companies you previously worked for, such industry, size, or differentiating factors. You can add this info within the first bullet of a position—which is called an introductory bullet.
“These introductory bullets should highlight your most impressive or transferable responsibilities in the context of the company that you were working for,” Gerson says. The following job responsibilities templates show examples of introductory bullets you can adjust for your resume:
- “Contributed to [achievement, outcome] on behalf of [company]”
- “Managed key aspects of [project responsibilities] for [company]”
- “Assisted in [a project] on for [company]”
Here are examples of how these templates would look like filled out:
- “Billed 50 clients on behalf of the company's national and international enterprise clients”
- “Managed key aspects of product development and management on for the national launching a hair care brand”
- “Assisted in the development of the rebranding and repositioning of a dating app with 5+ million users for a international tech company”
Bonus tip: Use keywords from the open job description
These days, most hiring managers use application tracking systems (ATSs) to segment and quickly scan resumes to select the best based on their similarity to the open job description. This similarity is determined by keywords.
Keywords are specific phrases or terms within a job description precisely used to describe or explain responsibilities, skills, abilities, and knowledge the employer is looking for. These terms usually repeat throughout the job listing, signaling their importance for that specific role.
For this reason, you should do your best to incorporate keywords from the open job description on your resume, wherever it accurately reflects your prior work experience. “It not only makes your resume stronger but encourages you to think deeply about what the position is asking for and how your skills match,” says Muse career coach Lauren Wethers.
Review the job description you want to apply for and segment phrases that explain the specific duties or skills required for the role, which could be technical skills or transferable skills. For example:
If the company's job description for an account manager says:
The employee responsibilities are:
- Creating a market specific sales plan that meets set sales goals
- Educate the community on the company's values
- Meeting regularly with sales market's customers to understand their needs
- Identifying local marketing needs to enhance presence and grow sales
You could write your job description like this:
- Created a market specific sales plan to meet company's set sales goals for a skincare brand
- Educated the community on the company's value by meeting regularly with customers to understand their needs
- Enhanced presence and sales by 20% by identifying local marketing needs and implementing a new sales strategy
Be sure to use the exact same language as is used in the open job description, because the ATS machine might not understand synonyms. “The computer doesn't know the difference between ‘coached’ and ‘advised’ on your resume—it's looking for one over the other,” Wethers says.
Resume job description: Examples
Here are some examples of job descriptions for resumes for different roles you can adapt for yourself:
Example #1: Cashier job description for resume
Head Cashier
Star Market
Tampa, FL
Oct 2021 - Jan 2024
- Streamlined checkout and return transactions on behalf of a multinational chain with 10+ locations in Florida working simultaneously
- Supervised and trained front-end cashiers for two consecutive years, enhancing 15% crew performance in PoS transactions and reducing shrink
- Provided excellent customer service and assistance to customers, processing 155+ transactions per shift while identifying selling opportunities for cross and up-sells
- Balanced cash drawers with a 98% monthly accuracy, handling $119,000 of annual revenue
Example #2: Server job description for resume
Restaurant Server & Crew Member
Blu Trattoria
Denver, CO
Jan 2022 - February 2023
- Performed table management on behalf of a family-owned, award-winning Italian restaurant from downtown Denver
- Picked up and delivered patrons' orders from the bar and kitchen, satisfying +75 patrons per shift
- Collaborated with Head Chef to streamline order communication processes, inventory shortages, and event assistance, reducing 25% of overall waiting time
- Provided excellent customer service with a 96% NPS while calculating multiple patron’s accounts & payments through cash, PoS, and e-wallets
Example #3: Customer service job description for resume
Customer service representative
Space CMS
Remote
May 2017 - July 2022
- Responded to thousands of calls each month on behalf of one of the fastest-growing CMS companies worldwide, generating 15% in revenue or serving 5.000 customers each year
- Worked closely with the IT division to address and resolve a high volume of customer issues pertaining to software functionality and technical issues, achieving a 97% NPS score
- Contributed to the development and implementation of upselling and cross-selling strategies which led to over $35,000 in new annual revenue
- Leveraged CRM tools to improve response times by nearly 25%, impacting nearly 1.000 customers/accounts
Example #4: Sales associate job description for resume
Sales Associate
Blake Auto Co.
Portland, OR
Jun 2018 - April 2024
- Managed sales initiatives on behalf of Fortune 500 manufacturing companies generating over $12M in annual revenue, specializing in car sales
- Achieved 35% increase in lead conversion rates, working to qualify over 500 customers each month
- Negotiated contracts valued at up to $1 million, interfacing with 35+ major accounts
Example #5: Caregiver job description for resume
Senior Caregiver
Rainfall Care Nursing Center
Newark, NJ
Oct 2015 - March 2019
- Worked with over 50 adults on behalf of a specialized health center, focusing on cardiac patients
- Worked closely with patients and family members to ensure high quality of life, providing weekly reports on the patient's health status
- Contributed to 45% reduction in emergency room visits during tenure, closely monitoring patient conditions throughout short-term and long-term stays
Example #6: Housekeeping job description for resume
Apartment Housekeeper
Fresh Clean Agency
Raleigh, NC
Feb 2013 - Sep 2016
- Provided monthly housekeeping services on behalf of a specialized cleaning agency for apartments and small houses
- Cleaned over 150 apartments and houses resulting in a satisfaction rate of 97%
- Achieved a 95% rate of returning clients by performing cleaning and maintenance tasks, along with preferred requests solicited by clients
- Assured high-standard quality cleaning process on each property, decreasing by 15% the agency’s average apartment turnaround time
Bottom line
Writing resume job descriptions can seem difficult at first, but the key is going beyond responsibilities to list accomplishments, starting with a strong action verb (e.g. “implemented,” “created,” “managed”) and following up with quantifiable results. Remember to only include experiences that are relevant for the position you're applying for, use keywords from the job listing, and use a simple and clean formatting to make your resume ATS-friendly. That’s all there is to it—now go out there and get that dream job!