Samantha Pearce is the owner of Words Worth Reading an online editorial service for Job Seekers, Students, Writers and Businesses. Words Worth Reading offer individually-tailored, comprehensive resume and application form writing and editing services to job seekers from all around the world.  Here she gives advice to mature workers on how to write a winning resume.  

Many people believe, somewhat unfairly, that it must be much easier for a person who has 15-20 years working experience to write a winning resume than it is for a graduate or someone who is just starting out in their career path.

In fact the very opposite is true.

With a wealth of working experience behind you, it can be difficult to decide which pieces of information need to be included in your resume and which skills and achievements you need to portray.

For individuals with a mature career, recruiters are generally looking for resumes that demonstrates successful and varied managerial skills, potentially spanning a range of industries. Whilst you may not have held a specific managerial role previously, you must be able to demonstrate that you have used successful managerial skills, in some capacity, in the past.

Often the roles that are appealing to individuals with a mature resumes are focused on developing business plans and strategies, forging teams and motivating others to deliver successful outcomes. The technical skills and knowledge that are learnt in your earlier career tend to be less important than managerial skills, reputation and the ability to influence.

Part of the challenge for some individuals in creating a winning mature resume is demonstrating that they are ready to move from a smaller ’technical’ focus to a broader ’bigger picture’ focus. This includes being able to demonstrate political astuteness, commercial awareness and strong ’people’ and interpersonal skills.

So, let’s look at the key aspects needed to pull together a fantastic mature resume:

The Checklist

Personal contact details - Name, Address, Telephone Numbers and an Email address.

A career objective - One or two short lines that state your overarching career aim.

A strong competency statement - Two or three paragraphs that focus on your skills, experience and personal attributes. These should be supported by real examples of your abilities and should demonstrate managerial or leadership skills, commercial astuteness and interpersonal skills.

Full educational qualifications.

Details of all relevant jobs you have held, omitting low level positions from your earlier career - Ensure you have listed your key responsibilities and achievements for each role. An emphasis on sustained achievement is key, along with demonstrable energy, enthusiasm and strategic thinking.

Full details of two, appropriate referees.

What the Employers say

“When I’m reading a candidate’s resume, I want to see their experience demonstrated through the resume…I want to see examples of their abilities, not just be told that they exist” – Lara, Associate Director

“I believe that the presentation of a resume reflects the presentation of the person. So I’m looking for a resume which has a good, consistent layout which depicts clear and concise information” – Marion, General Manager

“I want to see a solid track record of managerial experience or abilities” – Henry, Managing Director

“A mature resume should highlight a solid and logical career progression, with a clear demonstration of drive and motivation to progress” – Catherina, Director

“Spelling, punctuation and grammar, alongside sentence construction, should be almost perfect” – Carl, HR

“Even in a mature resume you’d want to see enthusiasm and an understanding and interest articulated” – David, Sales Manager

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Samantha Pearce is the owner of Words Worth Reading – an editorial service for Job Seekers, Students, Writers and Businesses.

Words Worth Reading offer individually-tailored, comprehensive resume and application form writing and editing services at fantastic prices, with quick turnaround times.

For more information visit www.wordsworthreading.co.uk 

You can contact the team on sam@wordsworthreading.co.uk

Call them on 00 44 1277 824640.

Samantha Pearce is CaribbeanJobs.com's resume expert. If you have a question for her please click here.