Sample Resumes

Sample Job Resumes

Sample Resumes Have Limited Usefulness

Good resumes show you job search documents that worked for someone. However, this doesn’t mean they’d be great to use in your resume. That said, you might benefit by reviewing sample resumes to see what you can learn.

For this reason, I’ve provided a few sample resumes on this site. However, they will probably not work for you if you just “copy” them. Moreover, putting your own contact information at the top won’t help!

What can you learn from sample resumes?

You’ll notice that certain elements keep showing up. Employers expect to see sections like education and experience. However, resumes don’t all look alike–and they shouldn’t! For instance, some might use an accomplishment highlights section to emphasize the job seeker’s achievements. In contrast, others show accomplishments under experience. Deciding what to include in your resume, where and how, plays an important part in presenting your unique value.

On the other hand, look for elements you don’t see in the sample resumes. Those include the following:

• Dates that are too old. Now that we’ve reached the 2000s, dates in the 1980s are definitely not good.
• References available upon request. Although employers will ask you for them, you don’t need to mention that on your resume.
• Also, avoid the phrase, “responsible for.” That only tells people what you were supposed to do, not whether you did it well—if at all.

Don’t sell yourself short by trying to look like someone else

Finally, your resume needs to promote YOU, not someone else. So concentrate on the value you can bring to employers that your competition can’t or won’t. My sample resumes on this site can help by showing what’s possible. Now take it from there by digging into your own experience and accomplishments.

If you like an element you see in a sample resume, contact me. We can discuss whether it might enhance your job search. A conversation will help us decide if working together would be useful to you.

Sample Resumes

Sales Management resume
International Sales Executive resume
Business Development resume
Global Operations Executive resume
Chief Financial Officer resume
Information Technology Executive resume

Important note: To protect client confidentiality, each sample resume is fictionalized and used with client permission. You may find additional sample resumes in these published books: Executive’s Pocket Guide to ROI Resumes and Job Search and Resume Magic.