Resume Question.

Anonymous

October 19,2022 at 11:12AM UTC

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Resume Question. After the height of COVID, I needed to hit the reset button in terms of my work. I left my sales position and went back to my hospitality roots.

I spent a year working in a restaurant as a bartender which allowed me to pursue some passion projects such as working on a local farm and volunteering at an animal sanctuary weekly.

I'm ready to go back to an administrative position and have had successful administration jobs in the past. How do I include the last year of my work (restaurant, farm, and volunteering) in a resume without "drowning out" my past work but also demonstrate that I have been working.

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AnonymousOctober 19,2022 at 12:14PM UTC
You can break your work up into different categories such as "Work Experience in Sales" and "Other Work Experience" instead of just doing a strict chronological approach. While cover letters are infrequent these days, it may make sense to add a short paragraph to the top similar to an objective with slightly more detail about why you made that change (in a very job search friendly way, of course).
Kimberley Ferretti HammettOctober 19,2022 at 2:24PM UTC
Yep! As another commenter suggested a resume does not have to strictly be in chronological order. Please put the relevant information first!
Imagine you are a recruiter zipping through resumes and the first thing you see is a restaurant job, you may not even keep reading. They are much more concerned with content than dates, that question comes later. You can have a line or two further down or if they are old school and make you submit a resume AND fill out your work experience you don't really need it on your resume, just fill it in the work experience (unless you have some relevant accomplishments you want to display!)
AnonymousOctober 26,2022 at 2:25AM UTC
Thank you so much! :-)
AnonymousOctober 19,2022 at 2:34PM UTC
I took a similar path post COVID. I left a traditional desk job and took some work as a part-time baker while taking some classes to upskill.
On my resume, I have a "relevant experience section" first, followed by an "additional experience section". I only list organization, title and timeframe under additional experience. I've left it there to demonstrate consecutive work history and (hopefully) emphasize leadership titles (manager, shift supervisor, etc.).
Looking forward to following this thread for more perspective! Thanks for posting!
AnonymousOctober 26,2022 at 2:24AM UTC
Super helpful, thank you!
AnonymousOctober 19,2022 at 3:40PM UTC
I did something similar...I left corporate to pursue culinary/pastry. I just put "out of work force due to personal obligations" and was never really questioned. I've brought it up in interviews as an interesting fact and another dimension of my experience, and most have really liked and respected it. Working in a kitchen definitely parallels administrative work, balancing multiple priorities in tight deadlines.
AnonymousOctober 26,2022 at 2:23AM UTC
There is definitely a correlation between the two! Thank you for your response!
KarenOctober 21,2022 at 12:47PM UTC
You are well-rounded. You can contact Rober Half. They have administrative roles they are seeking recruits for.
AnonymousOctober 26,2022 at 2:21AM UTC
Thank you, Mandy!
I will absolutely keep this in mind. I appreciate it very much.