If you’re recently divorced and have decided to re-enter the workforce after returning to school to earn a high school diploma, college degree or advanced degree, you may still face the challenge of landing a job with no previous work experience in the field you’re hoping to break into. The same applies for someone looking to switch career paths altogether. By focusing on your skills and life experiences (as opposed to your lack of real world job experience), you can position yourself as the perfect applicant for a job, and not necessarily have to start in a low-paying, entry-level position.


IF YOU HAVE NO PAST  WORK-RELATED EXPERIENCE              

Based on what you’ve learned in school, your hobbies, your extracurricular activities, volunteer work and jobs you’ve held in the past, create a resume that showcases your most marketable job-related skills, as well as your education. As you do this, focus on the skills that most apply to the job you’re applying for. Demonstrate not just that you posses specific skills, but also how you’ve used them effectively in the past.            

If you've done charity work or served as a leader for one or more clubs or extracurricular activities, for example, perhaps you’ve developed strong organizational, computer, management, writing, verbal communication and/or leadership skills that could serve you well in the workplace. Being able to highlight these skills effectively within your resume, and also be able to demonstrate how you developed and used those skills in the past will help to set you apart from other applicants and make you more appealing to potential employers.          

Instead of using a traditional chronological resume format, which focuses on past work experience, job titles and employment dates, use a Skill-Based or Functional resume format that highlights your skills instead. The formatting of a skill-based (Functional) resume is different than a Chronological resume, but still communicates the same basic information. It’s the emphasis you put on specific pieces of information that’s different.  


CREATING A SKILL-BASED RESUME             

When creating a skill-based resume, your name and contact information should appear at the very top of the page, just as it would for any type of resume. Don’t forget to include a phone number that has voice mail associated with it, as well as your email address. You need to make it as easy as possible for a potential employer to get in touch with you.           

Below your contact information, include a one or two sentence “Objective.” This is a description of the type of job you’re looking to fill and a very brief explanation of why you’re a qualified candidate. An example of an objective statement might be, “Seeking a full-time position as an assistant manager for a retail establishment that would allow me to utilize my five years worth of part-time retail sales and customer service experience, as well as my strong work ethic.”