So list all the experiences. Then be prepared to answer why you are changing your direction in your work.

Good luck!

your article is very interesting, well,  related to the article i.e. customize our Cv to every job that is being published in any NGOs or private Companies. 

My question: if we are applying, say for example a Coordinator Position, but we only have one or two years experience to similar position while others are not similar, do you think when we customize our cv we should not put other experiences which is not related to the jobs that we are applying for?

Many thanks for your response and look forward to hearing from you

As well, what you think is not important could be critical for a job. For example, I applied to a State Government PM position and was asked if I had any State Government experience. I had — some seven years worth of working with the State Government. That's a big advantage if you were in the State Government looking to hire someone; I didn't think it needed to be on the resume and certainly not on every job submission. Yet for that particular job, it was important to add to the resume.

Even if you do a great cover letter, the next step for the person looking at the cover letter is to look at the resume and find the stuff in there that proves what you said in the cover letter.

Wish there were a good set of rules for this stuff…

I think you have captured the bigger job search process while this article looks particularly at one aspect of the job search: learning how to customize a resume to suit the job with your applicable skills.

The deal is, you need to attack all parts of the job search process to land your next gig, not just the resume.

Some overall comments:

1. The vast majority of jobs are found (not landed, but found) through your business network. So “pounding the pavement” is needed; people need to build a large, diverse professional network that they interact with and support. I've written much about this (and more to come), so I won't go into it here.

2. You need to modify your resume to match the job description with appropriate results from your work. This article shows how to do that. While most advice tells you that you must stand out, which is true, what you really need at the resume stage is to match enough of the job description so that your resume doesn't get thrown into the wastebasket. Standing out comes later in the decision to have you do a screening interview.

3. In my experience, most people will not submit a customized resume to the job description. It takes too much effort to do so or they don't understand the need to do so. This automatically puts customized resumes into a better position to get the job. You won't be constantly raising the bar because most people are not doing the work. That's why “cubicle warriors” stand out; they will make the effort when most people won't.

4. You are very correct in that your resume must show results that affect the business in revenue, expense or productivity.

5. Finally, remember the purpose of the resume is to get the interview. Just the interview. It's not to land the job, it is not to get hired, not to increase your professional network, not to determine the culture of the company….no, just to get the interview. Interviews have their own set of challenges, but the resume is not meant to address them. Too many pundits tout the resume as the way to land the job when the truth of the matter is all a resume can do is get you a shot at an interview. A big thing, but it is not everything.

Thanks for taking the time to do your comment; it is appreciated.

I have been finding that jobs are out there but being bold is very important, so many companies put up digital road blocks to filter candidates. And even if you have the key words defined in the job posting your not always going to get called in because frankly everyone else is altering their resume and tweaking their keywords.

I believe that eventually job finding will regress back to the way it use to be, you picked yourself up and pounded the streets talking to and approaching everyone within your area of interest. I think we as humans have gotten lazy and separated the inter-personal approach from business. Strange how business wants bold sales staff to get out there and be in client's faces but at the same time shuts off the same approach for job searchers. No one likes the canvasser that calls at dinner time wanting to sell you another plan, but at the same time someone who is out of work is just trying to feed his family, we often treat them with the same respect as a panhandler.

Judging by the lack of Humanity I have found in my job search, I believe that this is why there is so much poverty in the world. I use to work in outreach and frankly rather than picking up a fellow human being a person who is working would rather drive past, roll up the window, tint the glass and now pay attention. But anyone could be in that situation at any time in their life, and if you shut out someone now chances are you will need them later on. So many people paint a bleak picture of others because they are fearful of foundational things that happen to them in their lives, they have no truth to support this with the new person they are running on autopilot.

So regardless of what is on your resume, you still have to be able to write in such a way that you do not trigger some flags in the person reading that drums up unproven fears. And i guess this is why approaching senior management and hiring people is more important, often these individuals are gifted at knowing people and make hiring decisions with ease. So I think your resume need to drive home salable accomplishments things that bring in value and off set wage. Like landing a big sale against all odds, or reduction of internal costs to make the company more profitable. Because at the end of the day business is about profits, and if you can't demonstrate your worth your wage then why hire.