Do you have more than 5 years of experience and want to apply for new jobs but don't know how to make a resume to get 100% shortlisting? Well, your resume must have some unique sections to demonstrate what you've done in your past companies.

There's more to what you can change in the existing portfolio and make it look the best among the other candidates. Below are some highly useful resume tips for experienced professionals:

Why Your Resume Needs an Update After 5+ Years

You must remember that your duties are increasing and your job is becoming more demanding now. You've handled challenging situations and achieved major results. But your resume still looks like it used to be years ago.

In 2025, businesses do not traditionally scan resumes. They try to find evidence that you are hard working and are adaptable to their work culture. Also, they want to see whether you can work with the latest tools and apply to the fast-changing situations.

A resume filled with tasks and date-based formatting isn't getting hired, even if your credentials are good.

Here's what's changed:

• Long descriptions are not used now. Bullet points revealing impact work better.

• Each line should address what you do now rather than what you used to do ten years ago.

• Passive statements, empty soft skills, and clichés in excess can be scrolled right over.

• Your resume must get past human and software screens.

1. Eliminate Generic Objectives

Make a brief, pointed statement rather than making some generic statement of intent about what you're seeking. Identify your best area, the industries you've dealt with, and what you've achieved.

Example:

• 8+ years of marketing experience in consumer brands and fintech.

• Recognized for transforming underperforming funnels into high-converting sales funnels.

• Achieved 40%+ increase in revenue from 3 high-impact campaigns.

2. Place Results at Center Stage

No one remembers a paragraph about responsibilities. People remember the impact you have made. If you managed a team, show the outcome. Use real figures and data for this.

Before - Managed a regional team of salespeople and achieved growth.

After -

• Managed 3-state, 12-member sales team.

• Achieved six consecutive quarters of 18%+ over quarterly revenue targets.

3. Don't List Tools, Show Their Use

Anyone can drop tool names on a resume—Excel, Jira, Power BI, HubSpot, you name it. But here's the truth: no one’s impressed by a list. What actually catches attention? Showing how you used those tools to solve problems that mattered.

Don’t just say: “Proficient in Excel”

Say: “Built a multi-sheet pricing model in Excel that helped cut quoting time by 3 hours per client.”

Don’t just say: “Used Jira for project tracking”

Say: “Ran 2-week sprints using Jira across 3 teams and reduced delivery delays by 30%.”

Don’t just say: “Familiar with Power BI”

Say: “Created an executive dashboard in Power BI to monitor 12 KPIs—helped leadership catch a revenue dip early.”

4. Clarify Ambiguous Job Titles

If your position has one of those startup-sounding titles such as "People Champion" or "Business Evangelist," make sure it's clear. Provide an in-bracket synonym if necessary.

Example: People Champion (HR Business Partner) – ABC Pvt. Ltd.

5. Insert a "Key Wins" Section Toward the Beginning

This is a short and bullet-format section before your experience. It must catch the attention of the HR and help them know what you have done so far.

Example:

• Decrease training time by 50% by automating new hire onboarding.

• Became among the top 3 in an underperforming area in only 9 months.

• Secured ₹1.2Cr business deal by reworking sales presentation.

6. Keep it Tight—2 Pages Max

If you've done a lot of work in the past companies, no need to include everything on your resume. If it happened over a decade ago and doesn't relate to where you're headed, shrink it down to one line.

7. Sync with LinkedIn

Inconsistency in your resume and LinkedIn creates red flags. Get your dates, job titles, and tone consistent. Rewrite your LinkedIn headline as well, let it reflect what you do best, not your job title.

If you have done enough work and generated tangible results, make sure your resume shows that.

Start With a Tailored Professional Summary

Nobody reads one of your bullet points without sneaking a peek at the top. The summary section shouldn't feel like filler, it should feel like you are explaining about your personality. A compelling summary precedes everything: who you are, what you’ve done, and what you’re ready to take on next. It’s your headline, and it influences the entirety of your resume's remaining reading.

1. Make Your Summary a Positioning Statement

Your professional summary should be more than job titles. It's your intro, your best pitch in a few lines. In 3-4 lines, show your overall experience, industry context, key strengths driving impact, and what kind of impact.

Be concise, timely, and assertive.

This brief segment establishes the tone for the remainder of your resume and frequently determines whether one continues reading.

2. Focus on Achievements Over Responsibilities

Asserting what was at the top of your to-do list isn’t communicating what you brought to the table. Hiring managers are not searching for task checklists. They are looking for evidence of what positive changes you created.

If you helped make something better, add it. Quantify using numbers, outcomes, and achievements. That’s how you make your experience come through in a pile of resumes.

3. Use Metrics to Show Impact

Not everyone can write down what they did in the past. What distinguishes you is what output you have come with in the past companies and you can add it stating the real numbers.

Example:

“Increased sales in the region by 28% year-on-year. Managed a team of salespeople.”

Your resume ought to document actual results rather than not so necessary activities

4. Avoid Rewriting Your Job Description

Your resume is not an HR document; it's evidence of progress. Rather than listing what was in your job description, demonstrate how you overcame obstacles and led something worthwhile. This is where hiring managers begin to view you as someone who deserves the role.

Cut Out Irrelevant or Outdated Experience

You must stick to what the achievements and experience that supports your career today. The last 10–15 years usually reflect your most relevant work. Older roles, unless directly related, can be trimmed down or left out. You must also include the positions where you took charge, solved problems, or moved things forward.

1. Limit to Last 10–15 Years

Your recent work says the most about who you are today. Keep the spotlight on roles where you took charge, delivered outcomes, and moved forward.

That's because after higher secondary, a lot of people join unpaid internships or part-time jobs that are not related to their current roles. You can remove these from your resume and just add the work you've done in the past 5-10 years.

2. Skip Entry-Level Tasks

You've passed the basics, and your resume should include. Avoid filling space and relegating tasks at the outset of your career to resume space, UNLESS they directly relate to your career path today. Instead, highlight your choices, problems you have solved, and projects you led.

Don't mention the volunteer work or unpaid jobs you did. The HR only cares about the brands you have worked with till now. Also, Make your resume convey your performance level and not simply your timeline.

Use Keywords From the Job Description

Computer hiring software like ATS reads resumes even before an actual human sees them. If your resume isn't using words taken directly from the job ad, you won't get beyond that initial filter.

That's not about using whole phrases but getting specific keywords to show your capabilities. Also, use words that match the job title to get an ATS-friendly resume as it will help you get you shortlisted.

Boost Your ATS Compatibility

When companies use ATS, they check if your resume resembles their job posting. That includes recognizing particular phrases used in the listing such as tools, job titles, or skill sets and adding them easily to your resume.

No need to force it. Just mirror the language that reflects the kind of work you already do. This helps your resume land in the right pile, especially when the HR hasn't seen it yet. It's a smart way to get noticed without changing your experience and skills.

Keep Your Resume Format Clean

A poor design can divert eyes away from what's truly important. A clean structure is easier for software and humans to quickly find the right information.

Use one column, keep white space sufficient, and add easy-to-read fonts like Arial, Calibri, and Times New Roman.

Use a Simple, Modern Layout

The design of your resume can affect whether or not it is read. So, here's what you should do:

A clean structure does more than appear better; it also helps you get noticed.

Customize for Every Application

One resume can't possibly do justice to each opportunity. Each job has its own emphasis and your resume should reflect that. Rearrange the work most applicable to the forefront, use job posting language, and cut what's hindering your chances.

Minor adjustments can bring the strongest points to the forefront and provide hiring teams with exactly what they’re expecting to see.

Highlight What Matters Most for Each Role

There is a requirement of some soft skills and experience in every job. Your resume should embody that. Rearrange the most salient experience towards the front, use keywords from the job posting, and remove anything unnecessary. It's reorganizing and editing so the right content appears at the front.

Here's a list of important things that you must definitely use in your resume:

• 1-line summary of your role

• Top 3–5 achievements with metrics

• Latest tools/technologies used

• Leadership/ownership moments

• Major problems solved or process improvements

• Key collaborations

• Awards, recognitions, or promotions tied to that role

Conclusion

For experienced professionals, a resume should show how they have handled responsibilities in the past, worked through different problems, and added value. And for this, you can organize it in a way that the important points stays in the place where recruiters give a glance. Stick to facts and don’t let typos slip in — they can instantly change how you're perceived.

With these resume tips for experienced professionals, you can create a resume that helps you land more callbacks and opens up new interview opportunities.