Turning a Lot of Experience Into An Effective Resume

How to use a varied work history to your advantage

Perhaps, generations ago, students graduated from college and found jobs related to their majors. They stayed at these jobs for several years before moving on to the next job, which was still in the same industry but hopefully a step up.

For today's workers, the path is less clear. Whether or not you go to college, your work history probably has quite a bit of variety in it. The workplace is constantly changing and, thanks to technology, jobs are disappearing and being created all the time. Ten years ago no one was a social media manager, but today people who spent years as public relations, marketing and journalism are spending their days on Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Once you factor in the recent recession and the dot-com bubble burst, workers are laid off and scramble to find new jobs, even if they're in new fields.