Is this acceptable form for my resume?

You could move it to most relevant experience, or highlighted experience. It also saves the person reading the CV the bother of hunting for experience that counts towards a particular job.

I would hope the employer would know earliest does not mean the most relevant. But if you add “starting from the earliest”, it won’t be so bad.

As I was taught (in a class for getting jobs as a disabled person) is that no matter what the employer is going to notice gaps. But for those of us who do have gaps using a non-chronological format can work better for us because it shows we do have some useful and relevant experience. As long as the dates of everything are listed you aren’t being deceitful or anything like that.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with listing “Full-time Homemaker and part-time [whatever]” during the period in question. The cover letter should also be clear that you’re now looking for full-time employment in whatever relevant position the résumé‘s otherwise supports.

@Supacase I had a similar situation, only I was a SAHM for 14 years. My resume is constructed in such a way that my strong points are right at the top, followed by experience and history. If you want to PM or email me, I’d be happy to show you mine, or you can send me yours and I can play with the format for you.

What a great idea. If either of you would like to show me yours, then I’ll show you mine, too.

That always got me in trouble in grade school. It won’t this time, will it?

@hug_of_war Most of my gap is filled with a decent amount of volunteer work and much of it could easily relate to administrative, management and business experience. I’m hoping that will help.

Prepare an experience based resume, in addition to a chronological one. Give your experiences some thought, determine which skills you possess will be most attractive to an employer in the type of job you are seeking and build your resume around that.

This will work when you are dealing with small employers, when you are networking and trying to meet and cultivate new contacts or when you actually get in front of someone who will interview you.

On the other hand, if you are applying through job boards, employers’ websites, sites like Monster or Career Builder, your resume is going to get screened electronically and you can submit both resumes and see what happens. There is no loss in applying more than once.

In fact, having more than one resume, even two or three, might not be a bad idea.

Just as an aside, my wife has worked in a non-teaching but professional capacity in a classroom for over 15 years. She has called herself a “para-educator” which frankly sounds a lot better than Teacher Aide and is a valid description of her job.

Good luck on your job search.

SRM