“Must Have: 3+ years of relevant work experience …”

If you’ve ever seen this phrase on a job posting and had to pause for a moment, you’re not alone. “Relevant work experience” is a phrase that’s thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean? How can you tell if your work experience is relevant? And what can you do if yours, well, isn’t?

Keep reading for the answers to those questions — plus tips on emphasizing relevant experience, getting past resume scanners, and a few things you can add to your resume to up your relevancy factor.

To find out if you have emphasized your relevant experience, upload your resume to the tool below. It scans your resume and provides personalized suggestions for highlighting key accomplishments and skills.

What counts as relevant experience?

So, what does relevant experience actually mean? Any past role that aligns with the skills, responsibilities, and requirements of the job you’re applying for can count as “relevant experience.” This includes:

• Similar roles that closely match the new job requirements
• Overlapping duties
• Directly applicable skill sets
• Transferable skills
• Industry-specific experience
• Tangible accomplishments that indicate your potential for success in the new role

Most importantly, relevant work experience isn’t limited to paid work in the exact same role, industry, or job title as the one you’re applying to. Those can all help if you have them, but if your experience isn’t obviously relevant, there are still ways to make it work — scroll down for details.

Types of relevant experience to include on your resume

Relevant work experience doesn’t have to be limited to full-time paid work. Consider including the following types of work on your resume.

Full-time, part-time, or contract positions

Paid work experience in a similar role is the best — and the easiest — way to demonstrate that you have the skills and know-how to succeed in the job you’re applying for.

Internships

Even short-term or unpaid internships can demonstrate that you have some background in your chosen industry, especially if you’re a newly-minted graduate.

Freelance and consulting roles

Treat these the same as you would any other kind of paid work, especially if it was full-time or on top of other relevant work.

Self-employment

Starting your own business is a great way to develop industry-relevant skills. It also demonstrates soft skills that will translate in a lot of different roles, like leadership, organization, and a strong work ethic.

Side gigs

If you don’t have a lot of traditional work experience or you’re considering changing careers, gig work that’s more closely aligned with the job you want can really help you spin your resume into something with a little more relevance.

Volunteer work

The next best thing to paid work is volunteering. This doesn’t have to be in the same industry or even role, but it should allow you to demonstrate directly relevant hard skills.

Projects

This could include significant academic or research projects, capstone courses, or personal projects with some kind of tangible result — for example, published papers, documented code, or a working product.

Extracurricular activities

These shouldn’t take the place of other experience if you have it, but as a current student or recent graduate — especially if you were involved in a significant capacity — they can be a valuable addition to your resume.

Professional organizations

Board membership, committee involvement, industry events, or other involvement in professional organizations can add to your relevant experience (especially if you held a leadership role or other position of merit).

How to tell if your experience is relevant

Still wondering if your experience really counts as relevant? Follow these steps to help you decide what’s relevant and tally up your number of years of “relevant” experience.

1. Look at the target job description. Pay particular attention to the key skills, tasks, and qualifications mentioned — this is what you’ll be matching your experience against.
2. Make a list of your own experiences that are similar in some way. It’s okay to include partial matches here — for example, roles in the same industry but in a very different position, or ones where you developed soft skills you can easily transfer.
3. Decide how relevant each entry is. You can do this in any way that makes sense to you; for example, by ranking them in order of most to least relevant, dividing them into direct vs indirect experience, or giving each one a simple score.
4. Decide how many years (or months, etc.) of experience each position is worth. This is easy if the work was directly relevant, but if it feels like a stretch, consider what portion of your experience is likely to translate.
5. Add up the duration of each role. If you worked multiple overlapping positions, count these separately (as long as you worked the equivalent of full-time in each).
6. Use your best judgment when it comes to part-time work. If you worked 3-4 days a week for a year, it’s fine to count that as a full year, but if you volunteered a couple of hours a week or on a seasonal basis, you may want to consider pro-rating your experience.
7. Upload your resume and a copy of the target job description to Targeted Resume to benefit from objective insights into how relevant your experience is for the job you want.

How to showcase relevant experience

If you have directly relevant experience, you can make sure it stands out on your resume by:

• Customizing your bullet points. If you’re applying to a few different roles, try swapping out a bullet point or two to include your most relevant accomplishments.
• Focusing on achievements. This is a good strategy whether your experience is obviously relevant or not, since quantifiable metrics are the best way to let a hiring manager imagine how you’d succeed in a new role.
• Incorporating specific keywords from the job description. Including the exact job title, listing essential skills, and mentioning specific tasks in your bullet points can all help emphasize the relevance of your experience (as well as helping you get past Applicant Tracking Systems).
• Giving more space to relevant positions. Unless you’re going with two Work Experience sections (see below), don’t mess with chronological order — but you can choose to list more accomplishments from more relevant positions and fewer for less relevant roles. You can even opt to leave out those other positions entirely, as long as it doesn’t leave an obvious resume gap.
• Separating your resume into “Relevant Experience” and “Other Experience.” This isn’t recommended in all cases, but it can be useful if you held an older position that’s more relevant than your current role.
• Writing a resume summary. A quick (100-word) resume summary can help summarize your most relevant experience at a glance.

What to do if you don’t have relevant experience

Of course, you may be staring at your resume and thinking there’s no way you can spin your work history into something that looks relevant. If you lack experience, are changing careers, or are just thinking about trying something new, here are some tips for making your resume appear more relevant:

• Mention any relevant skills you possess. List these in your Skills section and consider including a short bullet point or two in a Projects or Work Experience section detailing how you’ve used those skills in action.
• Identify transferable skills. If you don’t have any relevant hard skills, focusing on soft skills can work in your favor. Teamwork, communication, leadership, problem solving, creativity, and attention to detail are all soft skills, which means they’re just as relevant to project management roles as they are to teaching high school.
• Focus on accomplishments rather than job titles. If you’re a former admin aiming to transfer into the finance sector, including accomplishments like managing a budget, making large purchases, negotiating with vendors, or even implementing a new filing system all reflect duties that are similar to what you’ll be expected to handle in the new role.