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if you have had a string of unpleasant experiences in work, it is not the easiest thing to write an attractive resume. What exactly do you write when there are not too many glowing things to put? Yet one would not want to veer too far away from the truth either. The following tips should help.

The first thing to do is to identify any trends within your experiences. This is not apportioning blame to you or the workplace. This first part is to actually see if there is a common thread running through the causes of the bad experiences. Having done that, the next thing to assess is whether the trend stems from your own personality and way of approach, from a lack of resources or a lack of knowledge/ training. Then see what you actually

learned about yourself, or way of doing things, with each experience.

The primary purpose of your resume is to get yourself an interview. It is worth bearing that in mind because it is very tempting to see that resume as just a history of your past experiences, and statements about your skills and aptitudes. Always bear in mind the important question: Why should an employer interview me above all the other candidates that would be applying? For that reason, the last thing that recruiter wants to see or hear about are your bad experiences. that does nothing for the recruiter except to mark you as potential trouble!

Having explored the nature of those experiences, and the reasons behind them, the key on the resume is to emphasise how you positively remedied those bad experiences, rather than focusing on the experiences themselves. Demonstrating how you were able to perform more effectively, regardless of the other factors in the situation, would make you sound a more attractive bet. It is all about the focus of that resume in attracting a new employer, whether it is negative or positive, blameworthy or empowering.

Concentrating only on the positive things you LEARNED from those bad experiences, writing about them without being negative, without blaming anyone or dishing any dirt is a skill which takes time to develop but it can be done. For example, if you were fired from a job, after stating what the job was about, write your role and responsibility in it, the skills you gained from it and, most important, what you contributed to it. Then briefly mention that you had a disagreement on the execution or management of a project, or whatever it was, and you agreed with the company for you to leave because you felt that your talents,

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