As a "Jill-of-all-trades", how do I show experience / expertise beyond my job title on my resume?https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyjfink/

Posted in:Advice Job Hunting Career Growth

I consider myself a "Jill-of-all-trades" ... AKA a software project manager.

In my 12 years of software experience (plus many more in radio engineering) I have worked at companies with small teams, effectively chronically short-staffed. The result, I took on as many roles and tasks as needed to allow the devs / engineers to focus on their primary tasks.

I am currently on a job hunt, trying to focus on some of the other roles I have experience in (Product Owner, Operations, UX/UI Design) that are specifically NOT Project Management. Project management has burnt me out what feels like beyond repair, and I honestly don't even like traditional PM tasks (e.g. schedules, budgets, change management, etc.).

My question is, how do I effectively show that I have a vast quantity of experience in a bunch of roles beyond the Project Management titles?? From what I have read, it is key to show titles in order to show growth and experience. But I am worried that I will get type cast in the Project Manager role because of this, or looked over for other roles with different titles.

I currently add the title and then list out the roles as well, but I don't know if this is helping or hindering me. I have attached a screenshot of my resume (I hope) and added the link to my LinkedIn profile for reference.

Advice? Feedback? Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

sarahing·Oct 02

Hey @amyfink! I'd optimize for the role that you want, rather than showcasing the breadth of experience.For example - what would a Product Owner's responsibilities be? I'd pull those things out for each role and remove the tags you have (UX Designer, Operations, etc) because it dilutes the message. I'd then save your jill-of-all-trades (can totally relate to this as an english major turned dev turned coach) for the interview and shape the narrative of this being your superpower. Your ability to understand many parts of the business and learn quickly is a huge asset!You've got this for sure.Sarah

amyfink·Oct 02

Thanks @sarahing! I love your advice on this being my superpower :) One quick follow up... let's say I am applying for a Product Owner role, I take out the tags and list the experience relevant to that role as you suggest, but then that leaves me applying for a Product Owner role with Project Manager titles... do you think it lessens my chances of making the first cut? Or should I "tweak" my titles to imply the more specific Product Owner role?

sarahing·Oct 03

The latter for sure. Make it more compelling to Product Owner.

isalg·Oct 15

I agree with Sarah on this. I am an operations management consultant, and I never wanted to specialize either. So this is what I do:- I never send my complete resume and instead select the experiences that align to each bullet point. - If the experience doesn't enhance keyword match or doesn't showcase how I align with a specific responsibility, I remove it. - I add the "domain" at the beginning of each bullet point (e.g. process engineering, supply chain transformation, business development, etc.) or the skillset it aligns with (e.g. partnership management, quantitative analysis, etc.) to help the reader understand the context of the experience.

amyfink·Oct 16

Thank you! This is very helpful.