Its everywhere my dear... The people responsible for hiring look at three things, longevity on past jobs, appearance, (yes its true) and salary you are willing to take, they don't even look at experience that much as most want to train you their way. At least thats what the couple living next to my son say and they are HEAD HUNTERS finding employees for many companies here in town.
Longevity in past jobs is important..up to a certain point. But in order for employers to assess a candidate's potential for learning quickly, being flexible to adapt to frequent organizational change and technological changes within 1 organization, the resume more desirably show evidence of the person's capability to be quite flexible and resourceful particularily if their role for 1 employer has changed over the years or working for several different employers.
For the past 10 years, I actually have 2-3 slightly different resumes at any given time. Each resume is targeted for 3 different types of jobs.
My resume format is in following content order/sequence:
MY NAME, university degree initials. personal contact info.
Summary statement of overall expertise. (I don't state what I want, I state what I am. This statement is adjusted per job type. It is 2 lines long.)
Summary bullet list of my strongest skills. Bullet list lists approx. 6 different skill areas where listed jobs later on will be "evidence".
Then listing of my past jobs --with employer name, city location. AND their website. (this cuts down the future employers from trying to figure out what type of firm/industry I worked in. In some cases, I give exact website of the library that I worked in. Each job highlights core work and 1-2 major achievements.
My educational history. (only post high school)
Summary of computer software platforms and licensed research databases as an applications developer, systems administrator and instructor. I do identify which software I have intermediate vs. basic level.
Summary of professional associations & any corresponding committee work, list of some published articles in professional journals.
Summary of other personal activities/interests. Sometimes this is blank. But I do include something more often..now only 1 line. I tend to choose to list activities that are: creative / show physical activity/endurance. I know this sounds absurd, but anything to smash the rickety-old bones 50+ stereotype.
I have a resume on the surface, looks scattered with a wierd assortment of employers. So I need to state on the lst page that shows I'm NOT scattered, I am highly flexible and adaptable to a wide range of corporate cultures.
Employers do want candidates that not only are trainable, but fit their culture and resilient --can cope with whatever big changes the organizational throws at them.
I have a close friend who is just 1 yr. younger than I. We've known each other since early 20's. She has a work history like mine...highly diverse range of employers and over 8-9 different jobs since 1983. (when we both graduated together from university). Like myself, she just started a new job as well recently that does use her formal training.