I recently came across a resume that listed a summer cashier position
in 1976 as part of a person's "professional experience."
While it may seem a little strange or ridiculous to include an irrelevant
position from nearly 25 years ago, I can tell you that it's actually
not that uncommon to come across something like this. A lot of people
think that they literally need to include everything they've ever
been involved with on their resumes, and I can assure you that not
only do you not have to follow suit, you also don't really need to
go back any longer than 10 years.
The main goal of your resume should be to impress the reader with
the specific qualifications and experiences that make you fit to be
hired for a desired position. That being said, the reader is most
interested in what you have done recently, not in what you did over
10 years ago. The bulk of your resume should be devoted to the last
few years of your working history - this is what potential employers
want to know about.
If you're like most people, you've probably held a number of jobs
over time if you include the part-time and casual positions. If wrote
a little bit about each one of these, your resume would probably near
the 4 page mark on experience alone. Considering it shouldn't be longer
than 2 pages, this is far from ideal.
When it comes to listing your professional experiences, stick to the
most recent and relevant positions. There is no need to include everything,
and writing about too much will sometimes blur your positions together
and detract from your real qualifications. Unless you've held the
same position for over 10 years, there is really no reason to go back
any longer than this, and employers don't even expect to go back that
far on your resume anyway. If you do have quite an extensive work
history of relevant positions, focus on the most recent ones and then
simply list the earlier positions under a new category for "previous
or other employment."
Just remember that there is such a thing as "too much" on
a resume. Focus on what the hiring manager wants to see, not on how
much information you can cram onto it.
|
