Removing past work experience can improve your resume

You may think, “Why would I ever want to remove my past work experience from the resume?” But it might be one of the best things you could do to score an interview. Have you been sending out a resume with all your previous jobs listed and not receiving a single call from a recruiter? The fault might be in your career summary.

Hiring managers don’t want to know about every job you’ve had since the day you started working fifteen years ago. A winning resume only goes back as far as it needs to. Whenever you write a resume, you should strive to mention only relevant work experience. How far back your resume goes depends on your work history. Professional resume writers always advise you to put more emphasis on your most recent experience and less emphasis on older jobs.

Don’t let your resume go further than 10 – 15 years

A resume should include details of your last 10 to 15 years of employment for several good reasons.

It helps you fight back against age discrimination

Age discrimination is very real in the hiring scene today. Employers believe that younger candidates are more innovative. Also, there’s a misconception amongst recruiters that older candidates cost more for companies. Whatever the case, age-proofing your resume would not hurt your chances.

It helps your resume be more relevant for the job

When you move back further in your career, your work experience becomes less relevant. You may even end up using outdated technology and concepts to describe your achievements when you talk about experiences older than a decade. You should focus on the more recent experiences so that your resume mentions all the right keywords relevant to the job.

It helps employers scan your resume quicker

Too much work experience may make for a very cluttered resume. You might even end up allocating small margins and ridiculously small font sizes to create space on the resume for all those details. Recruiters don’t like to read through difficult resumes. When you include too many work experiences, you will only reduce your chances of being hired.

It helps manage the length of your resume

Most recruiters are okay with reading a two-page resume. Anything longer than that may not even get read fully by an employer. When you tailor the work experience of your resume to suit the job, you make it easier for a reader to stay focused on your qualifications throughout the resume.

What are the exceptions to the 15-year rule?

Although we advise you to not go further than 15 years when talking about your experience, there are a few cases when you don’t have to adhere to this rule:

• If you have experience at a prestigious company - It will help pique the interest of a hiring manager if you have worked for a respected business previously.
• A job that is highly relevant to the role – If you don’t have newer experiences to show for a certain required skill, you can use an older example.
• When you have climbed up the ladder at the same company – You can highlight your loyalty as well as your commitment to improving yourself by listing different jobs under the same employer.
• If the job requires many years of experience – Keep the past experiences relevant and take care not to let your resume become too long.