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My base loc is Bengaluru, but currently I am not mandatorily required to work from office, and have been working from home since I joined Deloitte in July. Should I talk to my manager and go back to my hometown Kolkata and work from there? Staying in PG all day and working from here is not quite feasible for me. Suggest pls. Deloitte India
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Not to sound crass but welcome to ageism and job hunting in 2026. I most times can’t even get past the Video HR screen to the interview stage because of my older appearance and my rejection comes in form of over-qualified, not a culture fit, and we are really looking for someone to “grow” into the position which are all the standard phrases masking ageism. It is them who are being deceptive / tricking you into believing that bias hiring is a thing of the past.
I did a few of those video screens and never got beyond that stage. Then one day I decided to check out the company’s website. It wasn’t to read up on them but to look for staff photographs. And lo and behold, I found the photos on The Team page. No one was over 30 years of age, I’m considerably older than that so I didn’t go ahead with their video interview with Steve, our energetic and charismatic founder. Thanks Steve O, but I’m taking a rain check on your energy and charisma.
The rule of thumb is to limit your recent job experience to around 10-15 years.
Include the last 10–15 years of relevant work experience on your resume, which generally equates to 3–5 positions. Prioritize recent, relevant roles that match the job description, rather than listing your entire employment history. Entry-level candidates can include 1-2 jobs, while seniors should focus on the last 5-6 roles.
Key guidelines for job experience include:
Relevance Over History: Only include roles that demonstrate skills required for the job you are applying for, says a user on Reddit.
Reverse Chronological Order: List your most recent, and therefore most relevant, experience first.
Detailing vs. Summarizing: Provide 3-6 bullet points for recent roles and briefly summarize or omit jobs older than 15 years.
Handling Older Roles: If necessary, older positions can be listed without dates in a "Previous Experience" section.
For most professionals, 3–5 recent, impactful roles are superior to a long, comprehensive list
In the UK we do this. A CV/resume can not be longer than two A4 size sheets of paper - not a lot of paper real estate to work with, but that’s a positive for you. You can only put text on one side of each sheet, no photograph and generally only add the past 3 to 5 years in your work history. Only add jobs that are relevant to the job you are now applying for, nothing else. Put older ‘relevant’ experience in a skills section, list what impact those skills had on your work, as in, I did X and the result was Y. Don’t loose any sleep over tricking employers, reframe that thought as levelling the playing field.
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I can’t be sure if this works because I still haven’t been hired, but ChatGPT had me group my earlier positions together on my resume and not date that section.
But you’re screwed anyway as soon as they make you put the date of your degree. 1985 was a LONG time ago.
Can you leave that date part out? What difference does that make as to what date you got your degree anyway - as log as you have the qualifications to do the job? Are they checking to be sure you in fact graduated ? I know it is a sneaky way of getting to your age.
I still listed the company names and times, keeping that section short, figuring if they don't want me because of my age, it's their loss. I work in IT, so those skills are likely outdated, but the early company roles are still important.