Resume question that I struggle to answer. If someone has been working for ~20 years and has worked at a number of companies during that time (let’s say 10 for the sake of this example), the resume becomes way too long. Is it okay to remove the 1st couple of jobs that were held after college even if relevant? Or maybe delete a job or 2 if they aren’t 100% relevant to the rest of the person’s career? Final option is to leave names of companies (and titles) of early roles but delete the content.

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If there's a lot of repetitive duties etc then just go with the titles to show progression for the first few roles, and leave responsibilities and achievements of the more recent positions, which are likely the more relevant parts anyway.

likehelpful

That’s exactly what my professional resume writer suggested as well so I have a few lines at the bottom listing simply title & company

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Hi! Recruiter here! In my opinion I don’t think you should ever remove a job from a resume. I would recommend removing the description/ content instead, for the older jobs. I’d leave the company name and job title and the dates you worked there, but remove everything else. I never read past the most recent 3-4 jobs. When looking at resumes, recruiters tend to look for most recent / relevant anyway. So leave the descriptions for those roles and take it away from much older ones.

I hope this helps!

likehelpful

I’m not sure we want to admit it but age discrimination exists-state the early experience if you must but leave the dates off

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Yes, it is perfectly fine to remove the 1st couple of jobs. It is not necessary to include every single job you have ever had on your resume. Instead, you should focus on including the jobs that are most relevant to the position you are applying for.

likesmarthelpful

I would lean more to a functional resume vs chronological. That style is actually pretty popular recently. Especially with the “great resignation “ happening. Focuses more on skill set and less on location and timeline

Having been in recruiting for 25+ years, I’ve seen resumes from a single page up to 13 pages! There is not a need to have a resume beyond 2-3 pages even for someone whose work experience spans multiple decades.

What matters most to me as a recruiter is the career progression into more challenging and higher level roles with an increased sense of responsibility and a skill set that aligns to the position a candidate is applying to at my company. Does the person have additional certifications and/or degrees to support this?

I don’t recommend listing every job held on a resume., but only for the last 15-20 years. Yes, age discrimination does exist, but at the same time, skills from 20 years ago may no longer be relevant.

I think the last option is probably the best. The way I have my resume formatted is relevant experience (2-3 jobs with details) and other experience (just the role, company, dates).

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