Another resume question... Do you put all of your past jobs on a resume?

Question

I have been working for a lot of years... do i just put the relevant ones? How do I explain the gaps in employment?

Answer 1

Great question. I am a manager so I constantly see resumes and I am bombarded with resumes of people that list their entire work history. I don't really need to know that you were once a bagger at Piggly Wiggly in high school if you are interviewing for a professional position.

In the resume game, the best answer I can give you is to keep it short, simple, but informative. Make sure to list your most prominent and current work first. If you don't have any professional experience, but are degreed, list the degree first over any non professional work. You want the most relevant information read first.

Think of your resume as a newspaper story - the headline being the most important thing to grab the reader's interest. If your headline or in the case of the resume body of work is not attention grabbing, you will get thrown into the pile with the other billion mundane and unprofessional resumes.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Usually only the past 5 years are relevant to an employer, unless there's something that you think is relevant from more than 5 years ago, in which case you could summarize. I put something like "over 11 years in the banking industry in various capacities such as bla bla bla (whatever relates to the job I'm applying for)"
Your resume should be fairly specific to the job you're applying for.
Explain gaps in employment as honestly as possible. If you need to, get someone to help you find a positive spin on the gap.
Instead of "I was so depressed from being fired that I moped around the house in my pyjamas for 6 months" say "I spent some time exploring my career objectives"
Find someone to help you build a good resume. There are professional services available in most major cities.

Answer 3

I 'd probably create a section with bullets of all the jobs you've had just to make sure that all time is accounted for. Then I'd go into detail concerning the jobs that are relevant. Don't forget that unless you have a Master's Degree with a lot of work experience, then the resume should be no longer than 1 page.

Answer 4

You should be sure to include 10 years of your most recent employment history. Leave no gaps. Even those jobs that do not seem relevant to you might interest your prospective employer.

If you have one area of specialty that includes history prior to 10 years and is relevant to the position you are applying for then include that information as well.

Answer 5

in easy terms handle this whether it truly is reported to you. as long as your resume shows some stability - or greater suitable than a three hundred and sixty 5 days - at your listed jobs i think you would be positive. putting it on your cover letter could be a adverse for you as curiously to be an excuse. Being a individual who seems and evaluates resumes at my submit, whilst i glance into a cover letter and it has what seems to be an excuse I easily have a tendency to place them in the "do not call" pile. without putting forward it and looking out over the jobs and length of time at each and each I regularly broach the area of durability for the period of the interview. that's the place human beings have added defined the interest hopper like prestige listed on their resume. I easily have in my opinion employed lots of the applicants that for the time of positive condition what your resume sounds like because of the valid motives which you have listed for leaving jobs. you will not fault "existence" for going on, no remember the clarification.

Answer 6

You don't have to put all the years you've worked-only the relevant ones that applies to the job you are applying for.

And as for explaining gap years-find something you did(adventure,activities etc) that applied the qualities the job requires

goodluck

Answer 7

if you want to have them in the resume to explain gaps, use 2 sections: "Relevant Experience" and "Other Experience"
put the relevant ones (detailed) in the former, and the other jobs (not detailed- just where and dates) in the latter.

Answer 8

Usually you put the last 3 to 4 jobs in order. If you were outstanding at a job that is not one of the last 3 to 4 put it under other skills or comments.

Answer 9

Put the jobs that are at least 5-10 years past before you got this new job.

Answer 10

No just relevant ones....dont explain gaps unless asked