Resume History: How Far Back Should a Resume Go?

How much career detail does your resume really need?

Are you struggling to land interviews despite being perfectly qualified for the job? Your resume might be the culprit. Writing a well-crafted and persuasive resume is essential in today's competitive job market. But when it comes to your work history, how far back should a resume go? It’s a question that perplexes many job seekers, so we’re here to demystify the resume-writing process.

Why is the timeline of your resume so important?

Employers scrutinize your work history to gain insights into your experience, skills, and career progression. They need to identify whether you can meet their requirements – and the biggest clues to how you’ll perform in the future come from how you performed in the past. That’s why giving the right amount of detail for each role, and going back an appropriate amount of time, is so important.

In this article, we explore how far back a resume should go. We’ll also delve into what employers look for in a work history and how you can optimize this section to stand out from the competition.

What work history should be on a resume?

The goal is to present a focused resume history section that showcases your qualifications and aligns with the job you're targeting. It's essential to strike the right balance between being relevant and being concise. We advise including only the most relevant and impactful experiences, as that is what will allow you to demonstrate your suitability for the position and increase your chances of securing an interview.

These key considerations will help you to decide what to include:

Relevant work experience: Prioritize roles that align with the skills, qualifications, and responsibilities mentioned in the job advert. The advert is your cheat-sheet for what the hiring manager will be looking for when they review your resume.
Recent employment: Start with your current or most recent job and work backward for approximately 10 to 15 years.
Significant roles and achievements: Consider roles that don’t directly correlate to your target role, but enable you to demonstrate additional skills that aren’t evident elsewhere on the resume. This could include roles where you demonstrated leadership, achieved impressive results, or contributed to major projects
Length and white space: Your resume should ideally not exceed 2 pages, but there needs to be enough white space to enable it to be easily digested by a recruiter in just a few seconds.

Expert tip: The 6-second test is the approximate time frame in which hiring managers scan a resume to determine its suitability, making it crucial to create a visually appealing and concise document that immediately captures their attention.

The golden rule

When deciding how far back your resume should go, the key word is RELEVANCE. If something isn’t relevant to your next steps, consider very carefully if it deserves a place on your resume.

That’s why we recommend tailoring your resume to every role you apply for. It doesn’t take long, if you start with a strong master resume, but it enables you to keep it focused and relevant to the role in hand.

Myth busting

While it’s common to think that a resume should include every role you’ve ever held, that’s just not the case. You can be selective with what you include. For example, you may wish to omit:

Early career roles: If you’re several years into your career, your first roles may not seem relevant to your next steps. There’s no obligation to include your weekend job in a restaurant if you’re now the manager of an IT department!
Short-term positions: Sometimes, it’s necessary to take a job as a stop-gap between other positions. If those stop-gap jobs don’t add any value, they can be removed from the resume.
Jobs you left on bad terms: If you’re worrying about getting a glowing reference, you may want to consider leaving the job off your resume – or at least minimizing the amount of space you dedicate to it.
Selected contracts: As a contractor, your resume can rapidly spin out of control if you try to list every contract. Focus instead on the ones most aligned with your target role.

Expert tip: If you’re worried about causing gaps in your career history by removing jobs from your resume, check out our post about how to navigate this: Addressing employment gaps on your resume.

How far back should a resume go?

When you’re thinking about how far back a resume should go, considering general rules of thumb can help you to strike the right balance. Let's explore practical guidelines, potential age discrimination concerns, and useful tips, to decide the appropriate timeframe for your work history section.

A great resume represents between 10 and 15 years of detailed experience. Of course, if you’re new to the work world or are applying for an executive position, you could have more or less experience. Let’s break it down into three general rules.

1. Entry level (or 0-2 years of experience)

For those who are just starting their careers or have limited professional experience, it’s generally acceptable to include all positions you’ve held. This showcases your early work experience and any internships, part-time jobs, or entry-level roles that contribute to your skills and qualifications for the desired position. Your resume should be no longer than one page.

2. Professional level (or up to 15 years of experience)

As a professional with several years of experience, you can usually include all your permanent, full-time roles. You don’t need to include early career roles, such as student jobs, weekend positions, or temporary roles. This allows you to highlight the recent and relevant skills and accomplishments that align with the position you’re applying for. It also ensures your resume remains concise and avoids overwhelming hiring managers with excessive details.

3. Executive level (or over 15 years of experience)

For executives or candidates with extensive experience, it may be appropriate to include a broader time frame of up to 25 years. However, it’s advisable to prioritize the past 10-15 years of experience to emphasize your most recent and relevant roles.

Additionally, executives are encouraged to consider adopting the 10-15-year timeframe to maintain a focused and impactful resume. Oftentimes, executive resumes will focus on the last 10-15 years and include an “Early Career Experience” section that summarizes older positions, giving simply the job title and employer name.

Why do we recommend 10-15 years?

When we look at best practice regarding how far back a resume should go, the most popular answer is 10-15 years. This range enables you to:

Dedicate more space to your recent work - which is likely to be the most relevant to the role you’re pursuing
Maximize skim-ability, so that recruiters can quickly pick out pertinent information from your career
Prevent your resume from extending across multiple pages
Focus on emphasizing the skills that recruiters and hiring managers are looking for
Show that you can write concisely and stay on topic

Age discrimination and its potential impact on resume history

While it’s important to present a comprehensive work history, it's also crucial to be aware of potential age discrimination concerns. Some job seekers may face biases based on their age, which could impact their decision on how far back their resume should go. If you believe age discrimination could be a factor, you have the option to strategically omit certain older experiences and focus primarily on recent positions that showcase your current skills and qualifications.

Practical tips for deciding the appropriate timeframe for your resume history

As we mentioned before, relevance, timeframe, and achievements are the first things you should consider when determining what to include in the work history section of your resume. You can further refine this section to effectively showcase your qualifications in alignment with the expectations of potential employers by considering the following:

Consider industry standards: Research industry norms and expectations regarding work history length. Some industries may value extensive experience, while others may prioritize recent achievements and specialized expertise.
Job stability: If you’ve held multiple short-term positions or have a history of job-hopping, focus on the roles that showcase stability and longevity. Highlight positions where you made significant contributions or gained valuable skills, even if they were shorter in duration.
Transferable skills: If you’re aiming for a career change and have relevant work experience from a different industry or field, include it – even if it dates back further than 10-15 years. Emphasize transferable skills and accomplishments that demonstrate your adaptability and your ability to excel in different contexts.
Academic and volunteer experience: If you lack a substantial professional work history, include relevant academic projects, internships, or volunteer experiences that highlight your skills and qualifications. These experiences can supplement your work history and demonstrate your commitment and dedication.
Adapt to different resume formats: Keep in mind that the timeframe for work history may vary depending on the type of resume you're using. For example, a chronological resume typically includes a detailed work history, while a functional resume focuses more on specific skills and achievements.

What do employers look for in work history?

All of this work on your career history section is to gain the attention of prospective employers. From the employer's standpoint, work history serves as a window into your past performance and potential for future success. It provides valuable insights into your experience, skills, work ethic, and career trajectory. Employers carefully assess work history to gauge your suitability for the role and your ability to contribute to the company's goals. Let's explore the key aspects that employers typically consider in work history.

Consistency and continuity

Work history that demonstrates consistency and continuity is highly valued. Hiring managers seek candidates who have shown commitment and dedication in their previous roles, indicating an ability to thrive in long-term employment. A solid work history with minimal gaps showcases reliability and a strong work ethic.

Relevance to the job

Of course, employers look for work history that directly aligns with the requirements of the position. They seek candidates who have relevant experience, skills, and industry knowledge that can be immediately applied to the job. Work history that demonstrates a clear connection to the role gives employers confidence in a candidate's ability to hit the ground running.

Skills and qualifications

Your work history will be assessed to identify what skills and qualifications you possess. Prospective employers seek evidence of the specific competencies and proficiencies required for the job. Work history that showcases relevant skills acquired and used in previous roles can help candidates to stand out from the competition.

Career growth and progression

Employers appreciate candidates who have shown growth and progression in their work history. They look for individuals who have taken on increasing responsibilities, achieved promotions, and demonstrated an upward trajectory in their careers. This indicates a candidate's ability to learn, adapt, and take on new challenges.

Quantifiable results and achievements

It’s one thing to present a resume with a list of impressive titles, but employers also value a work history that goes beyond job titles and responsibilities. They seek candidates who can provide tangible evidence of their accomplishments and the impact they’ve made in previous roles. Describing achievements using quantifiable results, such as revenue growth, cost savings, or project success rates, provides concrete evidence of a candidate's contributions.

Resume work history layout

Advice and guidelines are all well and good, but concrete examples can help you to lay out this experience logically. We recommend a layout similar to this:

SALES MANAGER

XYZ Retail Enterprises, Texas

2021 - date

A short paragraph of 4-5 lines summarizing the remit and responsibilities of the role. Outline the scope and include figures where possible.

Quantifiable, achievement-focused bullet point
Quantifiable, achievement-focused bullet point
Quantifiable, achievement-focused bullet point

CAREER BREAK

2020 - 2021

Brief explanation for break, e.g. raising a family, travel, study, personal projects, etc

SALES SUPERVISOR

Retail Store, Texas

2018 - 2020

A short paragraph of 3-4 lines summarizing the remit and responsibilities of the role. Outline the scope and include figures where possible.

Quantifiable, achievement-focused bullet point
Quantifiable, achievement-focused bullet point
Quantifiable, achievement-focused bullet point

SALES ASSISTANT

ABC Stores, Texas

2014 - 2018

A short paragraph of 2-3 lines summarizing the remit and responsibilities of the role. Outline the scope and include figures where possible.

Quantifiable, achievement-focused bullet point
Quantifiable, achievement-focused bullet point
Quantifiable, achievement-focused bullet point

EARLY CAREER SUMMARY

Warehouse Assistant, Acme Corp

Waiter, Mom & Pop Café

Student Representative, College of Texas

As you can see, the resume work history is presented in reverse-chronological order. A brief reason is given for the career break and no months have been used in the employment dates to disguise gaps.

The early career doesn’t include dates at all, to combat age discrimination, nor does it include details of the roles, which aren’t relevant to the current career trajectory.

Resume work history examples

To capture employers' attention, you need to include achievements that showcase your impact, value, and contributions. Consider the following examples of effective bullets, that you can use as inspiration for your own resume:

Led a cross-functional team to increase sales by 20% within six months, resulting in $1 million in additional revenue
Implemented cost-saving measures that reduced operational expenses by 15% annually
Developed and executed a comprehensive marketing campaign that resulted in a 30% increase in website traffic and a 10% boost in customer conversion rates

Keep it snappy to win the interview

By understanding what employers look for in a work history and presenting your experiences effectively, you can position yourself as a desirable candidate with a track record of success. Use these insights to optimize your work history section and increase your chances of impressing potential employers.

Don't let your resume hold you back from landing your dream job. Send your resume for a free resume review so that you can build a standout document with a compelling work history that grabs employers' attention.

This article was originally written by Marsha Hebert and has been updated by Jen David.