Detailed Work History

How far back should a detailed employment history go, if one is requested? I can go back to December of 1992. Is 10 years far enough? 15? Or do people usually want the whole entire thing?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Tags: employment, history, work

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Permalink Reply by Lee Smith, ND on April 24, 2012 at 9:33am

Most often, I recommend eliminating the historical work history on a resume.

If you look toward a functional resume, you can combine all of the transferrable skills in less space/text.

All you want the resume to do, is secure you an interview.

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Permalink Reply by DOUGLAS COLLIER on April 24, 2012 at 9:56am

The problem is they require an application and work history.

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Permalink Reply by Lee Smith, ND on April 24, 2012 at 6:18pm

Try to eliminate or combine some years by not listing exact months if that'll help streamline.

Include as far back as necessary to include the relevant transferrable experience.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Wortman on April 24, 2012 at 6:52pm

No more then 10 years of work history is needed on this type of application. Most recruiters/HR people feel that stuff you did more then 10 years ago is not longer relevant.

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Permalink Reply by Peder Aadahl on April 27, 2012 at 4:36pm

Douglas, this is what I would say if you are working on Work history especially if you had many employers, make it simple and clean by listing your skills in bullet points, otherwise all of the wording will be overwhelming and they will probably ignore it.

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Permalink Reply by DOUGLAS COLLIER on April 27, 2012 at 11:37pm

Thank you everyone for your replies and feedback. I don't like providing work histories. But an application for a teaching position did request one. I went back as far as Dec. 1996. I kept it separate from my résumé. I'll be making the follow-up call on Monday morning. Thanks again to everyone. This is one of the things I love about the 48days community: everyone is so willing to help out. Blessings to all.

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Permalink Reply by Annie Kontor on April 28, 2012 at 11:49pm

Folks are right 10 years is the way to go. But if you have a really unique work experience that pre-dates that, I think that is worthwhile to put on the resume or somehow sneak it in there or put it on the cover letter.