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Using dates on your resume to fight age discrimination
"How far back should I go in my work history?" is a good question to ask yourself as you set out to document your history. In general, you're not expected to go back more than 10 years, but you can if it's to your benefit. To help you figure out how far back to go in your work history, consider the following:
- How relevant your earliest positions are to your job objective
- How old you want to appear on your resume
Age discrimination is illegal, but like it or not, employers usually try to figure out your age using the dates you give. Most employers have an age range they consider to be ideal for a particular job, based on the following factors:
- Salary expectations
- Skill level
- Ability to supervise or be supervised
- Amount of life experience needed
- Company or industry image
Job-Hunt Hint
There is no prescribed order in which to list your work history components (date, job title, employer 's name, city). For instance, the President of Universal Studios might present his work history in any one of these ways:
- 1999-pres., President,
Universal Studios, Los Angeles - President,
Universal Studios, Los Angeles,
1999-pres. - Universal Studios, Los Angeles,
President, 1999-pres. - Universal Studios, Los Angeles,
1999-pres., President
Prioritize the elements according to your job objective's relevance.
Career Casualty
Of all the sections of your resume, your Work History is the most likely to be verified by a potential employer. Be sure yourentries in this section coincideexactly with the informationyour former employers will give.
Bonus Check
Remember Resume Commandment II: Thou shalt not confess. In other words, you don't have to tell everything. Stick to what's relevant and marketable. Rely on this commandment when resolving any issues with your Work History section. A well-written resume uses dates to lead the employer to deduce that you are the ideal age for the job you're after, regardless of your actual age. The following two sections show you how to work with dates on your resume to create the ideal image.
Down and Dirty Formula
Here's a quick and a easy method for understanding how dates on your resume make an impression about your age. I call it my EPT(Experience Plus Twenty) formula. Subtract the earliest date on your resume from today's date (using years only, no months). Add that number of years to 20 (as a ballpark figure for how old you might have been when your experience started) to get a total. Your perceived age is greater than or equal to this total. For example, a resume written in 2000 with a Work History that starts in 1984 tells the employer that the job applicant is at least 36 years old (16 years of experience + 20 = 36).
Unsightly Unemployment Blemishes
"What's wrong with a few gaps in my work history?" you might ask. "Isn't everyone entitled to a little time off?" Many responsible professionals have taken breaks in their careers to travel, take care of ill parents, recover from personal illnesses, or for other legitimate reasons. But for some reason, employers don't like to see gaps in your work history. They would rather see the unemployed time explained, especially if the explanation is somehow connected to your job objective or at least shows strength of character. If you have a period of unemployment in your history, the following sections explain some ways of dealing with it.
Job-Hunt Hint
Dates in your Education section are optional. List them if they make you look the right age for the job you are going for. Delete them if they lead the reader to deduce that you are older or younger than you want to appear for the job application.
Bonus Check
If you're a seasoned professional with a few careers under your belt, it may be to your advantage to mention only your most recent career on your resume in order to avoid age discrimination. This is a completely acceptable practice, one I recommend if it expedites your job search.
Years Go Solo
Use only years, not months, when referring to spans of time in your Work History. Using years makes it quicker for the potential employer to grasp the length of time and can eliminate the need to explain gaps of less than two years.