Classic Resumes: Employment Dates

Because hiring managers are bombarded with dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of résumés on a daily basis, the key in writing an effective résumé is to make the data as easily accessible and readable as possible.

In presenting dates you must:

• Make certain that years of employment are in reverse chronological order. That is, the most recent job should be presented first, followed by the next most recent, and so on.
• Indicate exact dates of employment for each position if you have had more than one at the same company.
• Format your résumé so that dates are easily located, rather than hidden within other data.
• Avoid using months, except on résumés for federal government jobs that require such data, or on résumés going to graduate schools as part of the application process.

Presenting data in reverse-chronological order

If you worked for ABC Company from 1999 to the present, and at XYZ Company from 1989 to 1999, your data would be written in this manner:

When you have had more than one position with a company

Let’s say you worked at ABC Company from 1989 to the present and held three positions of increasing responsibility. The best way to present that would be:

The above provides specific information about your dates of employment for each position, with total employment for that company provided in the first line.

Formatting dates

Because a hiring manager will most often scan, rather than read, a résumé, it’s best to provide dates of employment immediately after the company’s name and location, preferably with those dates flush right. This separation avoids the dates getting lost in the other data, yet still showcases them for potential employers.

Using years of employment, rather than months & years

By excluding months, you can improve the readability of the data, while also downplaying brief periods of employment. For example, indicating that you worked during the year 2000 is certainly more positive than indicating that you only worked January – February 2000.

Continue to the ‘Employment Locations’ article

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