Resume Solutions
Paint a competitive picture of yourself that avoids aging your candidacy
Tuesday September 6, 2011 9:09 AM
Dear Sam is Samantha Nolan
Dear Sam: I am 57 years old and lost my job recently due to downsizing. I am concerned that my age will turn off prospective employers. As a result, I removed the years of service on my resume from each employer, which seems to have helped a little.
When employers contact me, they always want me to walk them through my resume, and I can almost hear them counting the years as I do. As I review it, they often ask, "How many years were you with them?"
Is it unethical to remove the last employer on my resume which accounts for about 12 years of my 36-year career? Of course, I would answer any questions asked in regards to whether I have experience other than what is listed on my resume. I am just concerned that all of my experience is causing people to decide that I might be too old to invest their time in. Thanks for your help. - Jim
Dear Jim: I'm so glad you wrote, as you are committing a big resume no-no. Never remove all dates of employment from your resume. The assumption hiring managers would make when not seeing a single date likely will be far worse than actuality. Typically, I hear that when candidates leave out dates, their phone never rings.
First, omit your first 12 years of employment from your resume. It is not unethical to remove this experience. In fact, removing positions from the 70s and 80s is a very common and expected practice. Hiring managers typically want to see 10 to 15 years of experience, and they do not expect you to explore 30-plus years of experience unless you are at the senior-executive level.
Be sure that your qualifications summary isn't immediately dating you either. You shouldn't open your resume with a statement containing your many years of experience; doing so can be calculated easily by reviewing your tenure with each employer. Instead, make sure your summary is written using up-to-date jargon and industry buzzwords and that your most recent experiences are focused on much more heavily than your early career roles. I think when you take this approach, your resume and your candidacy will be much more marketable.
Dear Sam: After working 27 years in a family-owned technical sales and marketing firm, my husband needs to make a change. He has an electrical engineering degree from Purdue University and an abundance of domestic and international marketing and sales experience. How do you recommend setting up a resume where there is only one employer, but numerous facets of one's responsibilities covering outside sales and in-house management within said company over the years? - Nancy
Dear Nancy: Great question. To demonstrate diversity in his position and to overcome the potential disqualifier of his having worked for only one employer, I suggest the use of a combination-resume format. In this format, he would open with a qualifications summary based on his current career objective. Don't try to make it too broad, as it won't end up speaking the language of any hiring manager. Instead, your husband should spend time reviewing job postings that he is interested in and qualified for, and then tailor the resume in that direction.
Next, the critical element of a combination resume is the presentation of your husband's career highlights. In this section, I suggest he organize highlights of his career within functional areas. For example, he might list subheadings such as Global Marketing, Business Development and Technical Sales. Then he would place key achievements related to each subject underneath the appropriate subheading. The key in this section is to make these functional subheadings relate to what he now wants to do, so at a glance, the hiring manager can get the idea that he is qualified for the position.
Following his career highlights would be a fully developed professional experience section. This section should guide the hiring manager through your husband's work history with the company, spanning the last 15 years or so, depending on the level of position he is currently seeking.
Question the value of experiences that occurred in the 1980s. When he gets back that far, only include the positions if they are absolutely relevant and valuable based on his current career objective. Presenting 27 years of experience is typically not recommended, as it likely would age his candidacy unnecessarily and possibly make one assume he will be too expensive. I am assuming he held different roles throughout his 27-year tenure, making selective inclusion and omission of positions possible. When you follow this format, you will satisfy your husband's need to present a diverse career as well as the hiring manager's desire to know what responsibilities he held in each position and how his career translates to what the company is looking for in a new hire. Best of luck.
Samantha Nolan is a certified professional resume writer and owner of Ladybug Design, a full-service resume-writing firm. Do you have a resume or job-search question for Dear Sam? Reach Samantha at dearsam@ladybug-design. com. For more about Sam's resume writing services, visit www.ladybug-design.com or call (614) 570-3442 or 1-888-9-LADYBUG (1-888-952-3928).
Dear Sam: I am 57 years old and lost my job recently due to downsizing. I am concerned that my age will turn off prospective employers. As a result, I removed the years of service on my resume from each employer, which seems to have helped a little.
When employers contact me, they always want me to walk them through my resume, and I can almost hear them counting the years as I do. As I review it, they often ask, "How many years were you with them?"
Is it unethical to remove the last employer on my resume which accounts for about 12 years of my 36-year career? Of course, I would answer any questions asked in regards to whether I have experience other than what is listed on my resume. I am just concerned that all of my experience is causing people to decide that I might be too old to invest their time in. Thanks for your help. - Jim
Dear Jim: I'm so glad you wrote, as you are committing a big resume no-no. Never remove all dates of employment from your resume. The assumption hiring managers would make when not seeing a single date likely will be far worse than actuality. Typically, I hear that when candidates leave out dates, their phone never rings.
First, omit your first 12 years of employment from your resume. It is not unethical to remove this experience. In fact, removing positions from the 70s and 80s is a very common and expected practice. Hiring managers typically want to see 10 to 15 years of experience, and they do not expect you to explore 30-plus years of experience unless you are at the senior-executive level.
Be sure that your qualifications summary isn't immediately dating you either. You shouldn't open your resume with a statement containing your many years of experience; doing so can be calculated easily by reviewing your tenure with each employer. Instead, make sure your summary is written using up-to-date jargon and industry buzzwords and that your most recent experiences are focused on much more heavily than your early career roles. I think when you take this approach, your resume and your candidacy will be much more marketable.
Dear Sam: After working 27 years in a family-owned technical sales and marketing firm, my husband needs to make a change. He has an electrical engineering degree from Purdue University and an abundance of domestic and international marketing and sales experience. How do you recommend setting up a resume where there is only one employer, but numerous facets of one's responsibilities covering outside sales and in-house management within said company over the years? - Nancy
Dear Nancy: Great question. To demonstrate diversity in his position and to overcome the potential disqualifier of his having worked for only one employer, I suggest the use of a combination-resume format. In this format, he would open with a qualifications summary based on his current career objective. Don't try to make it too broad, as it won't end up speaking the language of any hiring manager. Instead, your husband should spend time reviewing job postings that he is interested in and qualified for, and then tailor the resume in that direction.
Next, the critical element of a combination resume is the presentation of your husband's career highlights. In this section, I suggest he organize highlights of his career within functional areas. For example, he might list subheadings such as Global Marketing, Business Development and Technical Sales. Then he would place key achievements related to each subject underneath the appropriate subheading. The key in this section is to make these functional subheadings relate to what he now wants to do, so at a glance, the hiring manager can get the idea that he is qualified for the position.
Following his career highlights would be a fully developed professional experience section. This section should guide the hiring manager through your husband's work history with the company, spanning the last 15 years or so, depending on the level of position he is currently seeking.
Question the value of experiences that occurred in the 1980s. When he gets back that far, only include the positions if they are absolutely relevant and valuable based on his current career objective. Presenting 27 years of experience is typically not recommended, as it likely would age his candidacy unnecessarily and possibly make one assume he will be too expensive. I am assuming he held different roles throughout his 27-year tenure, making selective inclusion and omission of positions possible. When you follow this format, you will satisfy your husband's need to present a diverse career as well as the hiring manager's desire to know what responsibilities he held in each position and how his career translates to what the company is looking for in a new hire. Best of luck.
Samantha Nolan is a certified professional resume writer and owner of Ladybug Design, a full-service resume-writing firm. Do you have a resume or job-search question for Dear Sam? Reach Samantha at dearsam@ladybug-design. com. For more about Sam's resume writing services, visit www.ladybug-design.com or call (614) 570-3442 or 1-888-9-LADYBUG (1-888-952-3928).
Story tools
E-mail this story
Special Offers
New Year Special
New Customers
