Resume Writing – How to Write the Dates

It all depends on how much importance you want to give them. If you have gaps in your employment history that you would rather explain in an interview, then the dates should be less obvious. You can even leave them off altogether and list totals instead, although your reader will automatically assume you have something to hide. You need to make the decision whether leaving the dates off will harm your chances of getting an interview more than putting the dates on your resume.

Another reason to de-emphasize dates is your ages. If you would rather not give your age away, then make the reader work to figure it out. Tuck dates against the text with parentheses or bury them somewhere else in the resume. You can selectively choose to leave dates off your education and show them only your experience.

So, how far back should you go when listing your experience? The answer is simple. When your past experience stops being relevant to your job search, leave it off. The usual is 10 to 15 years in the past, unless there is something in your older experience that is critical to your qualifications. This will help to deflect interest from your age.

Accuracy and honesty are the most important considerations when it comes to dates. Don’t lie. There are many ways to make room for the dates. One is to establish a clear column of dates to the right of a resume, which keeps the text lines short and make the dates easy to find. You should not use this clear column of dates on the right if you are creating scannable resume since this style produces three newspaper-like columns.

Putting dates on the left gives them a great deal of importance. Since people read from left to right, information on the left of the page is read first and carries greater weight. Make sure you really want your dates to be that important before placing them in the left-hand column.

By: Tat C

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