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Employment
Dates
by
ResumeEdge.com
- The Net's Premier Resume Writing and Editing Service
Because hiring managers are bombarded with
dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of resumes on a daily basis, the key in writing
an effective resume 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 resume so that dates are easily located, rather than hidden within
other data.
- Avoid
using months, except on resumes for federal government jobs that require
such data, or on resumes 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:
| ABC
COMPANY, City, State |
1999
– Present |
|
| XYZ
COMPANY, City, State |
1989
– 1999 |
|
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:
ABC
COMPANY, City, State
Controller
(1999-Present)
Chief Accountant (1994-1999)
Accountant (1989-1994)
|
1989
– Present |
|
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 resume, 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.
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