In this competitive world, there are lot of opportunities for the talented people who want to excel in their careers. It is very essential for an employee to have good resume to showcase their skills. The reason behind this is most of the employers don’t have time to look at a resume for more than few seconds. Henceforth, it is very important to know what your resume should have, how it should be presented and what should be resume length etc.
How Many Years Should a Resume Go Back On Work History?
There is a common notion among the job seekers that you need to include all your job experiences briefly in your resume. But it is not necessary to include more than 10 years ago. The reason behind this is none of the employers doesn’t have patience or time to read all in your resume.
Try to understand the main purpose of your resume, it is very important to have a crisp resume, with relevant and recent information about your work history. It should mainly concentrate and focus to impress the employer’s attention with relevant and it should stick to the point about your qualifications and experience and not drag to pages.
Most of the employers would be interested to know what you have done recently and not long time ago.i.e not before 10 years. It is because, the world changes a lot quicker, that too in business, technology or practices there will be lot of new things arriving. Experience before 10 years might become obsolete. Make sure you throw some light on your recent work history neatly and try to impress the employers with crisp and efficient use of words. Try to avoid your part-time or some casual positions in your resume until and unless it is related to the present job which you have applied.
Never try to explain all your work history in words, as it might become too lengthy and boring for the employer to read.
If in case your earlier positions, more than 10 years ago matches your present job application, try to put it in previous employment or other employment in simple words. Always remember your resume has to be done the way to impress the employer and not to boast about yourself.
How Many Years Should Your Resume Go Back On Education?
For every job we apply, it is very fundamental to add your educational qualification. It is a must and a default thing to add to your resume. The real question is how many years back should your resume go. This depends on many factors like
1. Years of experience:
For example, you are applying for a job which requires more than 10 years of experience. In that case, you have to concentrate on the work history rather than the educational qualification. Keep your educational qualification simple and only including your graduation would be fine.
2. Certifications/ workshops:
When the job you have applied for matches the certification or workshop you have attended long back, then try to highlight it on your resume. Otherwise, don’t try to include certification/ workshops which you have done long back. It might distract the employer from their need.
3. Add it according to the position:
For example, if you have applied for a job for a management position, make sure you highlight your management degree or management based certifications rather than your commerce or engineering degree. It is not that you should not add it, just don’t highlight your group or your majors instead highlight only your management part.
How Many Jobs Should I List on my Resume?
People tend to switch many jobs in their career. But not necessarily all have to be mentioned in the resume. It is natural everyone might have done various jobs in their career life before getting into a big concern. The basic thumb rule is not to try including more than 3 jobs in your resume. An ideal job experience mentioned should be crisp and to the point. No employers will have time to go through your resume for more than few seconds, hence make sure you highlight their need, add job list according to the relevant position. And also when you scrutinize the job list make a note to add the job list according to the relevance of the position.
For example, if you are going to apply for an administration vacancy try to include your previous jobs related to management, it might be like an accountant job or anything. Always try to modify your job listing according to the relevancy of the present job application.
How Much Work Experience Should be There on a Resume?
Adding your work experience on your resume is also a tricky part due to the number of pages of the resume has to be taken care. Always include the work experience in your resume according to the need. For example, you are about to apply for a job which doesn’t require many years of job experience. In this case, stick to the last job alone on your application rather than adding too many work experiences. Likewise, if you are going to apply for a job which requires more than 20 years of experience, add the number of experience with the relevancy to the job experience needed.
What Should Be Your Resume Length?
The number of pages on your resume also plays a very important role. There are two important things which determine the number of pages in your resume,
Freshers or Experienced?
Freshers:
A freshers resume should always stick to maximum one page. Entry level graduates or interns have to maintain a very attractive resume with simple content within one page. There might also a situation occur where your project, extra curricular activities, your workshops, summer jobs, sports achievements might extend more than a page. So in that case, it is advisable to go beyond a page only if you hold a valuable content.
Experienced:
An experienced resume is expected to have an average of two pages as they might have to add more details than the freshers like job experiences, job listing, work history etc. There are cases when it might cross two pages, but it should be noted that it should exceed only with the relevant content and not distract the employers.
Electronic Copy or Soft copy?
Another important factor to be noted is that the length of the resume only matters if it is a traditional printed version or a soft copy. People from human resource department have commented that they just search the keyword from the resume to shortlist the candidate instead of reading the whole resume. In this process, number of pages really doesn’t count.
A resume is something which will portray a job seeker totally, without their physical presence. It is a key for them to get noticed and shortlisted for their career. It is also a mediator which will advertise you in front of the employer. Remember it has to be modified, updated, and kept maintained well as it reflects your career life and it moves along with you when you move forward. Henceforth, in order to create a good impression at first before you enter an organization, keep your resume well maintained according to the standards expected by the employers.
