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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