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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
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| XYZ
COMPANY, City, State |
1989
– 1999
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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
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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.
 Employment
Locations
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