Is It Better to Have Fewer or More Jobs on Your Resume?

Every job seeker dreams of a strong resume that instantly impresses employers and results in an interview or a job offer. While it may seem like including a lot of jobs on your resume is the best way to show how experienced and valuable you are, if the experience is dated or irrelevant, including them can harm an employer's first impression.

Employers are looking for applicants who have the potential to fill a specific need within their company. They're looking for people with the right skills for one specific, unfilled position. Hiring managers need to be able to skim a resume and immediately pick out the qualifications that make you stand out from the rest. By adding only relevant skills and experience to your resume, you can ensure it is specifically tailored to one position or another. This is a surefire way to impress employers.

Job seekers who add irrelevant jobs on a resume may find that employers have too much information, and most of that extra information doesn't pertain to them, so they skip over those items entirely or just don't read the resume. For instance, adding irrelevant jobs on a resume from over 10 years ago doesn't make an applicant any more attractive than someone who has just entered the workforce but has more pertinent skills that the company can use. By keeping your resume straightforward and relevant, you may increase your chances for an interview or subsequent job offer.

It's important for you as a job seeker to consider removing the following experience from your resume: positions held over 10 years ago, degrees or positions that may make you seem overqualified, and part-time or second jobs that are not in a field relevant to the position being applied for.

However, you should be careful not to downplay any important skills from past experiences that may apply to the desired position. Picking out individual skills and including them under a skills section may be more attractive than adding the entire position from which that skill set was acquired.

Jobs on your resume should only include positions that are either in the same field or identical to the position being applied for. Likewise, highlighting any accomplishments, achievements or awards from relevant jobs on a resume is a great way to add emphasis to your performance and ability in this specific role.

Employers open positions to fill a specific role within their company. By keeping jobs on a resume strictly in the same field or relevant in purpose or role, you raise your chances of rising above the rest of the competition and impressing hiring managers. Related skills that you learned from irrelevant positions can be placed under a general skills section.

"Green Resume CV & Business Card" by BuyAlex licensed by CC BY 2.0.