Which Jobs Should You Remove From Your Resume?

A quality resume should present your skills, qualifications and work history in the best possible light. To sell yourself to a prospective employer, what you leave out can be as important as what you include. It can be difficult, though, to determine what experience should be included in your work history and what should be removed. The following tips will help you choose what work experience you should leave off your resume.

If you have an extensive work history, the first jobs you should consider removing are early jobs that aren't relevant to the position you're seeking. Your resume should be concise and relevant, so experience like part-time jobs you had in college should be removed from your resume. It varies depending on your experience, but as a general rule, remove work history that goes back more than 10 years. If you still want to include an older job, consider placing it in a section of your resume detailing previous experience and volunteer work.

A more difficult decision is whether or not to remove a job from which you were terminated. In general, it's best to keep these jobs on your resume and clearly explain the reasons for your termination while focusing on your accomplishments and skills gained. This is often preferable to having a gap in your work history you can't explain, because it at least shows a hiring manager that you didn't let your skills stagnate. If you choose to remove a job from your resume, try to make up for the gap in your work history by including career training, volunteering and freelance work.

If the job you're considering removing is a short-term job of six months or fewer, then you may find it beneficial to remove it from your resume if you can't get a good reference from your employer or if the reasons for your termination reflect poorly on your abilities. This should be done with great care, because it still creates a short gap in your work history that must be explained. Very short-term jobs lasting a few weeks should be removed, especially if it gives the impression that you quit jobs often.

When removing jobs from your resume, experiment by sending out multiple versions with different work histories. If you find that you get better results with a more honest account of your history, then consider putting back the jobs you removed.

Removing jobs from your resume should be done infrequently and only after careful consideration of the possible effects. Keep the above tips in mind if you are considering removing a job from your resume. It's not always a simple decision, but it can be beneficial. A quality resume is a great tool for marketing yourself, so sometimes removing jobs from your work history can help you land a job and advance your career.

Image: "giant stack of resumes" by woodleywonderworks licensed by CC BY 2.0