Over 50 job-seekers: Do you include years on your resume?

[chromotone]

In order to counter age discrimination, have you removed the years you attended schools/colleges?

I mean, include years of employment since you're only going back a decade or so, but if you received your bachelors in the mid-1970s, the "year of graduation" will tip off any search-committee member as to how old you are.

What do you do?

[Skidmore]

1. I tell the truth. I cannot change the facts of my life.

Travelled far and done much. Those are the facts.

[stopbush]

13. Agreed. I still get lots of interviews, but landing a job is tougher, maybe because I disclose age.

Hoping that I seal the deal on a new job tomorrow, which will be my third interview for this new position. It's a 40% pay cut from what I made in my old gig, but I've been out of work for 7 months and I'm jumping at anything that pays better than what I'm currently getting thru unemployment.

[notadmblnd]

2. Instead of putting down 28 years experience, I now put 10+

and never list the year my degree was obtained in. Not lying about my life, just leaving some of it out.

[joeybee12]

3. Agree...

If asked on an application, I won't lie, but it's best to make the resume as non-age-specific as possible...let's face it, age discrimination is very real.

[chromotone]

4. I'll try that!

I'm applying to some jobs and will try your approach in hopes of making "the first cut."

Thanks! :hi:

[AngryOldDem]

5. Good luck!

:hi:

[chromotone]

14. Thanks!

This will mean a different direction in a different part of the country!

[librechik]

6. we turned down a resume yesterday that had the last 7 years missing

If you have gaps, make sure they aren't too recent. Or too long.

[tonysam]

8. And if I've been unemployed for two years, WTF good does your "advice" do?

Are you serious? There are SO many people out of work and have been out of work for YEARS. Like it's my fucking fault I am out of a job and can't find another one because of attitudes like YOURS.

[raccoon]

18. ITA--annoys me that some employers seem to think you should've been working every day since you

turned 16 or 18.

Like recessions didn't happen.

[tonysam]

21. It's such a crock of shit. I can't believe anybody posted that.

If you have a "gap" in your employment--well DUH. Like it's your stinking fault you are out of the labor force and have to apologize to another employer why your previous employer did what they did.

I have been to a number of interviews, and I have NEVER been asked why I left my last job. I don't expect any employer to ask that question unless it is another stupid school district.

[librechik]

20. so, if you were an employer and a 7 year gap was on a resume,

what attitude should I have? I can imagine 2 years is excusable, under the right circumstances.
But 7 years is a long time. How were you keeping body and soul together?

I'm a mother. I went without full time employment for 12 years while i raised my children. THAT was a gap. Nevertheless, I did things, and worked on my studies and career. I put that in the resume that got me a job. I didn't leave it blank, like I'm trying to hide something.

Two years on unemployment? That's sad, but presumably you were looking for work most of the time.
That goes in the recession resume and folks like me forgive that.

Besides, it wasn't my decision to not accept the resume. And you don't know what "my" attitude is.
Unless you really can read minds, like you seem to be able to do.

[tonysam]

7. I don't put down the years I graduated

Leave it off. Just put your university and your degree.

[GoCubsGo]

9. I can't really do that...

Most of the positions in my field are civil service. They often require that you provide transcripts proving you graduated. Also, most applications are online things, and they ask for dates of graduation and employment. No hiding from my age. Not 50, but will be in less than a year. My problem isn't my age. It's not having regulatory experience at a time when the only jobs in my field are regulatory, or they are low-paying, entry-level temp stuff.

[The Straight Story]

10. 44 here, what I do is

Put just the experience I have in a career going back 10-12 years then drop in at the 'Prior to 1998' and put in just company names relevant to job.

I have over 15 years' experience in programming, data center management, data base design, etc.

Down side? I still get companies who are looking for people fresh out of college and little to no experience (just interviewed for 2 hours with a company last week. She said only thing I had working against me was the owner/ceo preferred giving people just starting out a chance or people from his home country - but that it had led to issues because they were not skilled enough to move the IT dept ahead, just able to maintain it).

I might still get the job but am guessing it will go to someone younger.

[w8liftinglady]

11. actually,years of experience are a plus in my profession(nurse)

Having 25 years of experience is seen as being a plus...of course-pays about the same in a right-to-work state.

[elocs]

12. I've always hated resumes, those exercises in outright lies and hyperbole.

Then everyone dances around the deception.

I received my bachelor's degree in 1975 and to be honest I've never used it. It did help me to get jobs over the years simply because it showed I completed what I started out to do and employers rather like that attribute.

Myself, I've always found my age not to be a hindrance. I found that where I have worked the employers appreciated the work ethic of older workers since they actually have one as opposed to a good many younger workers who work when it suits them and bother to show up at work with the same attitude. No excuse is too small to miss work.

No, I personally have never had a problem with age and work.

[DavidDvorkin]

15. I include all the dates, all the way back to my first job

That makes it clear how old I am, but I wouldn't want to work for a place where I had to hide my age to get hired.

Until this recession, that was never a problem. I was laid off a few times and got new jobs quickly. This time, it's different, but I don't know if that's because of my age or because of how bad this recession has been.

In any case, I don't plan to take the dates off my resume. I value my experience and seasoning, and I want an employer to value them as well. (The scars, too!)

[quiller4]

16. I never included the year of graduation on resumes when

I was younger on the advice of placement counselors so there was nothing to delete as I aged. It would be very hard to guess my age (59) by looking at my resume.

[BonnieJW]

17. Don't worry about it.

I get calls to interview for jobs from my listing on LinkedIn and I'm not even looking. Companies are looking for mature workers. They won't say that, but they want workers with experience and no life "drama." That means no marriages, divorces, babies, sick kids, etc.

[Kat45]

19. I've been leaving off the graduation years for a long time, but

unfortunately I do have to go back more than 10 years in listing my jobs, which of course gives away my age. Why do I have to do this? Because about 11 years ago, a job I held for 16 years was outsourced, and through no fault of my own, my employment has been spotty ever since. First was a grant-funded job (2 years) At my next job, the company was in bad financial shape and laid off 20% of the workforce (when I hadn't even been there for a year). My most recent job was eliminated over a year ago for financial reasons. Those were my only serious jobs in the past decade, and there were long periods of unemployment in between. The 16-year job shows that I can and have worked at a job for a long period of time; without it on the resume, I don't look very good. Even with it, there are problems because companies don't like seeing employment gaps and it seems that a lot only care about what you've done very recently; the rest doesn't count.