You Have TOO Much Experience on Your Resume & How to Fix it

I’d bet you a bean burrito that you have too much experience on your resume.

It doesn’t matter if you are 24 or 64, I’d still take the bet. 

I don’t mean that you have too much wisdom or too many skills or even have worked at too many jobs.

What I am saying is you’re likely overloading your resume with information details, and you need to take steps to narrow it down.

Should I put every job I’ve had on my resume?

I went back and counted how many jobs I’ve had in my life, and it turns out I have had 19 jobs.

While each one was pivotal in me learning new skills and getting the next job, and they all have a very special place in my heart and professional journey, if I were to apply to a job today you know how many jobs I would put on my resume? 

4.

This is because more information isn’t better.

Giving only the most relevant information is key.

Some people don't want to part with certain jobs from their resume. They say “It’s part of me and my path to where I am today.”

But take ME out of your vocabulary.

Focus on the reader and streamline the information to be most applicable for them.

How many jobs should you have on your resume?

Companies care most about your most recent role, and pay increasingly less attention to each role that follows it. A good rule of thumb is to feature the past 10 years or your last 4 roles, whichever happens first (if you’re having trouble zeroing in, this will help).

What do you do with the rest of your experience? Two popular options:

1. Create an “early career” section where you briefly summarize where you have worked and the types of roles you held
2. List out your past roles, but with one or no bullets under each of them

If you’ve only had a few jobs and a few years of experience, this advice doesn’t apply as much to you because your resume will not be information overload, it’s good to show you have job experience even if it may not be directly related.

 BUT once you’ve had about 4 or 5 jobs, start curating the information, where you write more about the most relevant roles, and briefly mention or even exclude those that aren’t as relevant. 

If you really want to show your full job history, put it on LinkedIn because you aren’t limited as much space. Though I personally do not put all 19 of my jobs on LinkedIn.

All of your experience is important but curate it to be the most relevant information so that it doesn’t lead to information overload.

Get The Most Out of Your Experience

There is so much more to say about how to craft the winning résumé that lands you the job interview, and so I put together a free workshop: the Resume Revamp Masterclass. 

This session dives into:

• The # 1 thing to catch the company's or recruiter's attention in 6 seconds
• How to design a résumé that not only gets you the interview but makes the interviewer try to sell YOU on the role
• How to decide what companies want and appeal to what really matters (this process is a total mindset shift and one of the key secrets that I only tell my private clients)
• And more!

Excited for you to join! You can register here.

In summary:

• You likely have too much information on your resume
• Streamline your roles to only include the most relevant ones to the role you’re applying for
• For a deeper understanding of how to choose the RIGHT experience on your resume, join the Resume Revamp Masterclass!

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Madeline Mann is an HR & Recruiting leader who has built an audience of over half a million people and is known for her award-winning job search YouTube Channel, Self Made Millennial. Mann’s career coaching programs have led to thousands of success stories, and her work has been featured in Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and more. Go here to book a consultation.