Over 40 - Should You Remove Dates From Your Resume?

Would I hire a guy like Warren Buffett (without the billions)?  The answer is yes.  Would I expect him to hide the dates on the education portion of his resume?  No.

Earlier this week, I profiled a review of Jeannette Woodward's Finding A Job After 50 (Career Press), recently featured in Business Week's Personal Finance column.  In her book, Woodward promotes the need for older candidates to remove dates from the education section of their resume and remove jobs that are more than 15 years old.  After I posted the entry, I started thinking more about that advice - do I actually agree with that advice?  I don't...

After pondering, I can give you a couple of realities as a recruiter and an interviewer/hiring manager.  First up, if you remove dates from your education, you automatically get tagged an older candidate, because candidates over 50 are the only ones doing this (doesn't really impact those between the ages of 40 and 50).  Secondly, you obviously don't want to focus on the jobs that are 15+ years old, but the progression of your career tells me a lot about who you are as a professional.  Additionally, we always like to know that you didn't randomly change identities in the early stages of your career.  Finally, if you somehow manipulated someone into thinking you were younger than you are (once again, very unlikely as soon as you remove dates from your education), as soon as you came in for the interview the trust would be broken as that individual would be surprised by your age.  So, even if you got to the interview stage, it's not likely you would get much further.

For some alternative advice, go to Job Tips For Grown Ups in Forbes magazine from Steven J. Greenberg.  Greenberg's advice is much closer to what I would recommend for older candidates seeking to overcome the barriers they feel.   Get tech savvy and make your resume and interview skills behavioral in nature - meaning that you position your past experience as results-oriented, which in turn shows what you can do for your future employer, rather than making your resume look like a museum artifact...

Comments

[S. Robert August]

Dear Kris:
Thank you for your information about CV and resume information sharing dates and a complete job history.
I agree with your points about sharing the information as it gives the reader a clear understanding of the provider's background of experience without having to question or guess.
ONwards and UPwards!
Appreciatively,
Robert

[abercrombie france]

Pour ne pas être à l'intérieur du comprendre le plus souvent, je suis enclin à n'aimez pas les messages concernant ce sujet progressivement supplémentaires considérez que vous êtes à l'écrire à la mode outre vos moyens personnels, nous avons obtenu de dire, c'est vraiment, vraiment une belle publier de ceux à retenir.

[Marc Jacobs 2012]

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[Martin Buuri Kaburia]

I agree with you, dates have their importance, they should be included.