Question:
I am tweaking my resume today. Just wondering how far back you go on jobs.
I don't really think any potential employer is interested in the fact that I
was a cashier at a grocery store for a few months just out of high school.
I am 23 so that's not going back *too* far. If I just list the jobs since
1997, there are three, including one I am still working part-time at. But
anything before 1997 was a few months at this job, a few at that one.
Cashiers, gas station clerks, dry cleaning attendant. Basically anything to
pay the bills before I had any sort of skill. I just grabbed a resume
writing guide from school, and it really doesn't say much about how far back
to go!
Answer:
-My own opinion (bearing in mind that US resumes and UK CVs do have some
stylistic differences, and I don't know all the details of the
differences!) is that if the long-ago jobs weren't relevant to your current
profession, then there's no need to include details. However, to show that
you were a responsible person earning money even when you were just out of
high school, you could put some "catch all" thing like:
* 1995-1997 various short-term positions including cashier, gas station
clerk, dry cleaning attendant
Also, list the jobs in reverse chronolgical order (most recent ones first)
so that by the time they actually get to reading that bit, they're already
thoroughly impressed with your more recent experience!
-I would say that you should include anything that gave you any type of
experience that might be useful in the type of job you're seeking. For
example, if when you worked in the grocery store, they promoted you to
head cashier, then I would highlight that if you're applying for
something that would require supervisory experience.
Right now, I have three resumes that I keep up to date. My technical
resume which relates to my current career and highlights experiences as
far back as my college internships in my field; my volunteer resume, in
case I should seek another paid position in 4-H; and my retail resume
in case I ever need to get an additional PT job(OK, so I don't keep
this one up to date, but it is on my hard drive from the last time I
was working retail).
