How much is too much on your resume?

Last updated: February 6, 2025
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Kai Dickerson
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How much is too much on your resume?
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How much is "too much" work experience on a resume?

You may be tempted to include every job you’ve had on your resume to show the depth of your work experience, but if you’ve been in the workforce for many years, or have shifted careers, you may want to reconsider acting on that impulse.

Limit your job history to 15 years or less on your resume

Show that your work experience is relevant to the current job market

A resume is a work summary to showcase your most current and applicable skills and experience. Recruiters and hiring managers try to connect an applicant's work summary with the job requirements. So what's wrong with listing every job you've had? Over time, technologies, work functions, and service and operational standards evolve, so hiring companies may weight (place more importance on) your more recent work. To keep the focus on your most relevant work experience, you can eliminate older jobs from your resume. Generally, jobs that you have held over 10-15 years in the past are considered less relevant.

Keep your resume to one (or two) pages in length

Another reason to limit your work experience is to keep the resume length to one page – two at the very most. Chances are, there are many applicants for the same job, and when there's a lot of resumes to get through, a longer resume can hurt rather than help your chances. Consolidate your experience, focusing on what you've done in the recent past with the job description.

More resume tips 

Exceptions to the 15 year limitation on your resume

When your experience is highly relevant to the position

When your work experience is highly relevant to the position you applying to, but is older than 10-15 years, you may still want to include that on your resume - especially if this role shows career progression. For example: maybe you worked several positions in the hotel industry, starting 20 years ago as a housekeeper. Over the years, you moved through various front-of-house positions. The position you’re applying for now is a manager role for team of housekeepers. It’s relevant to include that first job because it shows you know first-hand the challenges of the employees you’d be managing, and that you have an overall understanding of how various hotel departments intersect.

When you are returning to an industry

Another reason to reach back further in your work timeline is if you’re looking to return to an industry. In that case, still focus on the relevant skills learned in your more recent work history. But listing an older job in the industry you want to re-enter provides important context. It shows that you have a long-term interest in the work that wouldn’t be obvious if you listed only the past 10 years of work.

When showcasing the breadth and diversity of your work experience

When employers are looking to fill several, various positions, it may work in your favor to include older work experience - especially when you have a diversified work history. Showing that you're a good candidate for a number of roles can increase your chances of getting hired. Call out these positions, but limit the amount of space they take on your resume.

How to show older work experience on your resume

If you need to show older work experience to tell your work story, below the 'Work Experience' section on your resume, create an 'Additional Experience' block . Simply add the roles and companies; there’s no need to include years. It can look like this:

**Additional Experience **
Shift Supervisor and Trainer, Good Food Restaurant (City, State)
Cashier and Stocker, Best Natural Foods Store (City, State)


Did you find this information helpful? Share your thoughts and tips in the comments below

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Dan Morgan
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Laborer at H W Contracting

At the moment, I am able to find this helps me with what I want to know about. when I think of what I want to write in my resume.

3y
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Genise Caruso
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Versatile and Talented Technical Writer and Certified Professional Resume Writer

In this day and age, it’s important to produce a resume in a way that it’s easy and relatively fast to read. Capturing that information in a tighter style and getting rid of words that don’t matter is the best approach. Resumes are designed for skimmers rather than readers, so it’s critical that certain information is immediately noticeable with just a quick glance. You only want to include actions and achievements or short phrases describing the job scope and responsibility. Every bullet or statement should start with a strong verb (in the proper tense), because verbs convey action and energy. This information is priceless and the key to a successful resume in this day and age!

3y
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Libra Askew
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Thanks , you have given me the answer to all my question, concerning how to included. Work experience from 10 years ago, that im still capable of providing

4y
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