Should I post my job and degree years, or not?

J McGovern

February 19,2024 at 3:57PM UTC

Welcome to Fairygodboss!

We’re the largest online career community helping women achieve their career goals. Gain access to articles, jobs, events, and a supportive network of women and allies. Membership is free, always.

Should I post my job and degree years, or not?

I am 61 years old, looking for a post-teaching job as a writer/researcher. I am well aware of ageism (actually working on an article about it right now), but I've come across conflicting advice on whether to put my job and degree dates on my resume.

I have an EdD, two MAs and a BA. Some have told me to put down the doctorate date (2019) to show that I am committed to keep learning. But it looks odd to not put down the others (2007, 1989, 1983), which would definitely give away my age.

For my jobs I include teaching and writing but just the number of years I was engaged in those positions. Should I add those dates, too? In this case, the earliest date would be 1990, which is when I began as a freelance writer for 15 years. This period is significant because it includes my project management experience and a variety of writing (I'm leaving off earlier writing jobs). Then I taught from 2005 to 2023. Btw, I have a primarily functional resume.

Thoughts? Or am I just overthinking it? Should I just add the dates and let things happen as they should? I need a job but I am not desperate. Yet.

Why women love us:

Daily articles on career topics
Jobs at companies dedicated to hiring more women
Advice and support from an authentic community
Events that help you level up in your career
Free membership, always

37 comments

Share your insight

Join an authentic community that helps women support each other at work. Share your professional experience or ask for advice — you can even post anonymously.

37 Comments

Join the conversation

AnonymousFebruary 19,2024 at 4:24PM UTC
A resume is what opens the door for an interview, think about it like a brochure or ad for a service or product...
You show the highlights but not the entire user manual on them :)
Using that analogy, don't add things that could rule you out! Skip the graduation dates or anything that could reveal your age.
Jennifer TaylorFebruary 19,2024 at 5:48PM UTC
Only go back 10-15 years on your resume. Using dates for jobs is fine (10/23 - 01/24) but avoid using dates or years for your degrees.
AnonymousFebruary 19,2024 at 6:29PM UTC
You are overthinking it a bit but yes, ageism is definitely real. Add in the most recent degree and the others but leave out the years achieved. Put the degrees on the bottom of the resume not the top and focus on the work that aligns with the job you want on the top of the resume. Make it a skills resume vs a chronology. When you go into the interview you can illuminate the years if asked and if not focus on just the content they want for the role. Good luck.
Jacqueline CutlerFebruary 19,2024 at 7:44PM UTC
Ageism is real, and I am four years older than you. I don't know if this works for everyone and for every field (likely not since little is one-size-fits-all), but I have decided to embrace it and carry that flag. 65 and proud of my hard-earned experience. I list the dates.
AnonymousFebruary 19,2024 at 8:24PM UTC
To make your resume look professional, it's best to include dates for your current position and previous one. However, for your education, it's better to avoid mentioning dates for your degrees and instead add "Transcripts available upon request" next to the name of your school. Additionally, for your previous jobs, indicate the amount of time you spent in the position rather than the date you started or left.
GirlBossanova934974February 20,2024 at 1:11PM UTC
Ageism is alive and doing quite well. Go back 15 years on your resume and stop. Degrees on your resume? No dates. You may even wish to take out a degree or two from your resume. After about 3 degrees, it's overkill for most employers. As some have pointed out, the job of your resume is to get an interview.. You don't want to appear to be overqualified or "too old to learn".
AnonymousFebruary 20,2024 at 1:24PM UTC
I’m a hiring manager. I have never spent that much time doing the math on someone’s degree years, but if the degree years are missing and I’m unclear if it was conferred or not, I won’t call you.
AnonymousFebruary 20,2024 at 1:43PM UTC
You’re behind the times. Many organizations are now eliminating dates from degrees. Mine already has. Why is it relevant to person’s qualifications?
AnonymousFebruary 20,2024 at 2:37PM UTC
If the EdD would be a plus for what you're going after, you could include it in your Summary (no need for dates there.) I'm older too, and what I do regarding dates for earlier positions is do the usual structure, with dates, for the past 10-15 years (depending on what I'm pursuing) then have one "job" at the end entitled "Relevant Earlier Experience" and just list the relevant ones, no/few details and no dates. Just to show I have been doing this a long time and know my stuff.
AnonymousFebruary 20,2024 at 4:36PM UTC
Leave degree dates off and list education last if your years of experience is more relevant than your education. Only include 10 years of employment history. I would not list the EdD unless it is relevant to the position you are applying because automatically it will be assumed you are overqualified.
AnonymousFebruary 20,2024 at 4:44PM UTC
Change the years!
AnonymousFebruary 20,2024 at 5:45PM UTC
I have been there-looking for a new position at age 61. I had worked my way into a top senior level and then laid off. This is my experience. Ageism is real. I had one elite executive placement firm tell me that even if an older candidate was a better fit for an organization, they would recommend a younger candidate because that is the one the hiring company would choose. I went the route of being offended and not going to remove the dates from my resume. Then I wised up and replaced my actual title to senior leader, removed graduation dates, only went back 20 years employment and then listed accomplishments from “previous experiences.” The goal is to get the interview . Soon had 2 offers, chose one. Within 1.5 years offered a promotion that put me at a top executive role based on performance and experience. Just retired last month after 3 years with the organization. They offered me another exec position if I would stay but I’m ready to leave Corp world.
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 7:30AM UTC
Congratulations!
AnonymousFebruary 20,2024 at 5:52PM UTC
Only list jobs from the last 10 years, and remove the dates from your degrees. You can put 'conferred' instead of the date that you graduated. Of course, there might be a catch 22 with the EdD, if you published a dissertation that and the year it was published will likely come up in a Google search.
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 7:29AM UTC
But what if you have outstanding experience that is more than 10 years old?
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 11:17AM UTC
The point of focusing on the last 10 years even when you have more experience is about highlighting how your most recent experiences are relevant to the current job you’re seeking. Yes, you’ve had a long career but maybe it’s not so relevant for you hag you’re doing. Let’s say you were applying for CEO roles at a company after working for 15-20 years. What everyone would assume that you had entry or associate level positions at some point, but it could be argued that those early career roles aren’t as relevant to who and what you can do now all of these years later.
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 4:16PM UTC
That assumes that your career was a steady upward progression. Mine was not (lateral moves, different sectors) and much of my core experience is more than 10-15 years old.
What should people in my position do?
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 4:34PM UTC
I don't know what else to tell you. I shared my advice and rationale, similar to what others have said in this thread. I'm not sure what you mean by core experience and how that's different than all of the years that you have spent teaching and also doesn't seem to include those years of teaching in your mind, and I think you're overthinking it. If you are worried about age discrimination, drop the dates from your degrees and focus on the last ten years of your professional life. If you want to pursue full-time writing work, then I would still focus on whatever is most recent and indicate that it is freelance or part-time, whatever the situation may be. You certainly wouldn't be the only person to have worked other positions to support yourself while pursuing a writing career. If you're attempting to cross sectors or something else, that's not entirely clear here on your post, so again, not sure what other advice to share beyond what has already been said.
AnonymousFebruary 20,2024 at 6:46PM UTC
No reason for dates.
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 3:51AM UTC
I’m a recruiter and career coach we advise our candidates not to list dates for anything past tens years because it leaves them open to discrimination and we want them to have the best change to get a call back or interview.
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 7:28AM UTC
I would drop the degree dates.
Other dates: It depends.
•Some companies/recruiters want to figure out the employment history and think you are trying to hide something if no dates.
•On the other hand, a 60+ professional of my acquaintance reports that his resume got far more attention after he eliminated dates. He got a new job and was promoted when his boss retired.
Why not circulate both resumes (to different jobs), and see which does better?
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 1:08PM UTC
No.
Ally MorganFebruary 21,2024 at 1:27PM UTC
It's sad that this is even a question, but I understand the validity of it. . I'm sorry. Your degrees and continued pursuit of education sound bad a$#. You've got this. Good luck to you!!
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 1:43PM UTC
Just add w/o dates.
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 2:05PM UTC
They don’t need 40 yrs of job history or graduation dates.
Mara Jevera FulmerFebruary 21,2024 at 3:10PM UTC
I'd leave out the dates and summarize the work experience including only the most relevant.
I have a similar background and I often have to remind myself that outside of academia, no one is interested in a 10+ page curriculum vitae. They just want highlights.
Best of luck on this new stage in your post teaching career!
SilkyFebruary 21,2024 at 3:44PM UTC
I heard from a recruiter to let the co. figure out your age. Do not put dates. The recruiters for IT want the dates, but that is on a separate form.
AnonymousFebruary 21,2024 at 4:44PM UTC
I’m in my mid-50’s and didn’t disclose the date of my undergrad degree. Ageism is real (and I hope you share what you’ve written)!
JJFebruary 22,2024 at 2:44AM UTC
Nope.
AnonymousFebruary 22,2024 at 4:21PM UTC
Listing dates on degrees and education are not necessary, unless you have not yet graduated but have an anticipated graduation date -which does not apply in your case.
To highlight your experience earlier in your career, list the last 3-4 roles you've held and then have a summary section of other professional experience and highlight key points there (don't need to list dates). You can also list in your summary or skills section you have 15+ years experience in freelance writing.
EMILY KIKUE FRANKFebruary 22,2024 at 9:22PM UTC
Career counselor here. I generally advise against listing dates on education but, of course, it's up to you. Among other things, if you don't have that info on the document, they aren't going to assume you're 32, but at the same time, they won't know exactly how old (presumably, based on your undergrad degree) you are. The general rule of thumb for work is to go back roughly in the neighborhood of 10-15 years, but also some people choose to keep older experiences like Peace Corps or military enlistment on because it's so unique. So really it depends on your best sense of the new industry: is there rampant age discrimination or is it a field in which more life experience is valued? As with many things, there are lots of opinions out there, each claiming to be absolutely correct, so let your own judgment be your guide.
AnonymousFebruary 22,2024 at 10:23PM UTC
Why do you have to list dates? I list my degrees without dates and I don't think it's weird to highlight the date of your most recent doctorate. It does show that you enjoy continuous learning.
AnonymousFebruary 23,2024 at 1:17PM UTC
I am 62 years old and I think it is always good to put your education degrees and the places where you have performed yourself.
Shelly KatzeffFebruary 23,2024 at 3:03PM UTC
AS you mentioned, ageism is a definite consideration, which is why, I believe, many people argue in favor of eliminating dates from a resume. I believe in not listing dates unless they are pertinent to a specific job. However, I strongly believe that in your case, you should list the date of your doctorate, as 2019 is very current and does not reveal your age (which shouldn't matter). To the contrary, it shows that you are brighter than most and, equally important, that you are on a continuum to become better today than you were yesterday.
AnonymousFebruary 24,2024 at 1:21PM UTC
I'm facing the same thing (56).
Conservative with dates on resume yet majority of application request plus LinkedIn demand month and year. I've resorted to 1099 versus W2. Now I am actively looking to live in a country that celebrates their seniors! (AARP jobs might help also ?)
ChrishoggFebruary 26,2024 at 3:32PM UTC
It's customary to show your dates of employment. If you don't, most employers will think that's odd / unusual, will think that is very strange, and will be inclined to pass you by.
It's customary to not show your dates for your degrees, and if you do show them. that signals to employers that you are not aware of customary practices.
And don't worry about your age. You can "only go back" 10 years on your resume, but if you do, and the real you shows up for an interview, it will be all over before you've even said hello.
If you have the appropriate skills, experience, and knowledge for the roles you're applying to, and meet the qualifications of the jobs you're applying to, age typically won't matter.
AnonymousMarch 6,2024 at 3:51AM UTC
Following