Caregiver

Question

Well I read in comments section that employers are only interested in the last 10 years but my best job description was 1979 -2009 so if I leave off that portion of my resume the caregiver part looks really weak like I don't really have any experience at anything.  I'm afraid at my age 64 and widowed, so I have to work,that I may be dead in the water. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.  Thanks Kitty

Shernette Linton, Esq. · Answer

Hi Kitty,

We (professional resume writers and career coaches) typically recommend not going back further than 10-15 years. In your case it's hard to go back 10-15 without going much further back, because your position (I assume it's a single position) spanned 30 years. This will require strategic drafting.

One suggestion:
- have an Experience section with your post-2009 section at top and below that have an Earlier Experience or Early Career section with your pre-2009 experience.
- under the Earlier Experience / Early Career section, write a short (4-5 lines), well-crafted paragraph describing your experience. Do not include any dates in this section.  
- if you have important accomplishments from that time you could pull them upfront into your summary, again, without any dates. (You might need some help prepping on how to handle questions regarding this time period in your interview.)

The result is that you show prior experience (that you aren't a newbie), you highlight accomplishments upfront, your resume will hit on keywords and you deemphasize the 'age' of the experience.

No date necessary, because you aren't relying on it as the linchpin of your proof that you are a good fit for the position; you're using the info to support additional, more recent experience. It is this more recent experience that will be of primary interest to an employer.

So how are you building on your more recent/current experience? Could you get a new certification, attend a class (there are free online classes, e.g. www.coursera.org), teach a class (at your local library or community group), volunteer, or publish an article? All or any of this can be moved to the top of your resume as part of the overall strategy to show current experience.

If you'd like to chat some more about resume and job search strategy, do reach out at shernette@march4thcareerservices.com

Best of luck!

Caregiver

You're invited.

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