work exp, how far back...?

x in the city

Hi Guys,

So I have just done a Masters and my cv is getting a bit, erm. Heavy..to say the least. I have two pages, one lists work and the other my education, skills etc.

work goes back to like 1997..:rolleyes:, should I get rid of this.? I am just wondering what happens if people ask to account for such and such a year, so I feel it better to list everything on the cv?

MagicMarker

I'd only list the last 3 or 4 positions tbh.

Eoin

It depends on how long you were in each job since then as well. A 1997 job would still be relevant if you had worked there for a good few years.

I still list all my jobs, but I just have the first couple of jobs on one line each - so just the company name, time frame and job title.

It might depend on the industry, but having 50% of your CV taken up with academia etc sounds a bit much?

x in the city

eoin wrote: »

It depends on how long you were in each job since then as well. A 1997 job would still be relevant if you had worked there for a good few years.

I still list all my jobs, but I just have the first couple of jobs on one line each - so just the company name, time frame and job title.

It might depend on the industry, but having 50% of your CV taken up with academia etc sounds a bit much?

yeah, the 97 job was my longest, they have since then got progressively shorter it seems...:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I have 4 awards, so thats half a page, all of them awards and mobules, projects etc. the rest of page 2 is skills, s/w and h/w and the mundane interests....


edit, got my cv attached if anyone wants a peep..!

Eoin

It sounds like the 1997 job is still quite relevant then - I reckon you should look at trimming down the other stuff first.

seamus

As you go down the list of previous jobs on my CV, the list of duties in each job gets shorter and shorter. I think for the earliest two I only have the date, company name and role and nothing more.

Eoin

I don't know the industry, but that's a LOT of information about your education. Are you sure you're giving enough information about your actual work experience? It's impossible for me to tell though, as I haven't a clue what most of it means!

As an aside, I would look at the interests section. You might want people to think that "Socialising" means that you're not introverted, but it can also sound like "Piss head". "Culture" sounds very vague.

Microsoft Word has some excellent CV templates that can make for a very attractive looking CV. Might be worth having a look at that.

seamus wrote:

As you go down the list of previous jobs on my CV, the list of duties in each job gets shorter and shorter. I think for the earliest two I only have the date, company name and role and nothing more.

Mine too, but I think in this case it might be worth keeping the first job as it's the only long one.

x in the city

eoin wrote: »

I don't know the industry, but that's a LOT of information about your education. Are you sure you're giving enough information about your actual work experience? It's impossible for me to tell though, as I haven't a clue what most of it means!

As an aside, I would look at the interests section. You might want people to think that "Socialising" means that you're not introverted, but it can also sound like "Piss head". "Culture" sounds very vague.

Microsoft Word has some excellent CV templates that can make for a very attractive looking CV. Might be worth having a look at that.



Mine too, but I think in this case it might be worth keeping the first job as it's the only long one.

hi Eoin,

well, I have a page on work experience which i feel is more than adequate. !
as for the socialising, well i think in fairness someone with a masters is hardly gonig to be thought of as a piss head who hangs out side department stores knocking back cider..:D

actually, what do others put down for interests?

Eoin

I still think it's a pretty irrelevant thing to put down on the CV. I reckon that, at best, it will just be ignored. If you're just trying to fill out the section for the sake of it, don't bother. Concentrate on fleshing out more relevant areas.

starlit

Hi OP, I have a few suggestions. Your Academic page is very detailed, you could try to reduce it to half a page. Might be a good idea to leave out your college subjects and just explain your major projects at the end of each of your courses. I'd suggest you just stick with stating your course title, qualification and your final grade qualification being awarded, year of your qualification and name of college/uni attended. Your skills and achievements, hobbies and interests are grand. Just make sure to check for grammar and spelling errors.

Regarding your original question OP, best to stick with your 1997 onwards job cause you had the longest and most work experience during those years in comparison to others. I'd suggest you leave out explaining your UCC work-placement and just state where you did your work-placement and not explain it any further, even leave it out if its not entirely important or you could add it into your academic page. Your shorter contracts you could leave out or you could just leave out one of your fixed term ones. The one's I'd choose would either be your two Cork ones with your internship in particular or your one from Dublin. Reducing it to at least 4-5 might be a better option and choose for yourself which is best, but definitely leave in your first job as its your longest one.

All the best OP

x in the city

points taken..!

but leaving out jobs will only have gaps, which i would have to explain for anyway, i might leave out the dutys of them jobs i had but leave the dates intact.

edit: i think i should leave my modules in for my new courses as the stuff is pretty specific and companies would like to know what i studied, just my 2c

x in the city

hu guys

I made some small changes to page 2, how does this look. I can cut out some of the job specifics later and leave it at that.

thanks for the feedback.