How much experience should you show on your resume?

One of the most important things to remember when writing a resume is that you do not have to include everything.

Your resume is not meant to be a complete record of your working life. It is a document designed to show an employer why your experience, skills and background make you suitable for the role.

This means you should think carefully about which experience deserves space on the page.

For most people, the focus should be on their most recent and relevant experience. Older roles can still be included, but they generally do not need the same level of detail.

Does all experience need to be included?

Not necessarily.

If you have worked in a number of different industries or held jobs that have little connection to the type of work you are now seeking, you may not need to provide detailed information about every position.

For example, you may have worked in retail, hospitality and administration earlier in your career before moving into your current profession.

If you are now applying for a professional role in your area of expertise, there may be little benefit in providing several bullet points about an old casual job that has no relevance to the position.

You can still include it briefly if it helps explain your employment history, but it does not need to take up valuable space.

Focus on relevance

Before including a role, ask yourself:

"Does this experience help demonstrate that I can do the job I am applying for?"

If the answer is yes, give it appropriate attention.

If the answer is no, consider whether it needs to be included at all, or whether it can simply be listed as part of your earlier employment history. This is particularly important if you have a long career. Including too much irrelevant information can make it harder for an employer to identify the experience that really matters.

What if I have limited experience?

If you are early in your career, the approach is different.

You may not have 10 or 15 years of directly relevant experience, and that is perfectly fine.

Include the experience you do have and think broadly about what demonstrates your skills and ability.

This could include part-time work, casual employment, internships, volunteering, university placements, projects or other activities where you developed useful skills.

For someone at the beginning of their career, an apparently unrelated job may still demonstrate valuable qualities such as customer service, teamwork, reliability, communication and responsibility.

The key is to explain the experience in a way that shows its relevance.

Should I leave out short-term jobs?

Short-term positions do not automatically need to be removed.

There can be good reasons for including them, particularly if they are relevant to the role or form an important part of your career history. However, if you have had a large number of short-term or unrelated positions, listing every one in detail can make your resume difficult to follow.

Use your judgement.

If a short-term role adds value, include it. If it does not contribute anything to your application, you may be better off leaving it out or including it very briefly.

Be careful about unexplained gaps

One reason people sometimes include every job is because they are worried about gaps in their employment history.

It is understandable to be concerned about this, but you should not add irrelevant experience simply to make your resume look fuller.

If you have a significant gap, you can address it honestly where appropriate. There may be a perfectly reasonable explanation, such as travel, study, caring responsibilities, redundancy, illness or looking for work.

Your resume does not need to hide every gap. What matters most is presenting your career history clearly and honestly.

Your resume should tell a story

A good resume should make sense to someone reading it for the first time.

The reader should be able to understand where you have worked, what you have done, what skills you have developed and how your experience relates to the position you are applying for.

Think of your resume as telling the story of your career. Not every chapter needs the same amount of detail.

Your most relevant and recent experience should generally receive the most attention, while older or less relevant roles can be shortened or omitted where appropriate.

Don't leave out valuable experience just because it is old

While relevance is important, be careful about removing experience simply because it happened many years ago. Some earlier experience can be extremely valuable.

You may have developed specialist knowledge, managed large teams, worked in a particular industry or achieved something significant earlier in your career that is still relevant today.

If an older role strengthens your application, include it.

The question is not simply "How old is this experience?"

The better question is "Does this experience help me demonstrate what I can offer this employer?"

Tailor your resume to the role

Your resume should be tailored to the position you are applying for. This does not mean rewriting your entire resume for every application. It means making sure the experience you highlight matches what the employer is looking for.

Read the job advertisement carefully and consider which parts of your background are most relevant. If the role requires leadership experience, make your leadership experience easy to find.

If it requires project management, highlight projects you have managed.

If it requires particular technical or industry knowledge, make sure that experience is clearly visible. The more relevant your resume is to the role, the easier it is for the employer to see your suitability.

Quality over quantity

There is no prize for having the longest resume. A resume packed with every job, responsibility and achievement can actually make it harder to see what you are good at.

Focus on the experience that matters.

Include enough information to demonstrate your capability, remove unnecessary detail and give your strongest and most relevant experience the attention it deserves.

Your resume should not tell an employer everything you have ever done. It should tell them why your experience makes you a strong candidate for the job.