How far back does your CV go?

[123stay]

I’m asking because I’ve never been this old before, so it’s the first time I’ve got to this stage

I’ve been advised that most people go back 10-12 years on their CV and can delete jobs they did 20 years ago.

Is this really true? Is there any chance employers will wonder if I’m trying to hide something?

Also what happens if you get one of those job applications where you have to fill in an application form? (I hate those ones!)

I do boring standard office jobs, nothing fancy.

My CV covers my whole career (nearly 40 years) but anything older than 2010 is just a line with company, job title and years. Next time I apply for a job, I'll 'archive' my 2010-2014 job in the same way. So yes - I keep 10-12 years of detail on my CV.

Thanks.

Mine covers my whole career too, from 1983.

I put 10 years on there and put "10 year work history" as the section subtitle. Anything older is largely irrelevant.

I do it so there's space on a 1-page CV to detail things in recent jobs (skills, projects I worked on, responsibilities) that will matter to future employers. They seem to appreciate it as every time I job hunt I get a lot of interviews and can usually secure a position pretty fast.

The one time I took earlier jobs off my CV, I got asked what I had done in the time period at interview. Since then I've not bothered and have left everything on. If a recruiter chooses to condense the information then that's up to them.

I do very brief entries for older jobs, and also lump together several similar jobs, so for example.
1995 to 2000: Secretarial and administrative roles
2000-2007: Project and events management roles
2007-2009: Trainee solicitor with X firm
2009-2015: Solicitor with Y firm specialising in ABC.
etc.
So they know you were working those years and can ask if they want to know more.

Thinking about it I do it this way because one of my random administration jobs was in a HE department and they automatically binned CVs with missing years, my boss told me that missing years meant the person was hiding something. So she told me to always put something even if it’s “travelling” or “family responsibilities” so they know you weren’t in prison.

My techy CV mostly covers recent stuff. My career changing CV (which admittedly is still in progress) includes more of the old stiff, because some of those jobs were relevant and show It's not a recent whim.

A friend was filling in application fitms for teaching jobs - they want the entire job history, and one of them questioned him on a month's gap between a summer job as a builder's mate and going back to uni - c1991... (He was on holiday in the USA, but it's an entirely normal break.) His CV therefore includes everything.

So it depends partly on the sector.

Everything is on mine, however older/less relevant roles are reduced to one liners as per pp. My CV is never more than 2 pages, I’ve seen too many recruiters only read the first page, so I make sure all the super relevant stuff is on that page!

Mine dates back from 2000.
Anything I did prior to that was in my teens so I deemed them unnecessary as they were "here & there" kind of jobs. Plus nobody wants to read a CV the length of an essay. Mine is 2 A4 pages which I still is a little long but acceptable.

Mine only covers recent and most relevant skills/experience to my role.

Work history is a one line item beneath the bulk of current responsibilities.

Same here

Thanks everyone. I think I’ll reduce the older ones down to take up minimal space.

Same

If to do my CV I would cover my whole career but maybe only put detail in for the key areas of progression.
For example I wouldn’t list what O Levels (😗) and A levels I got just the number.
For jobs back in the 80s and 90s just the place and dates.
The last 20years i would put in a bit more detail.

10 years is the max. No one wants to know what you were doing 15/20 years ago.

I cover the whole time in my current industry. My early career demonstrates the particular skills and techniques that I can do; the later part tends towards management. I need both aspects. I don’t list any qualifications that are not relevant to my current field. I review it every year, and it never gets longer than 2 pages.

I've dropped my Saturday jobs /student jobs etc off my CV as they just don't seem relevant after 15 years as a professional. Only time I would include them would be to show relevant industry background or similar

You don’t really want it longer than 2 pages if you want it to be read. They probably won’t read past the first page anyway. Mine goes back about 10 years - I would amend it if earlier experience was directly relevant but generally it’s not.

I also don't put my a levels/GCSES on there as I figure my degree and post grad qualifications tell their own story.

Mine goes back about 15 years, because I spent 13 years at one employer and want to look a bit more interesting, and the job before that was an interesting one!

Mine goes back to the 1980s, all my professional jobs including industrial placement during my degree, as I have followed a direct career trajectory, have only worked in half a dozen places and all are relevant. Only one line for the older ones though and a strict two page limit.

I don’t list O or A levels, or my first degree and postgraduate qualifications. Only my Masters degree is in my current field.

I don’t agree that no-one wants to know what you were doing 15 years ago; in my area, people tend to do a bit of background digging, so if you worked on project x, people might phone up an old friend who worked on that project to see if there were any issues.

It also helps identify the less honest; I once had a call from a friend to check some dates because they had seen a CV that said they had done my job at a time when I was still doing it.

My industry is quite small, though.

It also helps identify the less honest; I once had a call from a friend to check some dates because they had seen a CV that said they had done my job at a time when I was still doing it.

@ContinentalBreakfast Sorry but 😂

OMG. I would never ever do something like that. That’s shocking really.