For USAJobs resume how many years of work history to include?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By all of it, people don't really mean to include that summer cashier job at Target while in college, right?

This is DCUM, no one who posts ever worked at Target/retail/food service. Their first jobs were six figures at law firms.

Also, we’re old and Target wasn’t around when we were in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go far enough back that you seem to be no older than 45.

Bullocks, I got hired into fed gvt (excepted) at age 49 after many years out of the workforce, though I did have prior fed experience before the gap (excepted). I got hired by other agencies a couple times after that in my early 50s.

Because of my gap and earlier fed service, my resume went way back. I included everything after my graduate degree but I didn’t have that much paid work experience.

I don’t think I’d list everything if it took 10 pages; I think I’d be selective and keep it to 2 or 3 because no one wants to read that much. Hit the highlights for the job posting (and you may need a few different versions of resumes).

I also followed the tip to have a usajobs resume and then have a pdf of a normal looking formatted resume with the required information and include that either with the usajobs resume or instead of it. The usajobs resumes are not pleasant to read and from my time on hiring committees, the applicants who made it to interviews had normal, formatted resumes, not the usajobs ones.

Many agencies require the USAJobs format so just be sure you have it if it’s needed.

The older experience should just have like a bullet or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go far enough back that you seem to be no older than 45.

Bullocks, I got hired into fed gvt (excepted) at age 49 after many years out of the workforce, though I did have prior fed experience before the gap (excepted). I got hired by other agencies a couple times after that in my early 50s.

Because of my gap and earlier fed service, my resume went way back. I included everything after my graduate degree but I didn’t have that much paid work experience.

I don’t think I’d list everything if it took 10 pages; I think I’d be selective and keep it to 2 or 3 because no one wants to read that much. Hit the highlights for the job posting (and you may need a few different versions of resumes).

I also followed the tip to have a usajobs resume and then have a pdf of a normal looking formatted resume with the required information and include that either with the usajobs resume or instead of it. The usajobs resumes are not pleasant to read and from my time on hiring committees, the applicants who made it to interviews had normal, formatted resumes, not the usajobs ones.

Many agencies require the USAJobs format so just be sure you have it if it’s needed.

The older experience should just have like a bullet or two.

That depends, if it is less relevant for the job posting, maybe. But if it is more relevant than your most recent experience, put more bullets.

OP, there are no rules, do what works for you and don’t worry about being too old or your experience being too dated. Hustle and sell and you can make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Why are people including all of their work history? I go back about 20 years and that's plenty, even for USA Jobs. I just started looking for a Fed job and I've been referred several times, so I think it's fine.

[Anonymous]

I submitted a two page resume with 20 years of work history on it and was moved to the next step, so it is possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are people including all of their work history? I go back about 20 years and that's plenty, even for USA Jobs. I just started looking for a Fed job and I've been referred several times, so I think it's fine.

some agencies (cough, cough: SEC) have internal pay matrices that calculate your pay based on the *experience on your submitted resume*. You can't submit a separate resume with everything later. The pay matrix isn't necessarily going to meet your current pay if you lop off a decade of work experience.