How far back should a resume go? A guide for long careers

Career offices usually advise showing the last 10 to 15 years in detail. Older roles don't have to disappear: list them in one short 'Earlier career' line, without dates if you prefer. The test for any older role is simple: does it help this application? If not, cut it or summarize it.

How far back should a resume go? The rule of thumb, and when to break it

The 10 to 15-year figure is career-office advice rather than the result of a study, so treat it as a starting point and adjust it to your situation.

US federal jobs are the exception to most of this guide. Since September 27, 2025, USAJOBS has limited resumes to two pages, and OPM tells agencies that an applicant whose only resume is longer is ineligible. The USAJOBS help center also asks for the start and end month and year of each job you list, so leaving dates off isn't an option there. One of OPM's own tips for fitting two pages is to 'Remove outdated or unrelated experience.'

How long should a resume be with 20 years of experience?

Two pages is normal. MIT's career office advises 'Stick to one page, unless you have extensive experience or an advanced degree', and 20 years counts as extensive. UK advice treats two A4 pages as the usual ceiling, and US federal resumes can't go over two. If yours runs to three or four, the cause is usually the detail on the older half of your career, which the next section trims.

What to do with older jobs: a before and after

This example is invented for illustration, a made-up operations director with a 28-year career, shown first the way long resumes tend to grow (one job at a time), then trimmed to two pages.

What changed: the three most recent roles (16 years) keep their detail; three older roles become one line with no bullets or dates; the graduation year goes but the degree stays; and dated software makes way for current systems and a recent certificate.

Three ways to write the 'Earlier career' line (invented examples)

1. With dates: 'Earlier career: warehouse and distribution supervision at Company A, Company B and Company C, 1998 to 2010.'
2. Without dates: 'Earlier career: distribution and shift supervision at Company C and Company B, after starting as a warehouse team lead at Company A.'
3. By theme, after a change of direction: 'Earlier career: eight years in retail store management, including two store openings.'

When should you remove an old job altogether? When it's neither relevant nor needed to show how you got here; otherwise fold it into the line. How many previous jobs should you list? There's no set number, though most long careers end up with three to five roles in full. Everything in the trimmed version is true, and the full history is still there if an application form or an interviewer asks for it.

Resume tips if you're over 50

If you've searched for how to hide your age on a resume, the more useful aim is to keep the reader on your recent, relevant work, because that's what they're hiring for. These tips are advice, not rules.

• Graduation dates are optional. CU Boulder's career office says 'Don't list your graduation dates. The reviewer cares more about whether or not you have the degree than when you earned it.' If the year goes, leave the dates off your 'Earlier career' line too, or a reader can do the arithmetic.
• Show current skills. Drop software that's been replaced, list the systems you use now, and add recent courses or certificates; the same office suggests putting continuing education and online courses in your education section.
• Describe depth, not the total. '15 years running distribution sites' and '28 years of experience' can both be true, and the first says what you'd bring.
• Use a simple email address built from your name. It's one less detail to form an impression from.

What the numbers say

The worry is common: in a 2020 poll for the Centre for Ageing Better, 36% of UK adults in their 50s and 60s felt they would be at a disadvantage applying for jobs because of their age. That measures how people feel, not what employers do.

The job market figures are mixed: in 2025 the median unemployed American aged 55 to 64 had been looking for 11.3 weeks, against 10.3 for ages 25 to 34 and 11.8 for ages 45 to 54 (BLS). Of US workers laid off in 2023 to 2025 from jobs they'd held three years or more, 72.9% of those aged 25 to 54 were working again by January 2026, against 57.3% of those aged 55 to 64 (BLS). In the UK, 72.2% of people aged 50 to 64 were in work in 2026, and unemployed 50 to 64-year-olds were no more likely to be long-term unemployed than 35 to 49-year-olds (29.8% against 29.1%, a gap the DWP says is not statistically significant).

What the law says

Under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, an employer with 20 or more employees may not refuse to hire you because of your age once you are 40 or older (with narrow exceptions), and its job ads may not use wording that limits or discourages older applicants.

In England, Scotland and Wales, the Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for an employer to treat you less favorably because of your age, at any age, when deciding whom to offer a job, unless the employer can show the treatment is a proportionate way of achieving a legitimate aim. Northern Ireland has its own separate age-discrimination rules.

Neither law tells you what to put on your own resume, so the suggestions on this page are advice, not legal requirements. For a specific situation, see the EEOC or Acas.

How far back should your LinkedIn experience go?

Recruiters search LinkedIn with filters, which changes the question. A recruiting-software company's guide to LinkedIn Recruiter says its years-of-experience filter is worked out 'from the start date of the earliest position in a candidate's Experience section', so it measures the span of your career. That's a vendor's account, not LinkedIn's, so treat it as reported rather than confirmed.

If it's right, a profile starting in 1996 reads as 30 years of experience and may drop out of a search for 10 to 15 years, though it helps when a job asks for 20 or more. The practical answer is to list the last 15 to 20 years as roles, mention earlier work in a sentence in your About section, and keep any titles and dates that appear in both places consistent. The LinkedIn makeover will draft the new About and experience for you, and how recruiters search LinkedIn covers the search side.

UK: how far back should a CV go?

In the UK the document is a CV and the advice is the same. Prospects says that 'if it's old detail from ten years ago, summarise it', and recommends no more than two A4 pages, though it says three may be needed for high-level roles or a lot of experience. The National Careers Service says you should not include your age or date of birth. Once you have a degree or a long career behind you, GCSEs (or O levels) can shrink to one line or go, unless the job asks for them. For more on length, see how long should a CV be.

From the founder

Next steps

• Build the resume: the free resume builder turns your history into a finished resume as a Word document, in US or UK English, free with an account, and you can tell it which roles to lead with.
• Bring LinkedIn into line: the LinkedIn makeover rewrites your headline, About and experience, and the LinkedIn score rates your profile in two minutes with no signup.
• More: how long should a CV be, CV vs resume, common CV mistakes and, if you're changing direction, career change cover letters.