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how to list the dates of your current job on your resume

by Alison Green on January 4, 2013

This is a tiny, minor, inconsequential thing, but I’m telling you anyway because I’m neurotic about small things:

If you are currently employed, the dates on your resume for your current job should end with “present.” For instance:

Chocolate Teapot Maker, 2009 – present

Chocolate Teapot Maker, 2009 – 2013

If you do the latter, many of us will wonder if you’re still employed there or whether you left. And if it happens to be, say, December 2012, and your most recent job says “2009 – 2012,” we’ll wonder if you’re still there or whether you left 10 months ago. And then we’ll spend time asking you, when you could have been clear about it from the beginning.

Minor, very minor, but worth doing right.

Lore * January 4, 2013 at 2:01 pm On the other hand, I once had an interview where the interviewer was so insistently probing into a gap on my resume that didn’t exist that I started to think I’d made a horrible error when listing dates. Turned out his printer was smudging and he was reading a “0” as an “8.” So, sometimes all the clarity in the world doesn’t help!

Anonymous * January 4, 2013 at 4:47 pm So they thought you were unemployed from (hypothetically) 1999 to 2008?! I’m almost surprised he didn’t just discard the resume outright.

Anonymous * January 4, 2013 at 4:49 pm To add: not to say there aren’t many perfectly valid reasons to have a resume gap of 1999 to 2008, but rather that someone who’s so insistent on probing the issue would even call the candidate in for an interview.

Lore * January 4, 2013 at 6:04 pm He was one of three people I met with, so I guess one of the others had done the initial round of screening?

Lore * January 4, 2013 at 6:05 pm Oh, and I also should say that for that particular period of my life, I had a series of overlapping jobs–“day jobs” in publishing while also running a theater company and doing a lot of freelance writing, so it didn’t look like I’d been unemployed exactly, just that there was a big gap when I wasn’t working in this industry.

Ask a Manager * Post author January 4, 2013 at 1:41 pm I actually prefer that — it makes it a lot easier to tell how long you were really there. If something just says 2011-2012, I have no idea if that means Dec. 2011 – Feb. 2012 or if it’s actually closer to the full two years. So I much prefer it when candidates include months (and I’ll usually ask if they don’t and if I have questions about how long they were really employed somewhere). That said, a lot of people use just years, especially when they stayed somewhere so many years that the months really don’t matter, or when the jobs were long ago.

Anonymous * January 4, 2013 at 1:49 pm I think this also does a good job of showing the candidate has taken on more responsibility and moved up during their time at a company as well.

V * January 4, 2013 at 8:37 pm I’m sure that’s fine. The ATS’s aren’t designed by the employers, just licensed and poorly designed, and the employers themselves don’t even know how to use them half the time. ;-)

AdAgencyChick * January 4, 2013 at 1:43 pm I have this problem, too! I’m just going to list on my resume as though they were separate jobs, so that my most recent position is up top.

JessA * January 5, 2013 at 12:33 am This actually happened to me. I went with option 2.

Ask a Manager * Post author January 4, 2013 at 1:46 pm You could do it that way, or you could do it like this: Investment Bank, Receptionist, Oct. 2011 – present
(subcontracts held by A, B, C)

Scott Woode * January 4, 2013 at 1:53 pm Thank you! I like that way SOOO much better! :)

Ask a Manager * Post author January 4, 2013 at 1:49 pm See my comment at 1:41 above.

AnotherAlison * January 4, 2013 at 2:09 pm YMMV, but here’s how I’ve done it. Although I was at different companies, the jobs were the same & I don’t want someone to have to read all the duties stuff twice. I put more detail into duties at the most recent one and only list a brief one-line description that shows it was the same as the other job for the second one. I put achievements for both. In your case, I think I’d do it the same way because as a resume reader, it’s easy to get confused when things are out of order. Specifically: Company 2
Mechanical Engineer, 2006-2008
-Developed P&IDs for steam and boiler feedwater systems for gas-fired projects
-Developed technical specs for X, Y, Z equipment
-3D modeling responsibilities for pipe supports
-Achieved blah blah blah Project Analyst, 2005-2006
-blah blah blah Company 1
Mechanical Engineer, 2000-2005
-P&ID development, specification development, 3D modeling
-Achieved blah blah blah

AnotherAlison * January 4, 2013 at 2:11 pm Sorry I didn’t “chocolate teapot” that up for everyone…ignore the jargon. : )

Frieda * January 4, 2013 at 3:01 pm This reminds me of a question I’ve been meaning to ask. What is everyone’s opinion of the role of jargon in a resume? There is a certain amount of jargon that should be in a resume to prove that you have a handle on industry-specific terms. But how much is too much–when does it become distracting? I’ve been thinking about this because I need to rewrite my resume to submit as part of a graduate school application, and it’s hard to craft it for an audience outside of my industry. I can’t just say “glazed chocolate teapots” because I have to explain the process of glazing chocolate teapots so someone would understand how complex it is.

class factotum * January 4, 2013 at 3:12 pm Increasing revenues, reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction are a common language, especially when numbers are attached, that everyone understands.

class factotum * January 4, 2013 at 3:14 pm Perhaps I should have used quotation marks: “Increased revenues, reduced costs, improved customer satisfaction by…” and then attach the numbers.

AnotherAlison * January 4, 2013 at 4:24 pm I disagree. . .mostly said it below, but if the job ad is written in jargon & the HR screener is hiring specialists, she better know what the language of our industry is. I don’t see how I could be specific enough about what I’ve done in my career if I didn’t use jargon. And what would simplify it enough that my “friend” could understand it would really make it sound crazy to the hiring manager or wouldn’t be specific enough.

Ask a Manager * Post author January 4, 2013 at 4:25 pm When I think of jargon, I think more of stuff like “Accelerated product development process by leveraging research, client successes, and proven best practices” or “Set goals and evaluated results to ensure all operations objectives and goals were met and exceeded in accordance with strategic and programmatic plans.” (These are 2 real examples I just stole from resumes.) It’s unnecessarily wordy and corporate-speak, and you’d never talk that way in conversation. Also, what the hell does it mean? I can’t even tell.

AnotherAlison * January 4, 2013 at 4:34 pm Okay. I see where you’re coming from then. I just call that BS : ) I was thinking of definition #1, and you had #2 in mind. Dictionary.com Jargon: 1.)the language, especially the vocabulary, peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group: medical jargon. 2.) unintelligible or meaningless talk or writing; gibberish.

Frieda * January 6, 2013 at 3:56 pm The first definition is what I was thinking of. If I say that I “have experience with offset and POD printing” then general readers (or, worse, HR) may not know what I mean, but if I say that I “have experience with printing lots of books at once or printing them one at a time,” then the hiring manager will think that I don’t know what I’m talking about, or trying to avoid naming a specific technology because I don’t know about it. The first example is more specific and concise, but risks someone not understanding what I mean. It’s just hard to balance sometimes.

Ask a Manager * Post author January 4, 2013 at 4:37 pm I’m hesitant to give a blank “good” on terminology because sometimes people do use it in an unclear way, but in general, if you’re sensitive to it as an issue to be aware of, you’re probably fine. It’s people who don’t even know to think about it who tend to go overboard.

AnotherAlison * January 4, 2013 at 5:11 pm My personal opinion is that you have to tailor it to the company. If you’re applying to an F500 company or say, Robert Half, I’m thinking their HR has done enough hiring & been through enough education and training to know what SOX means. If it’s a mom & pop company, and HR consists of the owner’s assistant/receptionist/HR/marketing person, then maybe not. (Then they wouldn’t be worrying about SOX anyway, obviously.)

Sasha * January 4, 2013 at 2:19 pm Yes, I would do that, I have done it on a few online apps. If you can leave it blank at all, I would go for that, but I know some of the apps will error out if you don’t choose a specific date.

Julie * January 4, 2013 at 2:26 pm +1

Erica B * January 4, 2013 at 4:20 pm don’t forget to bring with you the worst resumes ever and the best!

Anonymous * January 4, 2013 at 2:21 pm The term “B.A.” means she has that degree. What year may not be clear, but she says she has a B.A. so she finished. Not ideal writing on her part, but it’s a stretch to take it to mean she entered but did not finish.

Z * January 4, 2013 at 3:08 pm I agree that it’s a stretch, but on the other hand, she also listed her M.A., with “Class of 2014.” That makes me wonder if she actually plans to graduate in 2014, or if she entered with that class, but is going to take until 2015 to finish.

Ellie H. * January 4, 2013 at 10:57 pm Yeah, it’s odd but I wouldn’t take it to mean she doesn’t have a B.A., but it sounds like you didn’t, anyway. I also don’t think that it is worth speculating about when she may or may not finish her M.A. There are some programs that have a really specific timeline and it would be strange not to finish on time but there are also many that might take longer for whatever reason. The school I work at allows five years before a masters student is out of time which we generally think is excessive, but if it weren’t acceptable, we wouldn’t do it. It allows for students who work full-time and take classes part-time. On a different note it may be frequently done, but it makes me crazy when Ph.D. students have “Ph.D. expected 2016” or similar on their C.V. because it is so, so, so unpredictable when you will actually finish, regardless of what a great student you are. Granted less so in the sciences than in the humanities but, still.

The IT Manager * January 4, 2013 at 4:30 pm Class of XX is simply unclear and should not be used on a resume becuase of the usage of “class of” designation simply to mean 4 years after entry. It is a means of describing a group of people and not a data. If you have a degree or graduation certificate use the date it was conferred. If you’re anticpating gradution in the future still use just the year but write “(anticipated)” or something similar.

Anonymous * January 4, 2013 at 4:40 pm I agree with your comment in general, but for students in some specialized programs that are longer or shorter than 4 years, Class of XX is whatever the anticipated graduation date is, not necessarily just entry+4. I’d argue that Class of XX also changes as your anticipated graduation plans change (say you added a major, which extends your anticipated graduation by a year. You’re now Class of XX+1) I definitely agree that stating the date, or (anticipated) date is much more clear though.

class factotum * January 4, 2013 at 3:16 pm Does a gap of four months even need to be explained? Especially if you are employed now?

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how to list the dates of your current job on your resume

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