The foundation of your career

The urban legend out in the world is that the most recent 10 years of your career are all that anyone is interested in. True, but I think this idea is more correctly stated as “really” interested in.

The primary rationale I hear for leaving off your early work history is to appear younger. Well, you aren’t. And, I would argue that trying to appear younger is a fool’s errand to start with. Sooner or later they will find out your true age. It is also a little disingenuous to try to fool a potential employer. Not a good trait for senior financial officer. If you withhold information important to my decision making, are you going to do that when you are my Chief Financial Officer? Trust me, your age is only a “data point.”
 
But, let’s put the “looking younger” issue aside for a moment and explain why it doesn’t work.
 
The most interesting point is that although what you have been doing “lately” is of great interest, how you got there is also important.
 
Your early work history should always be on your resume. Not many details are required or desirable. All that is needed is the names of the firms where you worked, what they did, the year ranges you worked there and your title or titles. No accomplishments are needed.
 
So, excuse me for not coming to the point earlier, but if you leave off your early work history, many of the stories you are going to tell me to sell me on your candidacy won’t make any sense. Some of your best “war stories” will make inadvertent mention of an early work experience that is NOT on your resume. Now you’ve been caught.
 
Your early work history is the foundation of your career. It is how you got from there to here.
 
My first job experience was as an Internal Auditor at B. Altman & Company, one of the carriage trade retailers in New York City in the 1970’s. As they say, “retail is detail.” My job was documenting all the existent paperwork flows to implement a newly acquired purchase order receiving system. Should I mention that every form had 6 parts and went all over the place. I had never seen so much paper in my entire life! And, it was flying in every direction. I wandered the store and had to talk to everyone and understand what they did and how they did it. I learned SO much in those 2 years I was there. Honestly, there isn’t a paperwork problem I’ve ever encountered since that wasn’t simple by comparison. Plus, as a “wet behind the ears” new employee, I learned how to be polite to all of my many much more senior colleagues, and still get them to do what I decided was best.
 
Give great thought to the stories you are going to have to tell to get the job you are interviewing for. How are you going to explain your many talents if you don’t share how you acquired them?
 
EVERYTHING you have done in your entire career is how you got to where you are now and why you will make the world’s best employee. Don’t put yourself in the position of not being able to prove your point with a relevant story.
 
Regards, Matt