How much of your work history should you list on your resume?

By Kirk Mason (mason@wsbt.com)

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David Dallecarbonare, 42 of Franklin, Ind, helps out Doug Ayers with the charity of a dollar while wearing a sandwich board titled "Hire Me" in hopes of creating contacts to help himself find a job, Friday, March 19, 2009, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/The Indianapolis Star, Matt Detrich)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Jul 13, 2009 at 2:03 PM EST

Story Updated: Jul 13, 2009 at 2:03 PM EST

Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country, and in our area right now Elkhart and LaGrange counties have some of the highest unemployment in Indiana.

So we know a lot of you are looking for work.

Karen McDaniel of Goshen has a Good Question: "When writing a resume, how far back in your work history do you list?"

WSBT's Kirk Mason found out it's not an exact science.

The popular book "Resumes for Dummies" points out some companies do background checks. Those checks allow them to get a potential employee's work history over the past 20 years. That means the company you're applying to may know a lot more than you think anyway.

But there is no set answer for how much of your work history you should include on your resume.

Resumes for Dummies advises older workers who have been laid-off to avoid putting too much work history, for fear of scaring off employers that may think you want too much money. They advise that you list your last 15 years for a management job and last 10 years of work history for a technical job.

But go online and you will see many different opinions. Some argue you should only put experience that relates to the job you're trying to obtain.

Another common answer you see online is “far enough and not too far.”

One resume expert says go back 10 to 15 years, unless your best work is further back.

A word of caution from resume experts in this age of the Internet: If you post your resume online, there's no going back; it's there for all to see including a current boss if you are still working.

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