Can You Leave a Job off Your Resume?

Let me skip to the direct answer: yes.

You are not legally bound by anyone to display your entire work history or experience. However, you can get terminated from employment if you lie on your application, so don’t add content that isn’t true. But eliminating content? Absolutely! In fact, sometimes it’s a strategy to help reduce a red flag or two. Maybe the job lasted for a week, a month, maybe even a year, but luckily you overlapped from your older job and your new tenure (i.e., you worked Job 1 from January 2010-March 2018, Job 2 from April 2018 to November 2018, and Job 3 from December 2018 through the present. Just drop the months and Job 2 so it flows seamlessly on your resume — Job 1 2010-2018 and Job 2 2018-Present).

The flip side is what if you actually did a really neat accomplishment or two there? Or even developed a skill set or usage of the software that can still be relevant? Easy, still, drop the job, but sprinkle in those accomplishments into your accomplishments section and flesh in those buzzwords or technical skills into your core competency section.

The end goal is to land an interview. Be pragmatic with your judgment. If a job is sitting on your resume with either no relevance towards your new target, enables a red flag in the form of a job hop, or alters the way the hiring manager may perceive you as a viable candidate, it’s probably a good idea to leave it off so you give yourself a better chance for interview requests.

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