I’m a Senior Leader with 20 years of experience.
Sound familiar?
Or maybe for you, it’s I’m an Accountant with 20 years of experience.
Either way, that line happens to be the most overused sentence in resumes. Ever.
Shocking? Not really.
You’re spending prime resume real estate telling the world something that everyone else is saying too: how long you’ve been working.
Does it make you stand out? Not at all.
It’s like announcing you’ve been alive for 20 years – interesting, but what’s the point?
🎥 Want to hear me break this down in real talk? Watch the video version below.
Now, I get it.
Some old-school recruiters love this kind of metric.
To prove my point, take a look at this poll from career thought leader Marie Zimenoff.
What Recruiters Really Think
Out of nearly 2,900 self-proclaimed recruiters on LinkedIn, only about 580 (a modest 20%) said they don’t care about those ‘years of experience’ statements.
In fact, a bunch of them said it’s a quick and dirty way to see if a candidate ticks the experience box.
Fair enough.
But just because they like it doesn’t mean you need to hit snooze with a bland, robotic statement.
Say It With Substance, Not Just Years
Sure, mention your years – but do it with style, something that makes the reader think, “Oh, this person’s actually done something.”
Take that yawn-worthy “Senior Sales Manager with 20 years of experience.”
Why not spice it up: “Consistently delivered double-digit sales growth over a 20-year career…”
Or instead of, “Customer Service Leader with 10 years of experience,” you could say, “Repeatedly built teams that smashed customer service goals over a decade.”
It’s all about turning that dry “I’ve been doing this for a while” into “I’ve been crushing it for years.”
Of course, this assumes you’ve done the hard work to figure out your value. (Pro tip: if you’re still clinging to that generic statement, it might be time to dig a little deeper!)
Need Help Defining Your Value?
This is exactly why my clients spend what feels like hours filling out my personalised questionnaires – to unearth their real USP (Unique Value Proposition).
Trust me, it’s worth the effort.
One last thing – let’s talk age.
You don’t need to share every single year of your working life.
Cap it at 15 to 20 years.
No need to give hiring managers any hints about how long you’ve been around.
~Lisa
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