How Many Jobs Should You List on a Resume: Guide & Examples

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According to our most recent analysis of 31,000 applications, the average number of jobs listed on a resume is five.

If you’re a candidate with some experience, aim for three to five relevant jobs on your resume, depending on your career stage and the role you're applying for. Focus on positions from the past 10 to 15 years closest to the skills, experience, and accomplishments related to the job.

For entry-level roles, listing one to three jobs, internships, or significant projects is sufficient because recruiters expect applicants who are early in their careers.

However, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to resume building.

In this guide, we’ll share insights that will help you decide how many jobs you should provide on your resume and how to make your experience section more impactful.

Why the Number of Jobs Listed on Your Resume Matters

Your resume is more than just a list of jobs—it’s a strategic document that’s supposed to convince employers you’re a good fit for а role.

The number of jobs you include is a factor that can influence how hiring managers perceive you.

A longer work history with a track record of accomplishments may be valued in certain areas like academia or research. But this isn’t the case for the majority of roles.

Here’s why:

• It can be overwhelming and distracting.
• Recruiters usually take only a few moments to review a resume.
• They won’t be able to immediately focus on your most relevant experience.

Ideally, you should have a resume that's concise and powerful.

In the meantime, detailing just one or no jobs at all isn’t as problematic as you might think, especially when applying for entry-level roles.

Of course, experience is an advantage but it’s not the only factor that makes an impressive resume.

For example, if you’ve had little or no formal work experience, then you can apply for roles with a functional resume.

In any case, don’t be tempted to list fake previous jobs—lying on a resume always backfires.

If you already have a resume and you’re about to start applying for jobs, now would be a good time to see if it holds up to the latest standards—give our AI-based resume checker a try!

Prioritize Relevance When Listing Jobs on Your Resume

As resume experts, we recommend that you provide only the jobs with the highest relevancy to the role you’re applying for. This, in combination with tailoring your resume to the job description, significantly increases your chances of getting interview calls.

Regarding how far back in your work history you should go, a general rule of thumb that we can give you is to focus on the roles you’ve taken in the last 10 to 15 years. This way you won’t overwhelm hiring managers with outdated information.

Listing Jobs According to Your Career Stage

Another factor that dictates how you should present your work history is at what stage of your career you’re in. If you’ve ever claimed to be “flexible” on your resume, now’s the time to prove it.

Let’s take a look at the general career stages job hunters usually find themselves in, and how to adapt a resume experience section for each.

Recent graduate

You’re fresh out of school and you don’t have formal work experience. Now what?

Here’s how you can write an impactful resume without listing any jobs:

• Use your education as the basis for your resume.
• Lead with an expanded education section.
• List your major, minor, and GPA score (if above 3.5).
• Detail all relevant coursework that helped you acquire transferable skills.
• Describe relevant experience you’ve gained through academic projects, volunteer work, and internships.

If you use our resume builder, you can have your education section formatted as shown in the example below.

Early career professional or career changer

If you’ve recently started your career journey, or you’re shifting to a different industry, you can dazzle hiring managers with a carefully structured functional or hybrid resume. Balance your transferable experience from previous jobs with your strengths and motivation to land a role.

• List only the jobs that best relate to the role.
• Detail what relevant experience and skills you’ve acquired.
• If applicable, expand your education or certification section.
• Include experience from internships, projects, and volunteer work.
• Consider using an objective instead of a summary.

To prime hiring managers for the idea that you’re a good fit for the role, you can hint at your transferable experience and skills in your resume objective, as shown in this example.

Experienced professional

If your job history is extensive, then your aim should be to distill its most important parts.

Here’s how:

• Be selective: List the work experience most relevant to the role.
• Focus on achievements: Detail quantifiable results and key accomplishments.
• Show professional growth: Use reverse chronological order to outline your career progression.

To better demonstrate this approach and inspire you, we used our AI-integrated resume builder to create such an experience section.

No matter what stage of your career you’re in, if you’re applying for a specific role, then there’s a good chance that you’ll find even more insightful and specific advice on how to build your resume in our comprehensive resume examples and guides.

Frequently Asked Questions

At this point you should have a pretty good understanding of how to approach listing jobs on your resume. Still, you might have a couple of questions.

Should I include every job I've ever had on my resume?

No. This will detract from your relevant experience. If a job doesn’t relate to the role you’re applying for, then it’s best to skip it. An exception can be made if you’re early in your career. Listing one or two seemingly irrelevant jobs can serve the purpose of conveying that you’re responsible enough to hold a job for a meaningful period of time.

What if I have gaps in my employment history?

It’s best to briefly address unemployment periods on your resume. Provide a good reason why they occurred—there’s no need to go into too much detail. This way recruiters might decide to not address the gaps during the interview phase.

How many pages should my resume be?

You should aim for a one-page resume. This is easy to achieve even if you have an extensive work history. However, it’s reasonable to have a two-page resume in certain fields, like science and politics, where an extensive career will be seen as an advantage.

In Conclusion

In the end, there’s no “right” number of jobs to have listed on your resume. Instead of obsessing over a minor detail, focus on presenting your most relevant experience, skills, and personal traits in a strategic and concise manner to convince hiring managers you’re a good applicant who’s worth their time.