Listing graduation date for a non-traditional student

Question

I had to take a few years off from my degree program (Bachelors) due to financial problems. In that time, I got a full time job in the industry I majored in. I'm completing the degree this semester. I've been going back and forth on how to list it on my resume - specifically if I should list dates of attendance and my graduation year.

Listing the full years I attended may give a bad impression, as it covers nearly 8 years. I'm still fairly young, and I also worry that if I list the year I graduated (2020), employers may misinterpret my current work experience as part time, intern-level, or student work.

Any thoughts? I know there's some consensus that once you have a lot of experience it's fine to drop the graduation year, but I'm not at that point yet.

Answer 1

List only your graduation year - not any other dates relevant to your degree.

Describe your full time job in detail, spelling out that it was a full time, 40 hour a week job, with real responsibilities.

If someone doesn't read your resume thoroughly (and many people won't), and you list the enrollment date as well as the graduation one then they may think "8 years to get a bachelor's degree? Bin it".

Those that DO read it thoroughly (and think your experience is a good match for their position) will probably ask about the dates in an interview, at which point you can go into detail about how hard you worked to meet the challenges you faced, and how you managed your conflicting priorities effectively during that time etc.

As as you already know, as you get further in to you career then it won't really matter at all any more (although I'd be more inclined to leave entry level jobs off rather than my education - rightly or wrongly, having a degree is going to be more interesting to potential employers than the responsibilities you had as a junior employee).