Why you shouldn't put your graduation year on your résumé when applying for a new job

• Career-focused TikTokers are sharing job-hunting advice.
• One lesser-known tip is to exclude your graduation year from your resume. 
• This may help recent graduates find higher-level positions and help older candidates prevent ageism.

If you're job hunting, one small detail in the education section on your résumé may be holding you back.

While some TikTokers are teaching Gen Z how to adapt to the corporate world, others are giving advice on how to get a job in the first place. One piece of advice that's gained traction on the platform is that you should delete the year you graduated from your résumé. 

The School of Hard Knocks TikTok account (@theschoolofhardknocks), which shares financial literacy tips and career advice, posted an interview with a woman who said she works in sales at TikTok, asking her what advice she would tell her younger self.

"Delete your graduation year from your résumé," she said. "The reason being that a lot of the time traditional hirers or recruiters are going to base your salary off of how long you've been in the 'real world.'"

But if recent grads leave their graduation off their résumé, recruiters will have to judge them on their skills and previous experience. And that could mean they end up getting considered for more than just the entry-level roles typically set aside for candidates just entering the job market. 

Other career-focused creators quickly jumped in to add to the conversation, stitching the original video with their own advice.

Jerry Lee (@jerryjhlee) of career counseling company Wongsulting agreed, and said he recommends candidates not only delete their graduation year, but also move their education section to the bottom of their résumé below their work experience. 

"Adding your graduation year can only hurt you," Lee said. "Unless you're a student, then that's okay."

Another creator, @rob_cancilla, offers a slightly more cautious take. He suggests that if you've graduated within the last two years, you should definitely keep your grad date — leaving it off might suggest to potential employers that you didn't graduate at all. And if you've graduated within the past five years, Cancilla says, you might want to keep it in places like Linkedin so that you'll come up in the results when recruiters are looking for candidates with a certain number of years of experience. Once you've graduated more than five years ago, Cancilla suggests thinking about removing your grad year.

This advice isn't just for recent graduates, either. Removing your graduation year can be a good idea for older job seekers too.

Antrell Vining, who's behind the career tips and comedy account @TechByAntrell, said that doing so can help prevent ageist assumptions that recruiters might make about older applicants. 

"If you graduated a long time ago and you're trying to get a job in your industry now, they're gonna be like 'oh, they probably forgot every single thing that they learned in their degree, so we're not going to hire them,'" Vining said. 

Besides your graduation date, there are other details you might want to consider removing from your résumé too, like certain personal details, mailing addresses, career objectives, and hobbies.