What do you think of a CV/Resume that omits graduation and other dates?

Robert asks: What do you think of a resume that omits graduation and other dates? I received an e-mail from someone at a job web site in response to their offer of a free resume critique. One of the things it said was that if you graduated college more than 10 years go you should admit the year. Recruiters and HR People: What do you think of a resume that omits the graduation dates? Similarly, if you are dropping the year of graduation, will it make any difference if you have the dates of employment or indeed, any other dates? I would appreciate hearing your thoughts.

In answer:
The first thing a CV/Resume should answer is - do you have the skills and experience to reach and exceed the job specification? Hence, the fact you have the right base degree counts more than the date you graduated - and the delivered experience since counts more than both of those.

In many countries now, legally there is no need for applicants to include or employers to specifically request certain information, including dates, as they are considered discriminatory to some extent - date of birth, graduation, etc. However, leaving them out and counting a statement which includes a 20+ career comment means they are not that hard to figure out - plus most corporates will at some point use a checking service, so it will come out at some point.

Personally, its up to you - there is no right or wrong generic answer, just what's right for you. If you can show career development with a second degree or more qualifications in a managed career path, then why not - if it happened 20years ago, and you have done little since, best not to.

Good Luck!