Irrelevant work experience

flickr – jefferysclark

As is pretty much the norm for a professional CV, somewhere in the past I draw a line in the work experience and only show the jobs that have “relevance” to the work I might seek. Really, who needs to know my long and detailed history in the food service industry? I’d rather forget some of it myself.

On Facebook I recently saw one of those little “do this in your timeline” challenges where one was supposed to list the first ten jobs they had had or something like that. As I mentally went through my list, I got both something of a laugh and had a small epiphany, that being that no work experience is ever really irrelevant. Many of my work habits–conscientiousness, teamwork, dedication–were established long before I began working in libraries. So, here’s an attempt at an “irrelevant work experience” listing, in chronological order and starting at age 12:

• newspaper delivery, Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
• handyman, custodian, and bindery, IBC printing
• busboy, La Fonda de Acebo
• busboy, Elly May’s Kitchen
• cook, Elly May’s Kitchen (best breakfast, 1984!)
• waiter, Elly May’s Kitchen
• emergency room volunteer, Swedish Medical Center
• bindery and delivery, Arapahoe Printing and Typesetting
• mail room assistant, Colorado College
• Bernoulli drive assembly line, Iomega
• ski and bike hardgood sales, Christy Sports
• dishwasher, Arapahoe Cafe
• cook, Glacier National Park backcountry (best and most physically demanding job I’ll ever have, most likely)
• temp work in Boulder, CO
• waiter, Le Francais
• prep cook, Alfalfa’s market
• freelance German-English translation
• English teacher, Prague and Poprad
• graduate student assistant, Washington University Library

… and at that point my “relevant” work experience that I show on my CV kicks in. Since none of this is documented in paperwork–no, I didn’t archive my W-2 forms–and happened before the era of digital photography, I’m sure I’ve forgotten this or that odd job. Still, it’s kind of fun to write this all down and mull why I did some of that work (mostly to eat and pay rent) and what impact it may have had. What is your “irrelevant” experience?