Applying online-list ALL jobs?

[spaghetina]

Has anyone ever come across an online job application that asked that you list ALL of your previous employment? I'm struggling with this because I'm a new grad RN, but I'm almost 40, have held a number of jobs (the first one when I was 16), and truly can't remember any of the pertinent information about a couple of my previous jobs, especially pertaining to salary and dates of employment. Additionally, I have a big gap between the last time I was employed and now, so this pushes my work history further back into... well, history.

I certainly no longer have pay stubs or tax information from the 90's when I worked my first job to look back upon and glean information from, but I don't want this potential employer to think I'm withholding information.

In this case, do you think "all" really means ALL previous employment dating back to the very beginning of my work history?

[NuGuyNurse2b]

Have you tried doing the application? Someone with your extensive work history might not be able to even list all of your jobs. In other words it might say list all but when you try to input maybe 5 jobs it won't allow you add anymore. I know the applications I did the most they asked for was the last 3 employers.

[spaghetina]

My last job ended in 2004 (like I said - long gap that's going to be interesting to try to explain during interviews!), and it's about the only one I remember any details about (and even those are a bit fuzzy). The application can have a max of 4 jobs, but included in those 4 that I would have to list are 3 that I remember pretty much nothing about now.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I only list the last 10 years of my employment history when completing any type of job application. I use the same rule of thumb when preparing my résumés.

There is never really a need to list the entire employment history unless the applicant is a very young adult (late teens to early 20s) who lacks extensive work experience.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

The only time I've listed ALL my employment (going back to 1974) was for a government top security clearance job. Otherwise, I list my nursing jobs - which go back 24 years but only encompass 4 jobs.