Should I leave out a degree on my resume?

[KansDem]

I earned a PhD 15 years ago. I taught as an adjunct for a couple of years while I applied for every opening I thought I was remotely qualified. I had two interviews and no offers.

Meanwhile, a full-time opening that required one of my masters degrees opened up and I took it. I've been working in this field for some 14 years now but feel for a variety of reasons it's time to move on. I thought I would stay in my alternate career as I have from time to time applied to openings requiring my PhD, without success. A college or university is simply not going to consider a 50+ year-old who last taught 14 years ago, so I have to stay with my alternate career.

My question is: the openings I'm looking at require a masters only--which I have--but not the PhD. I thought I'd make myself more "marketable" by omitting reference to the PhD on my resume.

Advice?

[carol-wilson]

1. Suggestion

I suggest you not to omit reference to the PhD on your resume.Though it is not require for your current job but still you can place it somewhere in your resume where it will get least noticed, But resume is what you have achieved no matter what your results are but the outcome still matters somehow.so include in your resume but you can omit it from your resume cover letter

[Nikia]

2. I still think that a PhD would be more of a plus than a minus

Even if it is in an unrelated field. It shows that you have determination, intelligence, writing skills, and are able to work hard on an original project.
For a Master's degree level job, I don't think that a PhD is that "overqualified". It is only one level of education up. Lots of people with Bachelor's degrees get jobs only requiring a high school diploma and lots of people with Master's degrees get jobs only requiring Bachelor's degrees. Sometimes it even helped them get a job over someone without their degree.

[oysterbay]

4. Can't that sometimes be viewed negatively?

I have an undergraduate liberal arts degree plus zero career-related experience in 30 years of working menial jobs. Putting my degree on my resume seems to work as a big red flag - this guy earned a degree and has dome absolutely nothing with it, so there must be something wrong therefore someone we have to avoid.

A PhD on a resume when applying for a masters-level job might put off some employers.

[dmallind]

3. I think with stable history in the "alternate" field you're fine

If you had been teaching or doing post-doc work for the last 14 years it may have been a good idea to miss out the piled high and deep when looking for more functional/operational work, but that's more than long enough to show you're not an academic just looking to make some cash for a while before heading back to the groves. I'd certainly be more swayed by the career than the academics beyond qualifying level at this point, and I've hired a few "overqualified" folks in my time. I'm only leery if they are looking to take a step down now suddenly.