There’s nothing worse than having to write a CV. Depending on your career level, there’s either too little or way too much information, and you have to figure out how to expand or distill it in EXACTLY the right way while still making it appealing to a literal robot inside of an applicant tracking system. It’s a nightmare.

But among the myriad of resume pitfalls, there’s one little detail that most of us reflexively include that experts say can often make your job search even more difficult — which is silly because it doesn’t even have to be there!

A job search expert says the only detail you should immediately remove from your resume is your graduation date.

You know how it goes: everything on a resume has a date. Every job and volunteer position has a start and end date, and that goes for your degrees, too. Class filler, right?

But Jerry Lee, a job search expert whose company Wonsulting helps jobseekers with all aspects of career development, says graduation is just a short year away. And while you’re at it, delete it from LinkedIn and everything else too.

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For starters, your graduation year makes it easy for employers to discriminate against you based on your age.

This is much more concerning for those of us who are a bit long-toothed, but it is a very real phenomenon. Age discrimination in hiring is endemic, and it begins much earlier in life than expected. You are protected by federal law from 40 years old onlywhich is after all only halfway through your career.

A Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) study found that nearly a third of HR and recruiting professionals said age factored into their decision whether or not to hire a candidate. And research has also shown that a similar proportion of workers feel discriminated against based on age.

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But even if no one actively discriminates, prejudice is real. In 2017 I lost my job, but the market was good and I had a great resume and I thought I wouldn’t have any problems. 250 applications and just one lonely interview laterI was discouraged.

A friend from HR was willing to bring me up to speed. “If I look at your resume,” he said, “I see these credentials and I do the math that you’re probably in your 40s and want a pay rate double what I can make accept to a hungry twenty-year-old.

I appreciated his honesty, even though it was infuriating on many levels. It’s best not to give them extra help with age calculations by confirming it with your graduation year, and you won’t find me with mine listed anywhere unless the software requires it !

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But it’s not just about older people: younger people may be considered unqualified due to their year of graduation.

While this is not considered discrimination under the law, what many people don’t consider is that young people are also systematically disadvantaged by the year they graduate. The young woman in the video that inspired Lee’s point of view is a perfect example.

In her interview, she explained how she worked full-time throughout her studies. So while her classmates graduated without any tangible experience under their belt, she graduated with three full years already spent in her field in the working world. That’s a very different level of experience – and one that probably would have been dismissed entirely as soon as the hiring manager saw she only had JUST graduated from college.

As Lee said in his video, “Don’t let companies use your age to justify seniority in positions you should get.” Your experience should dictate it… If you can play the role, you should get the role“.

Leaving your year of graduation aside prevents all these ridiculous notions about whether someone is “seasoned” enough for the role or whatever. This often doesn’t matter: it’s the skills that count.

And Lee says that while you’re dropping your graduation date, you should also move your education to the bottom of your resume while you’re at it. “Your experience speaks much louder than your education,” he said. So put it where it belongs: right there, at the top!

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John Sundholm is a writer, editor and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. It covers topics related to culture, mental health and human interests.