I took 14 years to finish my Ph.D. Mostly this was due to a health problem (now cured); partly it was because I bit off too large a research problem. It's done now, though, and I'm applying for an academic/research position.
I'm embarrassed to write 2008–2022 in the column next to the line that describes my Ph.D. And I'm wary of mentioning a health problem in a C.V. What's the best way I can frame it? Could I put only the year of completion? Mention only the last 7 years? Small type?
As has been mentioned a few times on this site, your CV is for facts about your career. Health, and other things that are not very directly career related, should be left out.
I only list the completion dates of my degrees on my CV. However, listing only a completion date does nothing to hide the duration of the degree; you did something before you started your PhD, and that should have a completion date listed. If you had some other job during your PhD, you might list that.
In academia, your publications count far more than the length of your PhD. Speaking from experience: I completed my PhD faster than 99% of physical science PhDs, and exactly zero academics care about that fact (it was good for my bank account).
If you are asked about the 14 year period, you can simply say "My studies were interrupted for personal reasons which are no longer relevant." You can provide more detail if you like; while your health problem may have been rare, health problems are common and people understand they are not voluntary. I would not want to work for an employer who would choose not to hire me because of my past health problems, both common and rare. Regardless of the wording you use, articulate that the problem you had will not recur.
You can just list the completion year. You will have to account somehow for what you were doing in the interim - perhaps that was a job so you could support yourself.
There's no shame in your PhD taking 14 years.
As someone who reviews CVs on a regular basis for hiring decisions, I'd actually see this as a sign that you're persistent and capable of finishing something massive even in the face of difficulties.
I don't think anyone (reasonable) would see this as a negative thing, even if it wasn't due to health reasons.
At the end of the day, a PhD is a marathon, not a sprint. The actual research doesn't necessarily have to be that hard. What completing it demonstrates is persistence and the ability to gradually churn out a really good piece of work with a consistent abmount of effort over a very long period of time.
Add a section on research experience and then describe the kind projects you have done during those 13 years, like
Likewise you can add different sections like teaching experience where you can describe the same years again that you taught (as a TA maybe).
You can also break your 13 years into two or more segments and say that first five years you worked as a project assistant or research assistant, etc..
But make sure to add as much rigor as possible for those 13 years so that it doesn't look like you have or have been wasted.
Definitely don't mention a health problem in your CV. As a general rule, health issues count against your application. It's not that universities or research institutes are full of monsters who trash every application from someone with health problems; rather, it's simply that they receive the maximum benefit from hiring the most productive person they can. This is the way the incentives are laid out. If you have two equivalently credentialed candidates applying for a job, and one has health issues, the sick one will be perceived as having less potential for productivity. Even if you assert that you are fully cured, your evaluators might wonder if you could really put a yearslong affliction behind you so easily.
As for the length of your PhD, I am less concerned about the 14 years and more concerned about the embarassed attitude you seem to have. This attutide will surely hurt you more than the mere length of your PhD. In my experience, if you make something out to be a big deal yourself, people tend to respond by treating it as a big deal. If you come off as going out of your way to conceal the length of your PhD, that looks terrible. If you come out of the gate on the defense trying to explain away the 14 years in terms of circumstances beyond your control, you will probably remain on the defense for the whole application process. These are the things you seem to be trying to do.
However, if your appliation materials make you seem like someone who wanted a faculty/reasearch job so badly that you put in the time to earn a competitive body of work, you will look like a dedicated professional. If you sound like someone who didn't want to move on until you felt mature enough to be a leader, you will sound wise and prudent. Just make sure that you carefully finesse this narrative in your application and interviews (because if you are too overt you still sound like you are making a big deal out of your PhD length).
Bear in mind that a 14-year PhD also says that your PI liked you enough to continue funding you for so long instead of pushing you out the door.
