Results tagged “employment” from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters Tips Blog

This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:

Glenis writes:

I read your blog regularly, but recently it has become of more interest to me because my son is job-hunting. He has been a financial-aid counselor at two universities, having moved to take the position at the last one because it was a career advancement. Unfortunately his position was eliminated due to budget cuts.

After being unemployed for a 6 months, he decided to take whatever employment he could get just to help pay the bills, which happened to be at minimal pay. He has not included this employment history on his resume because he feels it would not look good. He has interviewed with 2-3 universities but so far no offer of employment.

Do you think the lack of employment information for the last year is affecting his chances of being hired?

The Career Doctor responds:

I hope by the time you are reading this column that your son has a new job in his career field, but if not, let me make a few observations.

I think there is a possibility of three things happening here that your son needs to address.

First, the stigma of being fired. We can call it something prettier — his job was eliminated — but the bottom line is that he was forced to leave his place of employment. He needs to focus on this issue and make sure he is totally over the trauma of the experience — especially since he was let go through no fault of his own. He obviously has valuable skills since he was able to move forward in his career.

Second, he needs to deal with his resume — and the reality he is living. A lot of displaced job-seekers in this current economy have been forced to take survival jobs so that they don t end up homeless and bankrupt. Most prospective employers would rather see an applicant that has been doing something productive — even if outside his or her field — than a large gap on the resume. Of course, if he has been doing any kind of consulting or volunteer work in his field, he should put that on his resume.

Third, perfect interviewing skills. If he has gotten a few interviews, then at least some of the colleges are not bothered by the gap on his resume enough to not interview him, so if he is not having success in the interview, then he is either not interviewing well or not following-up his interviews. He may want to conduct a mock interview with a career professional to judge the quality of his interviewing skills.

I suggest he read, Getting Fired: An Opportunity for Change and Growth, published on Quintessential Careers.

He may also want to read this article on Quintessential Careers: The Pros and Cons of Taking a Survival Job. What Should You Do?

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.

This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:

Randle writes:

My question for you is how heavily do prospective employers consider the fact that you have been fired? I have asked others whether I should I remove this place of employment from my resume, and most have said no because it will leave an unexplainable gap in my employment. I was only employed there for 6 months and was terminated because I didn’t fit in. I was told there was no room there for me anymore and they were going to hire someone else.

The Career Doctor responds:

Your letter just goes to show how callous some employers can be. So sorry, we don’t really like you and you don’t fit, so see you later. Of course, in some ways, that employer did you a favor because it’s certainly better to find out sooner rather than later.

My opinion is that as long as this was not a dead-end job, that you should include it on your resume.

There are several ways to judge whether you should put this job on your resume. You need to decide how important it is to your career advancement. If this was your first job in your field, then you need to use it to show you have experience… If you gained valuable skills from this job, you need to include it. And if you have solid accomplishments, you need to include the job.

On the other hand, if you were taking classes or volunteering at the same time as this job — and you have something to fill the gap, then you might consider omitting it.

Most importantly, do not call attention to it. Don’t say you were fired. Simply list it as you do any other employment on your resume. Remember: no negative information on your resume.

Once you get to the next level of your job search — the job interview — you will need to have an explanation about the short stint. And what employers are looking for is not any kind of excuse; what employers want to hear is what you learned from it, so always look for a positive lesson.

Being fired can certainly be traumatic, and job-seekers sometimes feel as though they have been branded with a big “F” on their foreheads, but you need to clear your head and move on, otherwise your lack of confidence will come through in your job search.

Read more in my article, Getting Fired: An Opportunity for Change and Growth, published on Quintessential Careers.

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.

This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:

Amy writes:

I am writing my first resume and I am using your web site for information in doing so. I have 7 years of experience and 3 employers on this resume.
I was at my first job 5 years and had 3 positions while I was there.

I know my whole date of employment with that employer, but I don’t know the exact dates that I went from 1 position to another. I only have estimated dates. How do I put estimated dates on a resume? I have been looking at sample resumes, and I haven’t seen any with my situation. All of this will make my resume about 1.5 pages. Is that too long? I tried to cram it on 1 page, but the only way was to crowd it and put the type as small as 9 pt., and it was hard too read at 9 pt. Please give me your feedback.

The Career Doctor responds:

First, kudos for thinking ahead and perfecting your resume before you jump back into the job market. A resume of more than one page is fine for someone with seven years of experience. A one-page resume that uses non-existent page margins or tiny type will just not get read.

As for content… First, remember that it’s perfectly fine to develop a generalized resume, but once you identify prospective jobs and employers, you’ll want to customize your resume using the employer’s words and highlighting the experience they seek.

In terms of describing your experience with your first you have two choices. In the first approach, you list all three positions within the same company, using the company as an umbrella. In the second approach, which is favored by my partner Katharine Hansen, you list each job separately, which gives more weight to each position. I also tend to favor the second approach. And if you are unsure of your dates or exactly how to list them, contact the human resources department of the company, thus the dates on your resume will match their records in case a prospective employer calls to check.

Finally, some general resume rules to remember:

• Customize your resume to each position and employer.
• Focus on accomplishments, not duties.
• Design an attractive resume using normal fonts, sizes, and page margins.
• Provide as much contact information (phone, cell, e-mail) as possible.
• Avoid all errors, especially misspellings and typos.
• Keep your resume factual.
• Never include salary information, supervisor’s names, or references on your resume.

For more tips on resume-writing, including samples, go to this section of Quintessential Careers: Resume and CV Resources for Job-Seekers.

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.

This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:

Anonymous writes:

Since 1992, I have worked for several different companies. About 3 years ago, I switched employers and stayed there about a year before joining a start-up company. I had been employed by the start-up for about 8 months before they were acquired by my original employer.

I’ve been asked to take a substantial pay cut. So, I’m somewhat torn between staying with this company and looking for new employment locally. I suspect that even at my reduced salary I might be faring better than the local wage scale. Then there’s also the problem of my resume. I’m concerned about how bad my resume looks with all the moves in such a short period of time. A co-worker said that since I was only gone for about a year and now back I started that I should just list the current company as “1992 to present”.

The Career Doctor responds: