Job hopping is a red flag for many recruiters and employers and can potentially hurt your career. If you have a history of several short jobs, though, all is not lost. Here’s some advice from resume pros to downplay that jumpy background.
Photo by kafka4prez
Talent Zoo offers several helpful tips to help you create a story in your resume that feels more cohesive that it might otherwise be. You can do this by creating a summary that emphasises the total number of years of experience you have in your field and states that you’re seeking a “long-term role”.
Also, instead of using the traditional chronological resume format, try a hybrid resume, which puts more emphasis on your skills than on the work dates:
The hybrid resume takes the skill set feature from the functional resume and uses a chronological history toward the end of the resume, says [Taunee Besson, president of Career Dimensions, a career planning firm in Dallas].
Under your heading and summary statement, choose four or five responsibilities that you have excelled in and list accomplishments from your past positions relating to those responsibilities. Ms. Shaffer recommends listing the company where you achieved each accomplishment in brackets at the end of each bullet point.
Under the list of responsibilities, create a section listing each employer, title and start and end dates in reverse chronological order, says Ms. Besson.
You can see an example of this at resume book author Susan Ireland’s site. Ireland reformats the experience section to divide multiple jobs into major groups, listing a span of years (no months) for each group. She says it’s not ideal to leave off dates for each job, but if you have a tough case like this it could help you get that interview.
Tips for Creating a Resume That Downplays Job Hopping [Experience]
Quick Fix: Short-Term Jobs in a Chronological Resume Format [Susan Ireland’s Resume Site]
Comments