Career Advice Talk

If You’ve Been A Job Hopper

7th April, 2009 - Posted by Robin Ogden -

Guest Post by Karen Burns, Working Girl –

First the good news: Job hopping is not the career killer it used to be.  But say you’re hunting for a job.  And worrying that potential employers might look askance at your multitudinous job history.  Is there anything you can/should do?

Yes:

First, if you’re under 30 you probably don’t have to worry to much.  Employers will not be surprised to see a handful of jobs on your resume, and may even expect it.

Also, consider your industry.  If you’ve worked for start-ups, say, or in the tech industry, the length of time at each job is less important than the quality of the experience you gained from that job.

Similarly, if your jobs ended as a result of mass layoffs, this should not be held against you.  Just make a clear, and if possible, cheerful explanation of what happened.

At interviews, when you are discussing your experience, stress your successes.  It’s even cooler if you can identify a particular success you repeated in each of your jobs.

Use your cover letter to clarify why you’ve had a lot of jobs.  Emphasize the number of years you’ve worked in your industry (albeit for different employers) and, again, talk about your successes.

Organize your resume so that your multiple jobs are less obvious.  Dates can be put in parentheses after job titles, for example, instead of front and center.

While we’re talking about resumes, do not rely on simply circulating your resume (whether by mail or on job boards) to get you interviews.  Resumes generally go to a human resources department.  Human resources people are trained to reject “job hoppers.”  (As regular readers know, the best way to get interviews is through contacts.)

Well, all that sounded bossy, didn’t it?  But the bottom line is:  Don’t let anyone (!) tell you that a history of job hopping makes you unemployable.  Focus on identifying the skills and experience you have to offer, and then finding employers who need those skills and experience.

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Article courtesy of Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships, recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.