Downplaying Job Hopping

July 20, 2007 on 2:28 pm | In Resume |

If you have had several jobs for over a short period (for instance, having five different jobs in the last five years), putting it on your resume “as is” would appear to employers that you are what they call a “job hopper.”  Although this practice is a bit more acceptable than it was say, ten years ago, it can still raise concerns with employers.  For one, job hunting can be interpreted as a sign of poor interpersonal skills and lack of performance.  Such jumpy record can slow down your job search.

In order for you to get the advantage, construct your resume in such a way that recruiters would be convinced that you are not a short-term investment.  Here are some recommendations:

Define yourself in summary – Having a tailored summary statement at the top of your resume is an opportunity to guide the reader through the document and—hopefully—influence how they interpret your job changes.  You need to outline the collective number of years you work in a particular field, regardless of how many companies you worked in.  Also, you need to include phrases that would allay the concern that you may also leave prematurely.  A good example of this tip is:  “Over six years of marketing experience with expertise in planning, writing, and distribution.  Seeking long-term role in Product Management.”

Include a summary of previous employment – Avoid using a bulleted list of your previous jobs, instead fleshing out your three or four most recent positions and creating a summary of previous employment section.  Provide a collective start and end date for the previous employment section, instead of listing each start and end dates of all your previous jobs.

Create coherence between job changes – If you have had jobs across different industries, focus on the connections between them.  Try to show progression and that you have taken on increasing levels of responsibility with each job.

Indicate involuntary job changes – If your position changed as a result of a merger or acquisition, or you are a contractual worker, explain it on your resume.  For instance, if your employer underwent a merger or acquisition, put the company’s former name in brackets beside its new company name.  If you were a contract worker indicate that in your job titles.

Using dates to your advantage – Removing months when you date each position can give the illusion that you worked in positions longer than you have.  For example, eliminating the months on “November 2005 to January 2006” would give the employer an idea that you worked for a year instead of three months.  Also put dates on the right side of your resume while diverting recruiters to your skills lists that you put on the left.

Using a hybrid resume – Try a hybrid format for your resume since work history is not much emphasized here.  This combines the skill set feature from the functional format resume and putting the chronological history toward the end of the resume.  Under the heading and summary statement, choose four or five responsibilities that you have excelled in and list accomplishments from your past positions relation to those responsibilities.  Then, list the company where you achieved each accomplishment in brackets at the end of each bullet point.  Under which, create a section listing each employer, title, and start and end dates, in reverse chronological order (most recent job first).