CV Advice

G-Money

I'm currently a contractor working in IT with my current contract due to run out in May next year. It's possible my contract could be renewed but I won't know until closer to the time.

Unexpectedly, a friend of mine contacted me yesterday to tell me about a permanent job coming up at the place where he works and asked me if I was interested. I sent my CV onto him and he got one of the people in the company who conducts interviews to review the CV. They sent back quite a few things that they think need to be changed, however a couple are tricky.

Basically the company where I'm working now, I've worked for them several times over the years, initially as a permanent employee and more recently as a contractor. Part of the feedback was pointing out that I had worked at this place a certain number of times and why did I keep going back. I guess the truth is that it's a good place to work and anytime I found myself looking for work, that's where I seemed to end up working. A few times this was sort of by choice, but other times I had been unemployed or had just come back from travelling and the jobs turned up just when I needed. However I'm worried this may reflect badly on me, as if this might be the only place I'm able to find work or something.

The other issue revolves around 4 gaps in my work experience. Three of these gaps were basically where I was travelling, one was where I came home from abroad, took some time off then went looking for work. However one of the gaps is slightly tricky and I was hoping they wouldn't notice. It's a period of 4 months and what really happened was that I started working for a company on a permanent job and pretty much straight away I hated it. I kind of realised within a week or two that I wasn't going to like it and grew to dislike it more and more. Quite quickly I started looking for other jobs and was lucky to get a permanent job somewhere else. I've left this off my CV as I think it looks bad that I quit a job and started another within the space of 3-4 months.

A friend of mine says I should just say I was travelling then if asked. Is that a good idea? I wasn't actually travelling at all and I don't really like lying in interviews. I'm also wondering what would happen if further down the line, they somehow found out. I know the fact that I hated my job and changed to another one is no big deal, but it probably looks bad on a CV.

Thoughts?

MissFitz

Personally, I would agree with your friend about the job that you left after a couple of months. Seeing as you have other gaps that are explained by travelling, I don't think it will seem odd, whereas explaining why you left a job after 3-4 months will be difficult and will raise some tough questions. Myself, I completed a year of a particular college course, decided it wasn't for me, left and started down the IT route. I had the first course on my CV and every interviewer I had focused on why I had left and how did I know I wouldn't decide I didn't like IT (despite having completed a degree :rolleyes:). So after a number of interviews which focused on that, I left it off my CV and hey presto, got the next job I went for.

With regards to the company where you are working, I actually think it would definitely be seen more as a positive thing than a negative. If a company is willing to take you back multiple times, it shows they were pleased with your work, after all if you left on bad terms or weren't reliable, there is no way they would employ you again

valen

Going back to one place all the time is OK, as long as you can show some sort of career progression. If you kept going back, doing the same job/same responsibilities, that would show me that you had a lack of ambition, or a lack of ability to progress.

It's OK to have a short employment on your CV, as long as you are prepared to defend it. Most multinationals won't care, but Irish-oriented HR places will pick you up on it. Saying that the job wasn't a good fit for you is fine; don't get drawn into saying any more than that however, or you'll come out either bitchy or unprofessional. They may ring the guy, and ask why you left early, but as long as they say "he resigned" and not "we fired his ass for hitting on the bosses' teenage daughter at the christmas party", you are fine.

You are right; if you get the job, and later share that you weren't travelling but ended up in a job-from-hell, they'll not be impressed.

Kaybe

grandmaster wrote: »

Basically the company where I'm working now, I've worked for them several times over the years, initially as a permanent employee and more recently as a contractor. Part of the feedback was pointing out that I had worked at this place a certain number of times and why did I keep going back. I guess the truth is that it's a good place to work and anytime I found myself looking for work, that's where I seemed to end up working. A few times this was sort of by choice, but other times I had been unemployed or had just come back from travelling and the jobs turned up just when I needed. However I'm worried this may reflect badly on me, as if this might be the only place I'm able to find work or something.

ppp
Positive spin..... You had a great employment relationship with this company... they like your work and they find you to be dependable, reliable blah blah blah... a couple of times over the years you left to do some travelling, but each time you returned home this company were only too delighted to invite you back to work with them as you were such a good worker. And, as you loved the company, and the job and your colleagues, you were only too happy to go back to where you could contribute blah blah blah...

If you think of it as a negative, you might portray it as a negative... you might not mean too, but your non-verbal communication might do so. But, start to think of your returning to this company as a positive thing and a reflection on your high work standards and maybe you will start portraying it as a positive in an interview.