CV advice - out of work for 10 months

BlazingSaddler

Hi all. For the first 6 months or so that I was out of work I was getting a reasonably good response to my CV and had a good few interviews, however in the last few months I seem to be getting a very bad response. I have a feeling that when they look at my employment history and see that I last worked in June 2012 it may be putting people off. Do you think that this may be the case and employers would rather not employ people who are long term unemployed?

Tigger

my shop is a mess
last guy i hired on the spot was in the shop helping his mother
he says to me your shop is a mess will i come back sometime and tidy it for a couple of days
that was 4 years ago and before he left he was the assistant manager and ran the whole business for 6 weeks while i got married and honeymooned

he created the job for himself and when people ring looking for a reference i tell them that story and then they hire him

there are 400,000 unemployed but some are able to stand out

what type of job do you want

Zeek12

mattb74 wrote: »

I have a feeling that when they look at my employment history and see that I last worked in June 2012 it may be putting people off. Do you think that this may be the case and employers would rather not employ people who are long term unemployed?

It's possible. Some employers might take that view. A bit unfair in the current climate, but there you go.:(

Why not remove June altogether from the CV and just list 2012 as the finish date for your last position? That's not being untruthful. Its just presenting the information in such a way that doesn't put you at a disadvantage.
If and when it comes up in an interview situation, well at least you've made it as far as the interview stage and you then stand a better chance to convince them the lengthy lay-off was out of your control. Much easier to do that in person rather than just presenting them with facts and dates on a page.

BlazingSaddler

Zeek12 wrote: »

It's possible. Some employers might take that view. A bit unfair in the current climate, but there you go.:(

Why not remove June altogether from the CV and just list 2012 as the finish date for your last position? That's not being untruthful. Its just presenting the information in such a way that doesn't put you at a disadvantage.
If and when it comes up in an interview situation, well at least you've made it as far as the interview stage and you then stand a better chance to convince them the lengthy lay-off was out of your control. Much easier to do that in person rather than just presenting them with facts and dates on a page.

Now why didn't I think of that?! Good idea, thanks a mill

BuzzFish

Just a thought but I'd imagine if you want to fill the space you could try volunteering in some capacity at a local charity/club and you could stick that in to fill the blank.

If I was looking at CV's and see Bob with nothing for the last 6 months and John with nothing but a bit of local volunteer work etc I'd me more inclined to think "This guy likes keeping busy"

Now, I do understand that with families etc this can be difficult. Just an option to fill the space.