Off-Topic

[slickdtc]

re: Off-Topic

If the contracts ended, you can say that. Only dance around the questions of jobs you quit at. And even then, you can frame it in your favor without sounding like a spurned former employee.

I’ve only been asked once about why I was at a job so short. I point blank told them why, it was a restaurant and they were trying to serve food that was kept unsafe beyond reason. (It’s been shut down for years now). Got the job.

I did also only attend a 3 month software development program for a month, but I legitimately learned a lot in that time that does actually help me in my current position. I was just open and honest about the circumstances that led to me dropping from the program. My current position actually saw that as a leg up in my competition and that familiarity may have been the tipping point.

Why the short term jobs? I’ve never wanted short term or contract position even when I wasn’t married with a kid. I crave that stability.

[Majingir]

re: Off-Topic

Why the short term jobs? I’ve never wanted short term or contract position even when I wasn’t married with a kid. I crave that stability.

Not by choice, but it was much easier to get. Obviously I'd prefer stability and consistency too. But these longer term jobs require alot more experience than the short term ones and are harder to get. If I had offers from both kinds of jobs, I'd obviously favour the longer term one. And the bright side I've viewed about shorter term jobs is that it gives a wider variety of experience.

Before today, that had never crossed my mind about this being a negative. This company could just be in minority who look down on things like that. Most companies want people long term, while others understand reality of situation and know people want to grow, have sense of accomplishment, and not be stuck in same lower job for too long.

[pietasterp]

re: Off-Topic

Majingir - unfortunately I don't have any good advice for you, but just wanted to say hang in there. Sounds like you've been having some bad experiences (sounds like you were right to not follow-up on that last bad interview...if you get a bad feeling like that about a place, unless you really have no choice, you should listen to your gut and pass), but I suppose that's bound to happen if you interview enough. If you can hang in there long enough, though, there will definitely be a good opportunity which you can jump on.

Anyway, at least you are finding out what you don't like in a prospective workplace....

[Majingir]

re: Off-Topic

Majingir - unfortunately I don't have any good advice for you, but just wanted to say hang in there. Sounds like you've been having some bad experiences (sounds like you were right to not follow-up on that last bad interview...if you get a bad feeling like that about a place, unless you really have no choice, you should listen to your gut and pass), but I suppose that's bound to happen if you interview enough. If you can hang in there long enough, though, there will definitely be a good opportunity which you can jump on.

Anyway, at least you are finding out what you don't like in a prospective workplace....

Hopefully something nice does come up. Can't be too picky, but also don't want to have one of those "soul crushing jobs". Not good for mental health at all. It was partially why I was contemplating even jobs I might not have liked so much. If I get it for abit, I can still look for other stuff and leave once something better comes up. But if that's going to raise more questions about why I was at another company for a short period of time, it's probably not the way to go.


At least I have learned what I like/don't like, especially given the fact that the highest paid job I had was the one I hated the most, and the lowest paying one was the one I liked the most.

[WaitTilNextYear]

re: Off-Topic

Hasn't really been many. Don't know what you mean by on purpose? Like I'm trying to get jobs in sketchy places? Trying to sabotage what I have? Or what?

This has been the only horrible interview. A bad job last year, but that wasn't because of me. Just got caught up in a crazy situation stemming from person who hired me getting fired days after I started. The one I had after that bad one was actually my favorite job I had,even if it was one that was temporary. If they had an opening, I'd definitely want to go back. Have looked into it but unfortunately they don't right now, though I'd be one of first to find out if they ever did since I have many top people there on LinkedIn,and even phone contacts.

But I definitely need to change up my strategy. Contracted summer stuff for now to buy time, then get something bigger in fall once that contract is finished. But after today, they make me question if short term jobs are worth it because companies might not like that I've worked at various places in short time. Though it is a new world, people don't stay in spots as long as they used to. Everyone knows that. At least I thought they did.

I'm not really sure what I mean by that either. lol. I think it just seems like more weird jobs and interviews with how long and drawn out that last situation was where you were trying to hang in and get paid, but with no one really training you or giving you anything to do.

I agree that short term jobs don't look too great on your resume, especially if you have a lot of them. People will think you jump around a lot or can't keep or job. You might be able to explain it away, but you might never get the chance if they don't choose to interview you in the first place. I also feel like some of the shorter term gigs aren't taken as seriously by the people hiring you because it's not a major investment for them and that might also explain the apathetic interview(s) you had.

[kehlis]

re: Off-Topic

Companies prefer to see applicants who stay at jobs for awhile for quite a few reasons. Depending on the job, the training and time/cost it takes to get someone up to being a 100% fully functional employee can be extensive. It becomes a big waste of money if this is a sixth month process and then someone jumps ship after a year because they then have to go hire someone else and start over (while that person is simply moving on with their life).

Keep in mind I'm speaking to job fields I've been in, I don't know what kind of jobs you are applying for. But for us that's why we're hesitant when we see someone with really spotty job history (short jobs, large gaps, etc.).

Keep in mind though, it's not a detractor but that's why the questions are asked and dug into. To me (and everyone is different), its very important for the interviewee to proactively answer questions regarding gaps or short jobs without me having to ask. I'll never actually blatantly ask. I DO probe around it so it's obvious that I'm looking at it and am curious but it's a red flag if the candidate never address gaps (more importantly) and the multiple short time jobs.

It's also a red flag regarding performance at jobs as well. If someone has multiple jobs where they are leaving after only a year or less, it can be a sign that they are poor employees (there's ALWAYS a reason someone leaves a job and it's not always this individuals choice).

So there are quite a few reason why short job stints and gaps matter when considering hiring someone.


Edit: Also, if you really don't want to limit yourself to job opportunities, even if you prefer M-F, I still highly recommend shutting down working on weekends before you've even gotten to an interview. That makes you come across as thinking really highly of yourself (I know that's not your intent, but that's how it can be viewed). A lot of people who got into positions you ultimately want to do had to work weekends at some point and to put on the application that you aren't available to work Saturday's or Sunday's is a bad look when someone doesn't even have you face to face.

[Majingir]

re: Off-Topic

Alot of the time though, these positions are only designed to last a short period of time, so not much else I can do. Would companies rather I just not have anything? Short term is still better than nothing.

Especially when it relates to internships or volunteer positions. They're not exactly going to be lasting over a year. My shorter stints and gaps are easily explainable, but if I never get chance to explain it, then that hurts me.

Seems like a catch 22 at times.

lol, who knows. Maybe it's best to just take some lesser thing and just hold onto it for a longer than normal period of time just to prove something. 1 step back, hoping it leads to 2 steps forward.

[kehlis]

re: Off-Topic

Alot of the time though, these positions are only designed to last a short period of time, so not much else I can do. Would companies rather I just not have anything? Short term is still better than nothing.

Especially when it relates to internships or volunteer positions. They're not exactly going to be lasting over a year. My shorter stints and gaps are easily explainable, but if I never get chance to explain it, then that hurts me.

Seems like a catch 22 at times.

lol, who knows. Maybe it's best to just take some lesser thing and just hold onto it for a longer than normal period of time just to prove something. 1 step back, hoping it leads to 2 steps forward.

No, not at all. Was just answering your question as to why companies do care about past job experience.

That's why I bring up the points at the bottom (and echoes what Slick said), as long as you are bringing that up and explaining that, it shouldn't pose an issue at all though I obviously can't speak for the recruiter at whatever companies you are applying with.

On the resume do you have the description that it was a contract job on the resume? I don't know if it would help. Our field doesn't have a lot of cross connections with contract workers but I've seen it before and it's pretty self explanatory to me at least.

[Majingir]

re: Off-Topic

I didn't mention it, but I do highlight if a position is an internship or volunteer position. So it's common sense to see why something like an internship lasted less than a year.



Perhaps it'd be better if I explained these things (gaps/short term jobs) in the cover letter?

[Caulfield]

re: Off-Topic

The whole time I was waiting, had to sit in an area with people there for other reasons, and listened to their front desk person at times rudely talk to people....
... Job itself might be fine, but most coworkers(minus final guy interviewing me) seem like rude people, and even though it's fulltime, seems like hours aren't fixed or proper.

Rude people? In Canada? Are you sure you didn't cross the border?

[kehlis]

re: Off-Topic

I didn't mention it, but I do highlight if a position is an internship or volunteer position. So it's common sense to see why something like an internship lasted less than a year.



Perhaps it'd be better if I explained these things (gaps/short term jobs) in the cover letter?

To be honest, I doubt they really care about the internships or volunteer positions, they would be more concerned about the paid positions.

[dickey1331]

re: Off-Topic

The apocalypse is here.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[WaitTilNextYear]

re: Off-Topic

Alot of the time though, these positions are only designed to last a short period of time, so not much else I can do. Would companies rather I just not have anything? Short term is still better than nothing.

Especially when it relates to internships or volunteer positions. They're not exactly going to be lasting over a year. My shorter stints and gaps are easily explainable, but if I never get chance to explain it, then that hurts me.

Seems like a catch 22 at times.

lol, who knows. Maybe it's best to just take some lesser thing and just hold onto it for a longer than normal period of time just to prove something. 1 step back, hoping it leads to 2 steps forward.

Short-term is better than nothing, but it sticks out in a negative way if someone appears to be heavy on the short-term stuff. It speaks to potential issues like you might be a bad employee, or not get along with people, or want to job hop, or move around a lot, or you might have no idea what you want to do or are good at. True or not, that's the first thing a hiring manager thinks when seeing a job history filled with 3 months of this and 2 weeks of that. It makes the candidate look kinda flaky to be honest. Or like what a teenager's resume would look like. It's best to balance that out by showing you can stick in a job for longer periods (easier said than done, right? because you have to get a job worth sticking around first...chicken and egg).

The other thing to keep in mind is your work history only becomes filled with short-term stuff if you choose to keep pursuing and taking on short-term gigs. In the long run you could actually be hurting yourself by accepting a bunch of short-term gigs in the interim.

[Majingir]

re: Off-Topic

Lots of short-term jobs can hurt in the long run, but if that's all I can get, what other option is there? For Long term jobs, will it matter the type of position it is, or will they just care about the fact that it's long term? Like a long-term job unrelated to anything I've gone to school for or the type of job I'm applying for in the future, would that be better than something more short term that is actually more related to my field?

To be honest, I doubt they really care about the internships or volunteer positions, they would be more concerned about the paid positions.

What's the point of internship/volunteer spots if they don't help so much? I've viewed those in the opposite way. Showing that you're willing to take unpaid things in a specific field to show you do care about the experience/skills gained over just the money.


Everyone has their own opinion I guess. Hearing people(not here specifically,just in general) on one side of the fence about short term jobs and internships, and then people saying something completely different relating to long term jobs and paid positions. That's what makes it more confusing, people got valid claims on both sides.

Will probably just come down to finding the 1 person/company with the right opportunity available. Until then, just gotta hope that day actually happens.

[kehlis]

re: Off-Topic

Long term job in any field shows commitment which is important. Companies aren't hiring you for what you've done in the past, they are selfishly hiring for what you can do for them in the future. That's an important distinction.

If you have the necessary skills and traits to do whatever job you're applying for, whatever you've done in the past doesn't matter but that's WHY it's so important to show the potential employer you're in it for the long haul.


Regarding the internship/volunteer thing. Internships would be considered to be more valuable, especially if it's in the field for what you are looking so I shouldn't dismiss them. I guess what I meant is that at least in my companies the point of internships is to potentially give post graduate college students a career which means if they didn't cut it to get a full time job offer, why not?

That could be completely irrelevant to your situation.


Sorry but to be honest, volunteerism, while a good story and good on you, doesn't say much about your work ethic in a work environment. They generally come with little responsibility and little accountability.

Remember though, we're speaking in generalities so I'm responding on a general level since you haven't (nor would I ask or expect you to) share specifics of what you mean by this.

As an example, volunteering by moving out of the country for three years to build houses for undeveloped countries certainly carries far more weight than volunteering at your local animal shelter every now and again when you can.