Question about job interviewsFollow

What are the reasons you left the previous jobs?

The two most inportant things are don't tear your previous employers down, no matter how much they screwed you over and ******** and don't lie, even if you are a good ********** and lier. A decent white collar job means they will check your credentials out sooner or later. "Personal reasons" are a good reason. There is nothing wrong with switching jobs for better pay just don't say that is the reason if you change jobs every six months. Be honest about why you have blank spots in your work history. There is nothing wrong with spending a few months after colege bumming around somewhere exotic however if you spent a few years in jail you may need to be creative.

Thanks, I appreciate the replies. Now I need practice applying the positive spin during an interview. I can't say this was anything profound or unexpected, but the reinforcement has helped beyond anything I could have imagined.

And people say we're mean to every new poster.

Edited, Wed Apr 19 19:20:42 2006 by fenderputy

Honestly, the issue with reasons for leaving past jobs isn't as huge as most might make it out to be. I've conducted dozens of interviews, and barely even notice if there's a gap in employment. If someone does notice and asks, don't make a huge deal out of it. Something like "I took some time off for X" works fine. Saying you were working on a home business works fine as well. Heck. Anything works, as long as it comes off as sincere and *you* aren't stressed about it. If there's one thing that really comes through in an interview it's the degree of nervousness of the interviewee. If you're nervous it implies to the interviewer that you don't think you're qualified for the job and are hoping that he wont figure it out. This impells interviewers to look harder and ask more questions.


The most important thing is to actually know the area of expertise you've got written down on your resume. I've seen a lot of different structures of resumes. I can honestly say that the *best* format is to list your job skills *first*. Compile a list of everything you know how to do that is relevant to the position you are applying for (yes. that means you modify your resume based on where you're applying). Follow that with work experience from most recent to least recent. Then finish up with education (degrees and certificates. Don't be afraid to include training courses you've completed if you don't have strong degree credentials).

What this does is give the interviewer a nice list of things right up top that he can ask you about. You've listed what you can do. Therefore, he'll focus on that since it's right there. Just make damn sure you are comfortable talking about anything you wrote in your skills area. And don't BS or pad. The people interviewing you are likely to be experts in their fields (that's why they're interviewing you). If you say you know something and don't, they'll know it and you wont get hired. Following this with work experience is good because in that area you can (and should) list any major tasks/projects you personally did while employed there. This gives the interviewer a second line of questions to ask you. Again. Don't BS. And don't imply you ran a project that you just took part in. You would not believe the number of people I've interviewed who'll claim that they implemented a rollout of "X", but when questioned can't seem to explain what they did other then in very vague terms. If you worked on a project, say so. If you ran a project. Say so. But don't say you ran it if you only worked on it. We can tell.


In your case, it sounds like you aren't even getting that far. That implies to me that there's something about your resume that's not grabbing people's attention. It's a bit hard to describe the process, but I can tell you that when I whittle down a stack of 20 resumes down to 4 interview candidates, it's based on just a couple primary things:

1. Proximity. People who live nearby tend to get looked at first. This may not be an issue where you're applying and in your field, but I can say that a guy from India had better have an incredible resume to get an interview where I live. That's not to say he *wont*, but he has to be very clearly a top candidate to get an interview. This is a simple money thing.

2. Skills match. This is why the skills list is so critical. First off, the HR folks sort based on those. If they can't figure out that you'd fit into a particular job opening, they wont hand you to the guys like me who look through the stacks of resumes. You won't even get looked at by someone who knows what to look for. Additionally, if you clearly list your skills, you'll get more accurately put into the right stacks of resumes that get sent to the people who might actually hire you. If your skills match what I'm looking for, and your work experience indicates a degree of capability that fits the job title, you'll likely get at least a phone interview.


I really can't stress enough how important it is that you list those skills. It could very well be that's the major reason you aren't getting any bites. One of the things you have to remember about corporations is that they are large. They have departments that do nothing but sort incoming resumes based on skill set. These people don't know *anything* about the jobs themselves. They're going off some basic keyword matches. Make damn sure you write the correct words that match what their sort criteria is looking for.


Dunno. It's just that I don't think it's gaps in employment that are your problem. It really sounds like you aren't even getting to that point in the selection process. I suspect you just have a poorly formated resume.

That was an amazing reply gbaji, thanks.

At the risk of muddying the waters further, I'll add that I also have a hard time qualifying my experience. Consider the following titles: Dirt Digger; Soil Relocation Engineer. For sake of this argument, both job titles are identical in terms of job duties.

Sometimes, when employers are seeking Soil Relocation Engineers, I can't make the connection that it's the same as a previous job I had as a Dirt Digger or that the skill set is transferrable. The jargon loses me. When I see the words "competitive pay", to me it means "low pay". When I see "energetic", to me it says "young and clueless". All because, it'd be discriminating to solicit applications from 18-20 year olds, since that wouldn't be EOE. Anyway, that was just a tangential rant and doesn't really apply to this topic.

I wasn't even aware the job "Soil Relocation Engineer" even required a resume. I thought that was one of those just fill out an application and if you have two arms and can pee in a cup you're hired sort of jobs. Learn something new every day I suppose.

This and it's initial iteration, is easily the most impactful advice I've heard regarding resumes and keyword sorting. My spirits are up. Next time I post, I'll have landed a job. Thanks guys.

Is it possible to take a pay cut from $0?

Lots of good advice here. I've hired dozens of people over the years. I would guess there's a problem in your resume or cover letter. A potential employer gets hundreds of applications. I know I would spend maybe 20 seconds per resume on an initial cull down. Then I would put more time into the second round to narrow down to who I wanted to interview. Any mis-spelling or typo or poor grammer on the resume or cover letter got it instantly disqualified. Resumes on cheap paper or poorly copied also got tossed. I often could just look at a resume without reading anything and know I didn't want to hire this person. I reasoned that if you can't spend the time necessary to get something right that is that important to you, how much time will you spend on something important to me.

To get to the interview stage, try to personalize your resume. Don't just send in a generic cover letter. Do some research on the company you are submitting to and alter your cover letter and resume to fit what you think they are looking for. I would also suggest you change that three year gap from "unemployed" to "self-employed". It's not inaccurate and sounds a whole lot better.

One of the things that always bit me in the *** during interviews. I hate trying to sell myself, and I get really nervous during interviews. Probably because I've only ever had to do a few of them, and usually they didn't go so hot.

Networking is the key. I know people, and they know I'm a hard worker and am dependable. I haven't really had to worry about an interview in about 7 years. During that time I've had jobs with 3 different companies, and got said jobs because I knew the right people.

Alla's right about the resume and cover letter. Get a professional service to clean it up for you if you're not confident in your ability to do it yourself.

I've gotten resumes that impressed me right away. I've gotten TONS that went into the shredder right away.

Be prepared to account for the time you've spent away from work - travel is a reasonable excuse; school, even if it didn't result in a degree; self employment is always a good answer. Don't say you were writing a book unless you really were, though; interviewers are looking for a hook to talk to you about so they can get a better feel for the type of person you are, and if you lie about something so obvious you're going to have a hard time recovering. (Yes, I had that happen with one interviewee.)

Other than that... it's difficult, but try to relax. Be yourself. Anything else is going to come across as phony.