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Rooster
Original Poster
2,206 posts
106 months
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Would someone having a lot of jobs showing on their CV put you off employing them? I wanted to ask because I have had quite a run of bad luck with jobs over the last 6 years and had a variety of contract work/redundancy etc. Any advice?
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944fan
1,908 posts
54 months
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I think if it is clear that it was contract work and not permanent then people wouldn't mind as much. If they thought you hadn't stayed in permanent roles for long they might be put off.
I have receieved a few CVs like this and generally I have given the person the benefit of the doubt and then asked them about it interviews. It largely depeneds on the role you are going for, if there are a lot of applicants they may use that against you in the paper sift.
I think you are better off leaving those roles on there than having gaps as that looks worse.
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blindswelledrat
18,925 posts
101 months
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DIsagree with 944. If it is the type of job that gets a fair few applicants, a long list of short-term jobs would be an instant binning. I would miss a few off and lengthen the other ones. The only way you might carry it off is if you did a particularly well-worded cover letter acknowledging the excessive number of jobs and asking for the opportunity to explain it. THat latter option may actually end up being a plus, particularly if it is a heavily subscribed job as a nice cover-letter elevates a CV in a sea of similar ones. So actually, possibly I do agree with 944 after all  (just not on CV alone. Definitely get binned if its on its own)
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944fan
1,908 posts
54 months
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Excellent mid post U-turn there.  I had also said the same as you in that if there was a lot of candidates it would go against you. Are you actually suggesting that he changes the length of time in previous jobs? In effect lying? Risky strategy I would say.
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blindswelledrat
18,925 posts
101 months
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944fan said: .
Are you actually suggesting that he changes the length of time in previous jobs? In effect lying? Risky strategy I would say. I wouldn't have thought it was risky. He didn't specify but assuming there have been 10 jobs in the past 6 years and he changes it to 5. THey remain short-term jobs and not meaty enough to get into any massive interview conversation about. However, if he's going to go down the cover-letter route I dont suppose it matters a great deal
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TIGA84
3,242 posts
100 months
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blindswelledrat said: DIsagree with 944. If it is the type of job that gets a fair few applicants, a long list of short-term jobs would be an instant binning. I would miss a few off and lengthen the other ones.The only way you might carry it off is if you did a particularly well-worded cover letter acknowledging the excessive number of jobs and asking for the opportunity to explain it. THat latter option may actually end up being a plus, particularly if it is a heavily subscribed job as a nice cover-letter elevates a CV in a sea of similar ones. So actually, possibly I do agree with 944 after all (just not on CV alone. Definitely get binned if its on its own) And dont get the job when they take up references, plus be line for being sued for potentially obtaining pecuniary money via deception. (the phrase is similar to this, I'm not a lawyer) Great advice. 
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blindswelledrat
18,925 posts
101 months
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TIGA84 said: obtaining pecuniary money Great advice.  Of course. Our prisons/civil courts are full of people who stretched the truth on thier CVs Talk about drama queen. THere is an outside chance the references would show that he worked at a particular job for a few months less than he actually did. THere is an outside chance that, despite liking him enough to offer him a job, they would think this was such a hidesou crime that they would withdraw the offer. There is a massive likelihood that a CV with 10 jobs in 5 years will never get him a sniff of that same opportunity in the absense of anything else. Pop your rolley eyes back into position and engage your brain. Oh and I recommend complete avoiding words that you have no idea what the mean.
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TIGA84
3,242 posts
100 months
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blindswelledrat said: Of course. Our prisons/civil courts are full of people who stretched the truth on thier CVs Talk about drama queen. THere is an outside chance the references would show that he worked at a particular job for a few months less than he actually did. THere is an outside chance that, despite liking him enough to offer him a job, they would think this was such a hidesou crime that they would withdraw the offer. There is a massive likelihood that a CV with 10 jobs in 5 years will never get him a sniff of that same opportunity in the absense of anything else. Pop your rolley eyes back into position and engage your brain. Oh and I recommend complete avoiding words that you have no idea what the mean. So you are advocating the changing of someones CV to make them look better to an employer? You make no reference to the kind of job the OP is looking for, so I fail to see how your blanket advice could be anything but detrimental to his search. An employer asking for references going back 3 years could potentially screw him, they might even ask for 5. Yes they are outside chances that it could happen, but if it is found, all credibility is instantly lost, regardless of level. You're a liar essentially. Sacked if you get found out. Gross Misconduct. We're in a recession, every job has tens if not hundreds of applications, and you're basically telling someone to bulls  t their way into something because his CV doesn't conform? You don't lie, you justify why they were short. Also,changing a CV (that could be at several recruitment agencies in its original format) to show less jobs could also catch you out if you dont remember where your details have been submitted to, the recruiters will to tell you where to get off and then you're truly shafted. Your points about the court systems are irrelevant, I'm not being a drama queen, I'm telling you fact, rather than your finger in the air advice that you think is correct. Where do you draw the line? Make that one longer, that one shorter, change the date on that, job title on that. Why not just make one up and hope you dont get caught? Exactly the same principle. The fact that I dont know the exact legal phrase for lying on your CV to gain an advantage over someone else means zero, it was designed to lead a point that would hopefully be picked up by someone more knowledgable that would correct me, I couldn't be bothered to look up the legal jargon. You clearly have no idea either it would seem, just like you know f k all about giving people advice on how to get a job. Oh, and seeing as you love dishing out vitriolic bulls t to replies that you find reason to mock because you dont agree with the answer, your case would be made a lot stronger if it was spellchecked.
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0000
9,300 posts
60 months
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blindswelledrat said: The only way you might carry it off is if you did a particularly well-worded cover letter acknowledging the excessive number of jobs and asking for the opportunity to explain it. That would really set alarm bells ringing for me if they thought it was a problem worth acknowledging.
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blindswelledrat
18,925 posts
101 months
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0000 said: blindswelledrat said: The only way you might carry it off is if you did a particularly well-worded cover letter acknowledging the excessive number of jobs and asking for the opportunity to explain it. That would really set alarm bells ringing for me if they thought it was a problem worth acknowledging. Really? It would be a problem for me if they didn't recognise that 10 jobs in 5 years looked 'bad'.
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blindswelledrat
18,925 posts
101 months
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TIGA84 said: So you are advocating the changing of someones CV to make them look better to an employer?
No no no no no no no no no no etc
. Fine, each to thier own. You never try to make yourself look a bit better on your CV and the remaining 59 million people in the UK will. IM sure that job as a vicar/saint will come up one of these days.
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944fan
1,908 posts
54 months
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blindswelledrat said: Fine, each to thier own.
You never try to make yourself look a bit better on your CV and the remaining 59 million people in the UK will. IM sure that job as a vicar/saint will come up one of these days. It already has but I didn't get it when the realised I had lied about he number of years I had been celibate!
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rog007
3,039 posts
93 months
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A well crafted outcomes based CV that is 2 pages max that highlights your competences and what you can do for your next employer can carry any form of employment history. What it can't do is predicate against any prejudices of potential employers sadly.
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edc
3,923 posts
120 months
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You can always put down the start and finish dates of your contracting period and then list a 'selection' of your assignments. This consolidation might help aesthetically on the CV.
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thetapeworm
4,703 posts
108 months
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edc said: You can always put down the start and finish dates of your contracting period and then list a 'selection' of your assignments. This consolidation might help aesthetically on the CV. I was just about to suggest this.
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crofty1984
9,876 posts
73 months
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edc said: You can always put down the start and finish dates of your contracting period and then list a 'selection' of your assignments. This consolidation might help aesthetically on the CV.
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oldbanger
2,337 posts
107 months
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edc said: You can always put down the start and finish dates of your contracting period and then list a 'selection' of your assignments. This consolidation might help aesthetically on the CV. I do this as I worked short term contracts for a few years. It hasn't hurt one bit. To be honest the experience taught me how to hit the ground running. If it worries you, have a skills based cv and put employment history after. Mark the roles as fixed term if that's what they are.
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Rooster
Original Poster
2,206 posts
106 months
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it is actually 6 jobs in 6 years, variety of reasons, 3 were contract work, one was company going into liquidation, two were company saving money by losing "last one in first one out"
Its been a pretty traumatic few years and I was just concerned how it looks on my CV.
Think I might go self employed as a consultant.
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72EuropaTC
206 posts
76 months
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Rooster said: it is actually 6 jobs in 6 years, variety of reasons, 3 were contract work, one was company going into liquidation, two were company saving money by losing "last one in first one out"
Its been a pretty traumatic few years and I was just concerned how it looks on my CV.
Think I might go self employed as a consultant. In which case I don't think you have anything to worry about if it's something like this.... 2011 XYZ Co Contract assignment blah, blah,... 2010 - 2011 PQR Co Permanent role blah, blah,... Redundancy owing to liquidation 2010 WWW Co Contract assignment blah, blah,... 2009 MMM Co Contract assignment blah, blah,... 2008 XXX Co Permanent role blah, blah,... Redundancy owing to cost savings 2007 ABC Co Permanent role blah, blah,... Redundancy owing to cost savings IMO an employment history like this over the past few years such is unlikely to be uncommon or viewed upon with scorn. If the reasons for leaving are as you say, then be up front in the CV - perversely, if the rest of your CV is solid, a run like that might even get you a sympathy interview.
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Ray Luxury-Yacht
6,367 posts
85 months
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Well, I have a fair few jobs on my CV too - especially since 2006 - redundancy city! At my last redundancy recently, I took my cv into the Job Centre and they reviewed it for me. They told me to lose all the positions from the cv from about 10 years ago, backwards. Reason being that the jobs since all show a very similar skill set and responsibilites, so the older ones weren't too relevant and were preventing me from condensing the cv into the preferred two pages. I could see what they meant, but couldn't bring myself to delete them all either. So I've just put those as a Company / Title / from-to one line. Then prospective employers can choose to ask me to expand on them at interview if they see fit. I say prospecive employers, but I've applied for loads of jobs and heard back Sweet FA... 
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