Getting a better job...

[onodera]

Don't ever reorder your jobs. It makes the hiring manager's head hurt and if you get to the interview they will grill you for that. I want to see your experience and make my own conclusions, if you start shuffling your job history I will think you've got something to hide.

[rah]

Yeah, the job history section was quite confusing. Half that crap can probably be removed. I have no idea why the butler item is even on there.

[Al B. Sure!]

Without those jobs, I have a nearly 3 year employment gap.

Putting them in chronology will mean I'll have to add bullet points to briefly held jobs which will make my resume two pages long.

What's the solution?

[dannubis]

Leave them out?

[pchang]

include the important ones and deal with the gaps. openness and honesty will go a long way.

[rah]

1. Drop the month. Not needed in most cases.
2. Drop the butler.
3. Put them in chronological order.

[Al B. Sure!]

Yeah, the job history section was quite confusing. Half that crap can probably be removed. I have no idea why the butler item is even on there.

I have cool stories about that job. It's the top hotel in Philadelphia so I daily interacted with celebrities. Providing great customer service to high net worth individuals.

Leave them out?

And have a 3 year employment gap?!

This is a case again where the advice I'm getting here contradicts the advice I'm getting from former military officers working at bulge bracket firms.

They say I absolutely NEED to include the rest of my life on there because it tells a story and it sets me apart from the usual top liberal arts or ivy league candidates. I have a blue collar appeal and diversity of experience which I could potentially leverage. People want a human story.

Same with other advice. Here, it's throw a wide net while the actual bankers who successfully transitioned from the military say I need to be specific and know exactly what I want to do and why and concentrate on that (KH did echo this sentiment).

Bankers say play up the military for all it's worth in the cover letter. It should be a focus. Here, it probably shouldn't even be included.

Who should I listen to?

[Al B. Sure!]

1. Drop the month. Not needed in most cases.
2. Drop the butler.
3. Put them in chronological order.

I'd rather drop the teller job. I got fired from that one although I was the top performer in a short time period.

What about consistency? I'll have some months then no months for other jobs? I'll have no bullet points for the teller job in the middle of it, but bullets for the restaurant management jobs?

[rah]

If you can't make a decision on something like this, I would question you as a hire.

In the end it probably doesn't matter, but don't make extra work for the person reading it. Extra work means just one more chance they will chuck instead of doing the extra work.

If I have a stack/list of resumes that I'm going through, if the person can't even list something in chronological order, I don't want him working with numbers. Period.

The butler thing was only three months. TAKE IT OUT. If you want to leave a small gap, you can always bring it up then, verbally so you have chance to embellish it however you want.


TAKE OUT THE MONTH ON EVERYTHING. Don't worry about overlap.

[Al B. Sure!]

I worked as a teller even less time than the butler job. Plus I was fired.

And then I'm back to how my resume was before against the recommendations of other military alumni.

I am very skeptical about omitting months. Isn't that a red flag, especially when I'll have something like 2008-2008? And I'll still have a gap from 2010 to 2012.

I may seem helpless but I want this to be perfect and I get very contradictory advice. I need to have more than your word for it but a real rationale.

[N35t0r]

Don't put 2008-2008, just put 2008. And how is that worse than Jan-Feb (or whatever) 2008?

[N35t0r]

My first CVs had month and year, as well as position and a short description of what I did, for all the jobs. Nowadays, most old jobs just have year from-to and position...

[Al B. Sure!]

I'll still have a gap from 2010 to 2012

[N35t0r]

I'll still have a gap from 2010 to 2012

So leave it in if you want, but don't use more than a line for it.

[Al B. Sure!]

My first CVs had month and year, as well as position and a short description of what I did, for all the jobs. Nowadays, most old jobs just have year from-to and position...

It makes sense for positions from 20 years ago. I think it will cause problems when I say I've been with BNY since a nebulous month in 2012.