Need some Resume/Work History Advice

[deposite]

Only list relevant skills on your resume, I worked a few odd jobs too but there's no way in heck I'm putting Best Buy on my resume.

[Tencent]

Originally Posted by BBslider001

In the meantime,to make a living, I have applied for a few entry level diesel tech positions. One rejection response I received stated, "job hopping or too short of periods on the job". This is what got me thinking late at nights and why I started this thread. I basically feel unemployable even though people always hire me once they meet me and see I am pretty sharp, friendly, and have a good work ethic. The current climate of hiring makes it difficult though since it is 95% online with shotgunning your resume. Hope this makes sense? Thanks for your input!

Ok is your resume clear in that you have been in school FT ?

For them to say that it's either an automated rejection from the bot or a human actually saw and it wasn't clear in the first 5 seconds that up until recently you were a FT student.

And yes this is a problem. In your fields (ranching/diesel tech) the whole ATS and modern hiring methods really don't work well. And for your situation ( or any recent grad) it doesn't work much in general. To get your foot in the door you'll need to network. When I graduated the "externship" I got was from networking. Without that I would not have been able to get any traction at all in my industry.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by IForgotMyOldAccount

but by law former employers are not allowed to give a positive or negative review.

Incorrect as a general rule.

Nowadays, when employers do background checks to determine your work history, they get directed to HR, or an automated VOIP that simple states if you worked here or not.

Often true, especially for larger companies.

The reason for this has nothing to do with "the law" but to avoid any possibility of litigation, even though there aren't really any examples of lawsuits filed by previous employees out there.

It's easier for a company to set a policy that says "we only verify dates of employment and title" and then have everyone stick to it than to get sucked down a rabbit hole by having HR trying to determine if that person was fired for cause, or some other reason, and then communicate it to prospective reference requests. It's a huge time waster for no benefit to the company. Instead they give a 3rd party an extract of their HR database and wash their hands of it all.

Even the "would you rehire this employee" doesn't get answered as much anymore, which was a roundabout way of asking if the person was fired or not, because in some cases the company has a no-rehire policy unrelated to performance.

[adjusterjack]

BB, Google functional resume.


I also had a lot of job hopping and periods of unemployment but always stayed in the insurance industry.


A functional explains your skills, abilities, and education in depth prominently on the front page (in large type) which is what catches the eye of the recruiter. Then put the chronology on the second page in smaller type.


I studied management and did some hiring years ago. If I didn't learn all I needed to know about an applicant from the first page, the resume tended to go to the bottom of the pile.


Employers are going to be reading 100s of resumes. You need to impress them in the first couple of paragraphs.

[bobsell]

Originally Posted by joe from dayton

As someone who interviews people, I disgree with Bob.

So you are one of the rare employers who do not discriminate against people for having gaps in their resume?

[bobsell]

Originally Posted by BBslider001

Well, my target career was headed towards ranching or ranch management,

Then your ranch experience is perfect for your resume. Add all the transferable skills you learned, even if you spent a small amount of time on them.