How Important is Your 3 Months Experience?
Here is a question from one of our readers I thought would be of interest to all. Take a look:
I’ve recently been fired from my job and I’ve only worked there for short period of time (3 months). I had prior experience before from another company (3 yrs) that works on the same industry. I am wondering if I should put my 3 months experience on my resume. I talked about this with my old co-worker and he said I shouldn’t put it down on my resume since it’s a too short of time. However, I just went on an interview and HR from that company said I should put it on my resume. I told her that I didn’t add it to my resume because it was too short of time and I am going to put it down on my application form. So should my 3 months experience be on resume? Please help. I am actually going to an interview with a different company next week and never brought up my previous experience on phone screen interviews since it was not ever asked. Should I bring an updated resume and tell the interviewers about my previous experience OR only bring it up when asked?
My response:
Absolutely put the 3 month job on your resume. Why? Because if you don’t and you are asked about the three month gap or break in time, it now becomes a difficult conversation. They will want to know why you omitted it. That assumes there was a problem. More is better and you don’t want to have gaps in time on your resume unless there is a very good reason. Like you were in the hospital, on disability. Something like that.
One thing is for sure, you need to decide how you are going to respond to the 3 month job issue. You need a brief explanation for why you were let go after 3 months. Also, “YES” you should bring an updated resume to the interview. All you have to do is hand them the new resume. Tell them is updated and leave it at that. There is no need for further explanation.
So now, my question - “How important is your 3 months experience?” Answer - it is very important. Every job you do, in the span of your life is of value. Omitting it is dishonest. And dishonesty will not help you get the next job. Eventually it comes out. More and more organizations are doing background checks. There are still a few companies out there that don’t do them - but that is not the norm. Don’t jeopardize an opportunity over gaps in your resume, no matter how large or small.
I would love to know your thoughts! Scroll down and leave a comment.
Tags: Answer, Been fired, How important is your 3 months experience?, interview-chatter, Question, resumeRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Coach's Cornor, Q & A
2 opinions for How Important is Your 3 Months Experience?
NH Mom of 3
Jul 29, 2008 at 7:57 pm
This is a slightly different situation, but should we also include temporary positions on our resume? And if so, do we list it as a position at XYZ organization that we are actually working at OR list it via the staffing agency we actually get the paychecks from? I have a 6 month position that I do list, but am not sure how to list the most current (temp) position. Thanks!
Darlene McDaniel
Jul 29, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Good Evening NH Mom of 3 - Thank you for visiting Interview Chatter tonight. Great question. I do believe that temporary employment should be included on your resume as well. There are multiple ways of displaying the information. You can have it as a separate category on your resume. Another option would be to list it as you would any other job, where it fits chronologically. To me this is the easiest. Make sure you include that it is a temp job early in the description of your accomplishments. The other option is to list all temp work at the end of the resume, make sure you include dates, accomplishments no matter how you fit it into your resume.
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