I am a recent graduate from college, however I have about five years of experience in my field of study. I have worked at several jobs in the past five years and am considering changing jobs again. I worked at one organization for three years, with an 11-month break between the first and second year. All other positions have been a year of less. My question is this: do employers look at short times on jobs as a bad thing?

In my profession as a career counsellor, I have noticed certain trends in people’s career paths. One of the strongest and most common trends is that many of us simply “do not know what we want to do when we grow up.” As part of our training for the adult world, we all go through a predetermined series of educational hurdles, from primary to secondary school, then perhaps on to university, college, or an apprenticeship. This can take up to 20 years or more of our lives, and in all that time, very little emphasis is placed on understanding who we are as individuals, what kind of life we want to have, and what kinds of activities we ENJOY doing. At the same time, we are constantly bombarded by society, the media, friends, and parents about the importance of being “happy and successful” in our careers. Of course, the typical definition most of these well-meaning people have of happiness and success is to be well-off financially, owning (or looking as if you own) lots of material possessions.

We can easily get sidetracked by these illusions, and as new graduates, we can strive and strive to reach this vision of success, becoming more and more unhappy and frustrated as time passes.

When I started my career almost 20 years ago, a job history such as you’ve described would be considered by many employers to be either “job hopping”, or a sign of a poor performer. Either way, you would have been someone best passed over, or put into the ‘NO’ pile. Today, the economic realities of the current work world are such that your experience is quite common. While it still might raise some questions, employers are more appreciative of the realities of the employment market, and they are more concerned about the reasons why you changed jobs.

Separate the two issues

The first thing to do is separate the two issues I raised above. I am not sure from your question whether you have left your employers because you were unhappy in your work, or whether your employment changes were determined by other causes (layoffs, terminations, etc.). If you are leaving because you are unhappy, you should consider getting career counselling to determine what you would enjoy doing more. Start with a vision of what type of activities you like, and go from there.

If you have simply been the victim of some bad economic times, or know what you want to be doing now, but are concerned about how your resume looks, relax. Get a good resume book or enlist the services of a good resume writer and create the best self-marketing document possible. We all have weaknesses that we wish we didn’t have, but we all also have lots of strengths to balance things out. Employers have to take the good with the bad, but obviously, to maximize your chances of getting the dream job you’ve always wanted, you should emphasize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.

Focus on the motivation and the marketing

Most employers are concerned about your motivation – why you want to work in general, and why you want to work for them in particular. Think about the employer’s perspective, and at the same time, try to turn your weaknesses into strengths. The fact that you’ve had several jobs over the past few years has given you exposure to a wide range of environments, and you probably learned a few additional skills along the way.

On the marketing side, putting the years, rather than months of employment on your resume can minimize any “choppiness” to some extent. Again, the services of a qualified professional resume writer may help in your presentation.

Remember, don’t live your life for your resume. You can’t change the choices you’ve made in the past, but you can learn from them for the future.

Michael Mayne, M.B.A., CMA, is Managing Partner and a Certified Professional Career Counsellor at Catalyst Careers, a Career Transition, Counselling, and Outplacement firm. Michael has been involved in the not-for-profit sector for many years, and is currently President of ALS Canada. To contact Michael, visit: www.catalystcareers.com.

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