Odd jobs+courses on resume?

How to fix a hole in my resume? Does resume have to be very complete?

• Hi all, Currently I am working on my resume. So far it is still too long. Do the investment banks and hedge funds accept resume or CV? While I am headaching on condensing my resume into 1-2 pages, I am wondering if I can omit some informaiton, such as cutting some minor or not-very-relevant employment history out? Furthermore, while I was in graduate school, I received my stipend by working for a professor as a programmer research assistant. I did not like the job -- the boss was too pushy. She often demand me to program overnight. However, I was a student and working overnight without sleeping affect my overall efficiency in study and working. That work experience was very depressing. Should I mention this in the employment section of my resume? If I omit it, I don't have a time-gap because at the same time I am a full time graduate student. However, if I omit it, I guess I will be considered as lieing and the background check will find it out by checking from which place did I received my stipend as a programming assistant(university or department employee), using my tax information, or income information, bank deposit, etc. But if I include it in, I am still worried about the background check(the employment history verification check), because I know my ex-boss is quite revengeful a person, will she bad mouth about me? And even worse, I am still in the same school and working with a different boss, will she, after knowing my latest developments from the background checking guys, bad-mouth about me to my new boss? I guess I should put this piece of information in my resume. But is there a smart way to present it better? I think is my major question in this thread. One last question: I've already sent out my priliminary version of resume in a haste and passed a few first round interviews. As I am continuing improving my resume and making sure every detail is correct and the format/quality is good, can I resubmit/update my resume to the companies? What shall I say to them? Thanks a lot experts!!!

• Answer:

  Hello lunamoon-ga, I?m experienced in human resources and career development and I am familiar with the problem of having to deal with work history elements that you would rather forget and hope will never come to light. I have interviewed and hired many candidates and have also had to fire some employees. I?ve also advised hundreds of clients on resume and job search techniques. I think the crux of your problem is that you have a job in your work history where you did not perform at your best. Let?s take a look at your comments about the job from a possible future employer?s perspective. According to your own description, you did not like your job as a programmer research assistant and you didn?t like your boss. You think she was ?too pushy.? You did not meet her expectations for your performance. Your school performance also suffered because of the long hours she demanded. Consequently you found the experience depressing. You are now afraid of what she might say about your work products, your ability to meet expectations and how you handled your conflict with her. Your question is focused on how to hide this information from any companies who might be interested in considering you for a job. You have to understand that future employers you hope to impress will assume that your past employers were reasonable, set reasonable expectations and used appropriate criteria for evaluating your performance and attitude. No matter how justified you may feel in your assessment of your prior boss as ?pushy? and demanding, if you express these feelings to a prospective employer you will appear whiny and possibly a slacker. They might think you were unable to manage priorities, that you had poor communications skills because of the unresolved conflict with your boss and that you had an attitude problem. You want to avoid your job prospects coming to these conclusions. You have to arrive at a strategy so that you can include this job in your work history and not worry about how to talk about it with recruiters or prospective employers. Let?s consider the alternatives of including / excluding this job from your resume. Don?t Include Job on Resume --------------------------- If you don?t include the programmer research assistant position that helped pay your stipend for graduate school you find yourself with the dilemma you?ve discussed here. You will always wonder about someone finding out about it. It may not come to light during the interview process. If your prospective employer does not ask you to fill out an application in addition to your resume you might be able to keep the job a secret. You might line up other references who will vouch for your excellent skills, work habits and character. The reference checking might not discover that you had this job. According to this scenario, the best case you hope for is that you get your desired job without revealing the job you?re worried about and there will never be a reason in your future where you might need or want to talk about it. Some of the disadvantages of this scenario are that you can never talk about the research assistant job so you don?t get discovered. You can?t mention anything that you learned on that job, any experience that you gained, any people you met. You?ll have to be vigilant about keeping your secret. The alternate scenario is that you omit the job from your work history but your prospective employers find out about it from someone other than you. This may not be a big deal. Or, it could bring serious consequences. Let?s say the scenario you fear unfolds and the reference check reveals the unlisted job. Your prospective employer is likely to come and question you about it and you will have to explain why you didn?t mention it in the first place. Alternately, your prospective employer many see your omission in worse light and never give you a chance to explain. You would simply not be considered a viable candidate. Worst case, you could be hired and the truth is discovered later. Many companies might consider your ?lie by omission? a firing offense. If you don?t tell a proactive story, you will always be in a defensive position regarding this job. Include the Job on Your Resume ------------------------------ Why go through the grief of worrying about not listing this job on your resume? What are the possible scenarios if you do include the job? If you list the job on your resume you will be in control of how the prospective employer thinks about this job. You will be able to present the relevant work experience as part of your portfolio of skills. Even more important, you will be able to put the best light on what happened before your prior employer?s views come to light. Employers look for candidates who not only have the ability to perform the tasks of the job but also have the interpersonal skills to deal with conflict and manage expectations. You will have to develop a plausible explanation of what happened on this job. If you?re still thinking of yourself as the victim of a bad boss you will not be able to present yourself well. ?Never bad mouth a prior boss? is a cardinal rule for the job search. Your top priority should be to talk to the boss you think will give you a bad recommendation and find out what she is willing to say about your work for her. Many universities and companies have strict policies about giving references. You need to find out what are the policies at your institution. If giving information about the quality of your work is permitted, you should talk to the boss whose recommendation you fear and negotiate with her a story you can both live with. If you can?t develop a mutually agreed on story with your former boss, your best approach might be to frame your conflicts with the boss as learning opportunities that have taught you to better understand yourself and how to manage your relationships. You might want to explain how you would better handle this type of situation in the future. People just starting out have more leeway with this kind of ?learning? than more experienced employees. You must make sure you have some references lined up who could confirm your skills and ability to get along. They should help you put a positive spin on your qualifications no matter what this boss might say if prospective employers should track her down. My recommendation is that you tighten up your resume. Someone just coming out of school is not expected to have extensive experience. List the research assistant job and briefly indicate its responsibilities and your achievements and contributions in that position. Let prospective employers ask questions about it during the interview and be prepared to handle whatever the interviewer might throw at you. Be prepared with a list of references who will give you good recommendations. Considering the two sets of alternatives, I strongly urge you to list the job on your resume. Don?t risk a cover up that could be interpreted as a lie. Whatever happened on this job is only important because it is recent. As you build your career, your achievements in your future professional jobs will make this job insignificant and eventually not worth mentioning. I also suggest that you review the articles I?ve collected for you on how to line up your references and make sure that you have talked to all your references before you use their names with any employers. The articles I?ve provided will also help you educate yourself about the problem of references from the employer?s perspective. These should help you with developing a strategy for how to deal with the boss you fear will give you a bad reference. I?m providing you with links to help you evaluate the pros and cons of what you might do. Please don?t hesitate to ask for additional information or clarification if my recommendation doesn?t make sense to you. Wishing you well. ~ czh ~ http://www.wetfeet.com/Content/Articles/h/how%20to%20make%20the%20best%20use%20of%20references.aspx How to Make the Best Use of References Dealing with Unfavorable References http://experts.about.com/q/Resume-Help-1094/Include-6-month-job.htm Include 6-month job on resume? http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art45016.asp Frequently Asked Questions About Resumes http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/columnists/amy_lindgren/15642762.htm Resume block: death by a thousand decisions http://www.career-resumes.com/blog/?cat=4 Truth or Consequences http://www.freshersworld.com/resume/resume.htm Build Resume for your First Job http://www.resumebycprw.com/resume_a22.htm Selling Air: Marketing Your Entry-Level Career http://www.wetfeet.com/Content/Articles/w/writing%20an%20entry-level%20resume.aspx Writing an Entry-Level Resume https://www.hrtools.com/HREssentials/P05_8660.asp Other Risks in Providing References http://shr.ucsc.edu/shr-procedures/section-e/e6.pdf Reference Check Guidelines http://www.hr.columbia.edu/dat/forms/reference-check/pdf-ver.pdf Reference Check Instructions http://www.workplacefairness.org/references.html#1 References -- YOUR RIGHTS http://www.nacua.org/nacualert/memberversion/EmploymentRefs.asp TOPIC: COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE REFERENCES http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051006/mencher_01.shtml The Overwhelming, Can't Be Overstated, and Undeniable Importance of References http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/24785Back-door references and slander --------------- SEARCH STRATEGY --------------- omit job from resume entry-level resume unfavorable job reference