Reader: I’ve been in my current job for five years. I’ve also had a second job for three of those years, but now I’d like to make a change. Do you have any advice on how to convince a potential employer that I’m a good hire, even though I had a couple of jobs in the past that I quit after a month or two?
Dave: Quitting a job after a month or so isn’t normally some kind of sin that automatically disqualifies you from being hired. It might be with some corporate goober who’s looking at things through some silly, one-size-fits-all hiring paradigm, but that alone wouldn’t be the kiss of death around my office.
Now, would we look at something like that and want to know what happened and what your explanation was? Absolutely. But if it made sense, there wouldn’t be a problem. However, if it made you sound flighty or disgruntled with things in general, we’d probably pass.
My guess is that the fields you’re interested in are like most — there’s a lot of importance put on who you know. And I don’t mean this in a negative way. Work and try to develop good relationships with people in your field and those associated with it. If that’s in place, they can honestly give out positive references.
Knowing someone within the field or at the company, or being connected to someone with a positive reputation, can help you avoid the resume slush pile. It can help cut through the mess and achieve clarity.
