# Updating my resume; opinions wanted **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2022, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903 "2022-06-09T01:59:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/21 "2022-06-10T03:09:49Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > Here’s my dilemma: > My promotion took effect on the 1st of April. Ahhhh, but at what time? Your new position probably started at 8 am on 4/1, so from midnight to 8, you were at your previous position. So: - Assistant to the Regional Manager: January, 20xx to April, 2022 - Regional Manager: April, 2022 to Present. . > I guess I was overthinking it. But my solution allows you the joy of _over_-thinking it! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/22 "2022-06-10T03:19:50Z")
I’ve been self-employed pretty much my whole working life, so I guess I wonder – why would any employer care about this? “Hey, I just wanted a couple months to chill and relax before starting a new job.” “Cool.” Like what bad mark is this supposed to leave? Are most people expected to work non-stop through their lives without any gaps? I mean, I guess I could understand asking about a 3-year gap in employment history, but a few months? Why would that even raise an eyebrow? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/23 "2022-06-10T03:25:04Z")
If it’s the most recent three months, and you are currently unemployed, I’ll probably ask about it. But I agree, if I noticed a gap of a couple of months on a resume, a couple of years ago, I doubt I’d care one way or the other. I did have an interesting chat with a job applicant about his time in seminary. I didn’t bring it up – honest – back off, HR, it was what he was doing with his time, and he introduced it. But actually, it was interesting that a guy had studied to be a rabbi, and then decided to hang it up and become an actuary. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/24 "2022-06-10T03:39:40Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > If it’s the most recent three months, and you are currently unemployed, I’ll probably ask about it. Sure. I can see asking about it. But how does the answer: “Eh… I just wanted to spend a few months off of work enjoying my life” come across? That’s kind of what I’m getting at: are you expected to have gapless employment? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/25 "2022-06-10T04:18:50Z")
No, I’m not. I have lots of friends who have taken time off. I mentored a young actuary who left to take a year off and travel around the world. But i would hope you have a better answer than, “my prior employer fired me, and i haven’t been able to find another job.” I mean, even if that’s true, you should be able to spin it better than that. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/26 "2022-06-10T06:11:05Z")
The problem is, to a HR person/hiring manager, they can’t distinguish between “this person wasn’t trying to look for a job” with “this person tried as hard as they could to look for a job and nobody would give them one”. If their baseline assumption of you is the former, then they’ll believe you when you said you were taking a break and it won’t count as a ding. If their baseline assumption is the latter, they’re going to assume you’re using a white lie to cover a gap in your resume and other HMs were passing on you for some reason. The more the balance of power is on the candidate’s side, the more they’ll believe the former which is why like, data scientists can feel free to take months off between jobs but corporate drone types feel a strong pressure to never have a gap on their resume. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/27 "2022-06-10T06:40:20Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > No HR department will fail to understand what happened. I agree. And if an HR department doesn’t understand, one might want to stay away from them. Anyhow, getting and starting a job in a month or less is very fast for any high level job. (Obviously not for burger flippers.) If I even drew the wrong conclusion about the gap, I’d think the person must be in high demand and interview very well. I’m glad the OP is no longer worried. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/28 "2022-06-10T09:47:36Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Also, a month could literally be a planned vacation. I once took several weeks between jobs. My husband was moving to a new academic job and had the summer off, and I negotiated for a delayed starting date of my new job. We visited Germany and Switzerland, and helped take down the Berlin Wall. (Literally – some budding entrepreneur rented us a hammer and a chisel, and we attacked a chunk of the wall that was still standing.) I never considered that an employment gap. I’m not sure if you can see it on my resume… but no one has ever asked about the time between those two jobs. Yeah but if they did ask, you’d have one helluva story to tell! In fact, you’d WANT them to ask about that gap. Hopefully you brought home some of that debris? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/29 "2022-06-10T11:29:32Z")
I did! ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/30 "2022-06-10T14:04:17Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Just out of curiosity, how long should someone stay at a job, if not 1-2 years? Or how many 1-2 year jobs in a row constitutes an unacceptable “sting of jobs”? It all depends on the industry, I supposed. In my previous field, the industry was small and outsiders needed to be hired and trained, which took a yearish. And since it was Japan, people tended to stay a lot longer in the same company so generally , people were staying for five to ten years. Like anything else, it just depends on the industry. If everyone in the industry is changing jobs every one to two years, then obviously it’s not a bad sign. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/31 "2022-06-10T15:09:25Z")
I think to some extent that’s going to depend on how long the break is and what kind of job it is. When I was working, I never encountered a resume with a real “break” - ending one job in March 2022 and starting the next in April 2022 is very likely to be either the OPs situation or something similar where there is maybe a 2 week break. But since I worked at a government agency and the resumes I reviewed were for people who primarily worked in government jobs it would have been very unusual for there to be say, a two or three month break. At least in my area - but that was for reasons specific to government jobs in my area and field including little or no flexibility in start date. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/32 "2022-06-11T00:39:07Z")
> [@solost](#): > > What did this hypothetical person do for that one month as ‘Ronald McDonald Birthday Party Clown Mascot’ that wasn’t bad enough to get them fired, but was bad enough to get them demoted back to ‘Junior Burger Flipper’?!? 😄 You don’t want to know. :: shudder :: (It’s a [Noodle Incident](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoodleIncident)) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/33 "2022-06-11T18:37:04Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Just out of curiosity, how long should someone stay at a job, if not 1-2 years? Or how many 1-2 year jobs in a row constitutes an unacceptable “sting of jobs”? It depends if the new jobs are lateral moves or effective promotions. My son-in-law has been moving every three years or so and doing quite well. It appears to be a lot more common now than it was in my day. Not surprising given that internal raises so puny and the market is so hot. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/34 "2022-06-12T14:58:36Z")
I think there’s probably also some interplay between a series of 1-2 year jobs and gaps on a resume. A person who keeps getting new jobs while still employed at the old one might just be a hot commodity, getting head-hunted or poached or whatever. A person who puts in the better part of a decade at each job and takes a year off in between to travel or start a family seems like a steady person who gives a job their all and then plans some time off to live their life. But a person who works one job for a year, and then is unemployed for months, and then has another job for 18 months, then another few months of not working, etc., over and over, might just be a mess everywhere they go. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/35 "2022-06-12T16:35:57Z")
Excellent points. I screen carefully when I see job hopping. It depends on industry. Here in Silicon Valley tech, unfortunately job hopping is not uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/36 "2022-06-12T21:39:31Z")
Well unfortunately Silicon Valley tech has brought that on itself by treating every job as disposable and transitory. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/37 "2022-06-13T06:19:12Z")
Including, sometimes, _within_ themselves. There’s a major tech company which encourages its people to job-hop within departments and looks askance at anyone who has been performing the same function for more than two years; they consider such a person to have stagnated and label them unambitious, whereas someone who’s actively pursuing new opportunities within the company is vigorous and valuable. It’s very strange. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/38 "2022-06-13T13:45:48Z")
I’m guessing that they’ve never added up the cost of continually training people to do new jobs. My company has a culture of encouraging people to apply to different departments; but for most jobs, one of the requirements is that you’ve been in your current position for 6-12 months, depending on the specific position. Plus, many jobs have at least a few things in common, so it’s not like an internal applicant has to learn everything from scratch. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/39 "2022-06-14T03:21:35Z")
That’s my concern too. After 6 months you’ve basically just learned the job and you’re starting to be productive. I encourage people to grow and advance, but I want some production out of you before I’ll support and encourage that transfer. Generally, 2 years. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903/40 "2022-06-16T16:35:49Z")
My concern is that after 6 months, I’ve mastered the job and am now ready to stretch into a role with greater responsibility with a title and comp befitting my newfound expertise! I think what’s truly important is to not have the most competitive thing about your resume being the right cadence of job tenures and (no) gaps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updating-my-resume-opinions-wanted/965903.md?page=1)