How Many Jobs To Mention On A Resume

One of the most common questions that job applicants have in creating a resume that gets the interview is how many jobs should I list on my resume? If you are creating your first resume, or perhaps, are trying to revise your resume to make it as successful as possible at getting the job-you want to make sure you know just how many positions to include in your career history.

The best answer is to include what the standard is for the career world-the equivalent of ten years of employment positions. This means, start with your most recent position, consider how long you have worked there, and subtract that amount from the total of ten. Then, include details on your last employment position as well as how long you were employed there, and subtract that from the total. On the typical resume, ten years only account for 2-3 places of employment-and this is actually preferable from the perspective of the employer.

Why is it preferable to have only 2-3 jobs on your resume? Because it shows the potential employer that you do not jump from position to position, and leave your employers after getting training and some experience for something better. Instead, you show fortitude, responsibility, and permanence-all things that a potential employer wants to see in a candidate. Consider how much time and effort and money is spent in the hiring and training of a new employee-an employer loses quite a bit of money and time-banking on the applicant working out as a great asset to the company. When they go through this process, and the applicant turns around and just quits or is fired-this is more than a hassle to the employer. This is why employers like to see an applicant with permanence in their career history.

What if you have more than 2-3 jobs in the past ten years? You should still include them, as it will be a topic of concern for a potential employer. Though it may not look at first, great, that you have skipped around from job to job in your employment history; there are situations in which things happen in life, and this causes you to change jobs. To be able to explain this is vital, so that an employer doesn’t just assume the worst-that you are fickle, irresponsible, or not job worthy. You can approach this explanation directly in the cover letter portion of your application. Give a good reason for discrepancies in your employment history, and piece it together to show employers why your track record of hopping from job to job is entirely in the past, and that you hope to stay with this company for a long long time.