What to put on a resume
 

Let's say you're looking for a career in your field, but the other companies you've been employed by were/are all dead end short term jobs that have nothing to do with what you want to go into. Does it hurt to put those on my resume? I'm thinking at this point I really don't have a choice, but how does that even get me an interview. I often wonder is that the reason why I haven't heard back from any employers.

Well, I have a dead end long term job, in a field that I'm embarrassed to be in and am trying to get out of, and the only nibbles I've gotten from my resume are from people in that field.

The usual advice here is to try doing a functional resume instead of a chronological resume, which shows what skills you used in those jobs or from school are relevant to jobs in your field. (sorry, that grammar is horrendous) However, I get the feeling that HR people hate those and think you're trying to cover up something with them.

Sorry this isn't a very helpful post, but you are not alone in your frustration.

I want to add my two cents of encouragement....

Very often, your next new job will come from a personal connection or personal introduction, and not a blind resume submission.

When you get your foot in the door that way, it's easier to explain your resume in an interview and let other things shine.

I hope it all works out for both of you.

You should not put every detail of every job on your resume, but you should account for at least the past 10 years. Think about it: if you leave off the "dead end" positions you're talking about, won't it look like you just weren't working during those gaps? Besides, most jobs give you something, some skill sets, to put on a resume, even if it's not the same field or type of position you ultimately want to be in.

BTW, if you're not getting interviews, I'd guess it probably has something to do with the formatting of your resume. I look at a lot of resumes here, and 80% of them are terrible. Not because of content, but because they have weird font, or mis-aligned bullets or text that indicates they don't know how to use Word, or they have spelling errors. Clean up your resume, the more white space the better if you're young, and I bet you'll at least get some interviews. And get an internship if you haven't already.

Have you just recently graduated? Or are you a senior graduating this year? If so, I would suggest you worry less about putting down every job you’ve had in the past few years, and worry more about playing up your educational experience. Employers understand that when you’re coming out of college, there’s a good chance that your work experience is not going to be one of your strong suits when selling yourself to them. When I was attempting to get a job with my original resume, it was extremely difficult. I was barely receiving any interviews, and I struggled to figure out what I was doing wrong. As an alumna, I went to the Career Development Center on campus and asked for help. They completely re-vamped my resume and showed me what to focus on. If your work experience is doing VERY little for you, don’t make it the focus of your resume. For myself, my education, special skills, extra-curriculars and awards became the main headings. At the bottom was “Other Experience” and under it was my work experience. And I simply wrote the last two jobs I had (summer jobs in between college classes), where they were located (city, state) and my position at each company. I didn’t give any details, because if they were going to ask me to show up for an interview, it wasn’t going to be because I worked at an amusement park for a few summers. If they asked about it in the interview, I played it up for all it was worth, but I knew that it wouldn’t help me at all to spotlight it on my resume.

If you’re a little more removed from your college experience, still use education as one of your main selling points, but include a little more with your work experience, also. When discussing your jobs, don’t focus on what you did there, but instead, create a bulleted list of all the skills you gained so that employers will be paying more attention to the positives that will potentially help you in your new position. It might seem ridiculous to put down interpersonal skills if you were, say.. a cashier. But it’s better to put that down than, “I checked people out and scanned their items.” It’s a challenge because you need to fill your resume, but not put down the most ridiculous skills that will do nothing except look like you’re trying to take up blank space.

That's why you should try to get a management position with your current employer, so you can a least put down that you have management experience. I don't think pizza delivery guy (delivered pizza on time from 2008 until whatever) is going to cut it.

Yeah, this makes a lot of sense, but this is hard to do. I lost my 2nd job, or better yet, I had to leave because the two jobs conflicted. I start working at Wendy's Monday, so I'll have two jobs again. It's frustrating because right now it seems like these are the only jobs I'm able to get. We're getting ready to buy a house so I need two jobs. I guess it's who you know what what you know.

This is exactly how I feel.

No, I graduated 7 years ago. I'm almost 30, that's why this is so frustrating. My fiance is going on 29 and is already in her field.

Uhmm, you sound like a whiney, complaining loser.

:eek: And you flip burgers and deliver pizza?

ETA: I hope it's not too much to ask, but can I have a slice of pizza and a frosty?

I hope you are being sarcastic, because what I have gotten from LowLite is frustration, not whining.

Sometimes good people have employment problems. I don't know LowLite's full story, but maybe you should give him the benefit of the doubt before calling him a loser and mocking his job.

Some people are great at being "snarky."

Others are cheerfulgreek.

LOL, no kidding, where did that come from?

To the OP, google "no experience resume" and read, read, read. There are a LOT of resources out there. Keep an eye on your local public library and community colleges, they may offer resume-building and/or interviewing technique classes. Do you or your girlfriend know anyone who works in HR or is she close with anyone in HR at her job? That would be a good person to run your resume by and do some practice interviewing.

And first things first, you need to lift your head up, stop being embarrassed and KNOW that you have something to offer a company. If you don't believe you're worth hiring, no employer will think so either. Good luck!

Damn. Seriously?

Huh? You're the whiniest (if that is a word) most stuck up bitch on this whole message board. Yeah, I work for Wendy's and I deliver pizza. So what! Why do you have a problem with it?

And yeah, you can have a frosty, after I spit in it.

nittanyalum, I haven't asked my fiance about her HR department, but I will. I didn't think about that. Thanks. But yeah, I'm just very frustrated right now, because it's just one dead end job after the other.

No, I meant what I said to him. I tried to offer him advice in another thread and his response to me was extremely rude, and for no reason whatsoever. I understand that some people are less fortunate than others, and I wasn't mocking his jobs for that reason. He said something to me in another thread that I thought was uncalled for before this one was started.

I wasn't being snarky to him.

Yes. He was rude to me, so I gave it back to him.

First of all, I'm not a bitch!!! Secondly, I'm not stuck up!!! And third, I tried offering you advice about moving up into a management position with your pizza company. Instead of ignoring my post, you decided to make a rude remark to me for no reason at all, so what do you expect in return?!! LowLite, I don't have a problem with your jobs. It's YOUR life, not mine. But you didn't have to be rude to me, especially after I tried to help you. I already said if I was in your fiance's shoes, I wouldn't care where you worked, as long as it was an honest job.

Ya know, I'm not going to chat with you anymore, nor will I give you anymore advice in regards to your job search and I'm sorry for calling you a loser.

I hope you find something that makes you happy.

Congratulations, LowLite!

Because her zoo-pals are tired of hearing her verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry long ponderings on monkey genes and potential resources on Mars, and they've all started ignoring her. She's just jealous, so she's taking it out on intarweb folks to whom, in her mind, she's superior.

I would suggest putting her on ignore, but I haven't been able to make myself do it. Her faulty logic and naivety, although completely frustrating, are entertaining.

cheerfulgreek is not very cheerful. :(

No she's not. She thinks she's better than everyone else, which makes her a....I don't know.....a bitch?

Haha!

I actually find some of her threads interesting, but what I don't like is how she insults other people based on their place of employment. I've seen it before. I went to school with a bunch of these. The ritzy, stuck up bitches who felt they were too good to talk to people who were less fortunate than they were. She comes off as one of those to me.

To get this thread back on track for you LowLite, I have a suggestion (FWIW): work on writing excellent cover letters. Resumes say a lot, but cover letters and letters of recommendation, in my experience, say even more. If you're not doing this already, be sure to tailor each resume packet to include a cover letter that identifies how your experiences have helped prepare you for the job you're applying for. And also be sure to include letters of recommendation.

dude's banned

WTF?????

Somebody must know something the rest of us don't. He had the feel of a troll to me but ionno.

he was a total jerk to everyone who tried to help him that said something other than "you'll do fine, i'm sure you'll be okay" type crap

seriously, even if he was real, whatever sympathy his first posts got him disappeared pretty quickly once he started with the attitude.

:eek: lol lol lol :D

I don't know if he was real or not, but whoever he was, he was a total jerk. I hope he gets "banned" from Wendy's too. lol :p

maybe he'll get promoted to KFC/Pizza Hut Express line worker

lol lol :D

Here he is and this is why he can't find a freakin' job. lol :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY0HXcreqN0 <<------low lite @ work after he sat at home all day posting on GC.


ETA: lol lol and he still got a tip.

Someone must know something the rest of us don't b/c if this is all it takes to get banned from GC these days half the posters are going to be banned.

I kind of thought that was a little quick too, even though he did call me the "B" word more than once.

People have said worse to multiple different posters. Some still post and others have been banned but it took forever to get that done. Maybe he was a troll but he wasn't a truly horrid troll.

At 1st I thought he was real when he was posting about his relationship, but when he started posting about working at Wendy's and delivering pizza, that's when I thought he may be a troll.

Anywho, troll or no troll, I thought he was the biggest loser ever.:p

hahahaha

lol I think he was just in a hurry to get back home so he could post on greekchat and whine to us about his employment problems, that's probably why he dropped the pizza.:p

Get a life.