Listing time unemployed like previous work experience

Submitted by michaelclaw on Tuesday October 11th, 2011 10:51 am
in

Forums

We hear all the time about the bias that exists towards hiring the unemployed. It got me thinking, if you are unemployed, what does that MT community think about listing it like you would any other work experience on your resume? Just a thought for discussion. Something like:

July 2011 TO Present - Unemployed - Had to leave my previous role because my spouse was transferred out of state.

Executed effective marketing campaign for United Way that lead to an increase in local donations of 20%
Scored in the top 5% on ABC certification exam
etc

I'd love to hear what everyone has to think.

Thanks,

Michael

Submitted by dennis_sherman on Tuesday October 11th, 2011 3:52 pm

interesting approach and better bullets

I've got two comments... I think this is an interesting approach, especially for activities that don't group together somehow. You might consider listing volunteer activities as separate positions.

I would rewrite your United Way entry as something like

July 2011 to Present - United Way of My New Town - marketing volunteer

* Achieved 20% increase in local United Way donations by executing a 3 month marketing campaign

Actually, I'd try to replace "executing" with a more specific word or phrase - designing, leading, designing and implementing, etc. Maybe "execute" is a term of art for marketing people (I'm not one) but in my world of software development it suggests you followed someone else's plan. If you can accurately and honestly change the word to something that shows more involvement in planning or leadership I think that would be good.

--
Dennis Sherman
6-1-2-7

Submitted by maura on Wednesday October 12th, 2011 6:23 pm

I love seeing that you are

I love seeing that you are making good use of your time while unemployed, along with the reason for leaving that last position. If I got a resume like this I would have a much more positive response to it than one that had a large unexplained gap. Not that I would respond negatively to one with a gap - it happens for a lot of reasons that aren't necessarily related to employability, such as the one you stated. But laying out the details front and center shows me that you can anticipate pitfalls and are proactive about giving people the info they need to make decisions. That turns a neutral into a positive, at least with me.

Submitted by smorison on Tuesday October 18th, 2011 4:26 am

I used "Various short

I used "Various short term contracts" during the dotcom bust - it was correct, and they just weren't worth putting on my resume.

Dennis: I'd prefer to see "Delivered" as the result, e.g.:

Delivered a 20% increase in local United Way donations during a 3 month marketing campaign

DISC: 7511

Submitted by dennis_sherman on Tuesday October 18th, 2011 1:41 pm

Ooh, "delivered". Good

Ooh, "delivered". Good call! I need to update my glossary of action words! And making that change lets the rest of the bullet be shortened a little more.

Thanks.