TRAPS: Your
interviewer fears you may leave this position quickly, as you have others. He’s concerned you may be unstable, or a
“problem person” who can’t get along with others.
BEST ANSWER: First, before you even get to the interview
stage, you should try to minimize your image as job hopper. If there are several entries on your resume
of less than one year, consider eliminating the less important ones. Perhaps you can specify the time you spent at
previous positions in rounded years not in months and years.
Example: Instead of showing three positions this way:
6/1982 –
3/1983, Position A;
4/1983 – 12/1983, Position B;
1/1984 – 8/1987, Position C;
…it would be
better to show simply:
1982 – 1983,
Position A;
1984 – 1987 Position C.
In other
words, you would drop Position B altogether.
Notice what a difference this makes in reducing your image as a job
hopper.
Once in
front of the interviewer and this question comes up, you must try to reassure
him. Describe each position as part of
an overall pattern of growth and career destination.
Be careful
not to blame other people for your frequent changes. But you can and should attribute certain
changes to conditions beyond your control.
Example: Thanks to an upcoming merger, you wanted to
avoid an ensuing bloodbath, so you made a good, upward career move before your
department came under the axe of the new owners.
If possible,
also show that your job changes were more frequent in your younger days, while
you were establishing yourself, rounding out your skills and looking for the
right career path. At this stage in your
career, you’re certainly much more interested in the best long-term
opportunity.
You might
also cite the job(s) where you stayed the longest and describe that this type
of situation is what you’re looking for now.
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