Good morning. I am in need of input from the wise job board.

I am a December 2012 graduate in Agronomy. All my jobs have been in Agriculture. I got my first full time job in September of 2013. I only remained in that position for a few months as I was hired on as hourly and was promised a salaried position after the first of the next year. After the first of the year the position wasn't offered and I was told they had no clue when they would be able to get me a pay increase. Pay was terrible so I had too look elsewhere. My next job lasted two years before I was offered a position with another company for nearly twice the pay so I took it. Job three lasted three years before I was laid off as part of a merger between my company and another large Ag company. I took six months off to finish out a master's degree I was working on before returning to work a just over a year ago and am currently still employed by the same company.

Job 1 - September 2013 - February 2014 - 6 months
Job 2 - February 2014 - October 2015 - 21 months
Job 3 - November 2015 - July 2018 - 33 months
Current Job - February 2019 - Present - 16 months

I have recently been approached by another company about a position and have been through a few rounds of with them. I have been told me and another candidate are the last two in the running for the position. The position offers another good pay bump and is a better position than the one I currently hold with my current company.

My concern is if I do get the offer and accept it will be my 5th job in less than 10 years. Is that getting to a point of raising red flags in the future if this position wouldn't work out? If I receive an offer I could see myself being in this position for a long time. But you always got to consider the flip side and if it doesn't how bad is 5 jobs in 9 years.

Thanks for your input. I do not have the months count on my resume. I have month, year to month, year. The month count was just something I did to provide more detail for this posting.

And I already started purging my internships and part time jobs off as my career has progressed. I will probably purge the first job before I submit my resume again as I feel enough time has pasted where they won't realize I had a brief job for only a few months. It raises questions anytime I interview. Everyone has always been understanding of how I answer their questions regarding it, not getting full time employment as I was promised, but it still opens me up for questioning.

one MEEN Ag said:

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I don't see your work history and think 'job hopper' but someone who has moved up and on to better things after getting a foothold out of college. Clearly recruiters in the industry don't care at your current resume because you're getting far into interviews.

Take our your first 5 month job. Your career progression looks fine. If you can show you moved up on each role, it honestly would look like a relatively normal career progression within a company.

Now, this job you're interested in I think will cast the die. I would plan on staying for 2 years.

Just my two cents. I wouldn't see it as a red flag, company loyalty is dead. Did you do your job, grow in experience, and can you perform in this new role?

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Thanks Meen. I was really planning on riding my current position for a few years as there are decent advancement opportunities with in my current employer.

I was contacted out of the blue by the new company through a guy we do business with on my dads farming operation. He thought I would be a good fit and got the ball rolling.

Overall I am confident in my abilities matching the requirements for the new position. However there is a sales part to the new role. I do not have any experience in sales so there would be a learning curve there. The job isn't 100% sales, more like using customer supper to maintain sales numbers.

I am pretty much on the fence at the moment as I have another interview coming up. I don't hate my current position so even if i'm offered i'll Just have to see how good the offer is compared to where i'm Currently at.

JamesPShelley said:

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Codes12 said:

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Thanks for your input. I do not have the months count on my resume. I have month, year to month, year. The month count was just something I did to provide more detail for this posting.

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I'm suggesting no months, period. No June 2014 to August 2016. Years-only entries. That entry should be presented:

2014 - 2016 Acme Manufacturing, Inc.
Production Agronomist

Months designations present collegiate... pedestrian. If an interviewer is curious about the months... they can ask. At an interview.

Best wishes on your pursuits!!

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I advise people on their resumes a lot, and this is what I always recommend as well.

10 - 4. It's too late to make the corrections for this opportunity but i will correct it so my resume is ready for any future use. Thanks for the advice.

ea1060 said:

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JamesPShelley said:

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Codes12 said:

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Thanks for your input. I do not have the months count on my resume. I have month, year to month, year. The month count was just something I did to provide more detail for this posting.

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I'm suggesting no months, period. No June 2014 to August 2016. Years-only entries. That entry should be presented:

2014 - 2016 Acme Manufacturing, Inc.
Production Agronomist

Months designations present collegiate... pedestrian. If an interviewer is curious about the months... they can ask. At an interview.

Best wishes on your pursuits!!

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I advise people on their resumes a lot, and this is what I always recommend as well.

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I'll add that you need to make sure you can memorize the months in case they ask.

- I would say not many employees expect or should expect many ppl under ~5 years out of college to stay anywhere longterm.

Imo, you're more valuable due to a wider skill set. Most entry jobs are likely to get redundant after a short time.

Now post Covid I wouldn't assume it matters as much as it did pre Covid. There's so many ppl moving/ switching careers it likely much more of a non issue. Employers without a solid culture and infracture should expect recent college grads to bounce soon and often.

Millennials aren't playing by the same rules/ expectations as a generation ago.

Quote:

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I'm suggesting no months, period. No June 2014 to August 2016. Years-only entries. That entry should be presented:

2014 - 2016 Acme Manufacturing, Inc.
Production Agronomist

Months designations present collegiate... pedestrian. If an interviewer is curious about the months... they can ask. At an interview.

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As a hiring manager, my reaction to this 100% of the time would be, "What is he trying to hide?"

I agree. Putting together a narrative makes sense and is believable. Being broad raises questions like " what did you do between x date and x date" rather than how you could benefit the company. Major thing about giving interviews is spotting lies. giving Incompleteness on info leaves gaps. Gaps = gray areas on resumes and may arise questions

I'd keep the month and year on the resume. Just showing the year can leave more questions. Saying 2013-2014 could mean a few months, about a year, or about two years.

A resume should be engineered to answer a lot of questions, qualifying the candidate, while leaving a few questions begging. You want to inspire curiosity, for that is what leads to interviews. I stand that including the months designation is pedestrian, takes up space, and consumes a recipient's time unnecessarily. I take the 6/15/20 second rule quite seriously.

As a hiring manager, my reaction to this 100% of the time would be, "What is he trying to hide?"

100% of the time? I'm curious why the absence of the month(s) would be pertinent? Why would the absence of the month(s) be cause for alarm, or suspicion? I ask because frequently I communicate with hiring managers and I ask them questions about certain methods I employ in my work, or about methods I'm entertaining. 9/10 are concerned not about the absence of the month(s). Further, 8/10 are concerned not about the absence of an employer's location (city and state) advising me that, "It's not pertinent", continuing that an applicant knows where is the location of the new opportunity (the job for which they're applying) and the cities, states, or countries in which the employers operated didn't mater. What's your thought, opinion, or position on that? Thank you for your consideration of my inquiries.

I agree. Putting together a narrative makes sense and is believable. Being broad raises questions like " what did you do between x date and x date" rather than how you could benefit the company. Major thing about giving interviews is spotting lies. giving Incompleteness on info leaves gaps. Gaps = gray areas on resumes and may arise questions.

You agree? With what are you agreeing? A savvy recruiter, hiring manager, or associated personality isn't concerned with the absence of impertinent, trivial, or pedestrian information. It doesn't serve to qualify the applicant... the candidate. They, instead, are consuming the resume identifying information that reveals a qualified candidate. Likewise the location of employers (city/state). Impertinent. Savvy recruiters and hiring managers aren't so much wasting time with those "broad questions" instead focusing on qualifying a candidate.

I kind of like having the months because it shows employment gaps or lack thereof. Four companies in eight years is one thing if you were employed the whole time; it looks a lot worse if none of the jobs lasted longer than a year.

The main things I'm looking for with tenure are:

1. Some people are never happy no matter what the job is. They will do crappy work for a year and then leave. That will usually come out in interviews.

2. Sometimes that you've had enough time to develop a particular skillset. For some roles I look for talent and train for the role, but for others the person needs to come in ready to run.

For OP, your resume is fine, it's fairly typical nowadays. Even better if there's a progression in your roles. Make sure that comes across.

Resume 1:
Analyst
Senior Analyst
Supervisor

Resume 2:
Analyst
Analyst
Analyst

Obviously this is a very simplified example, but I am going to be a lot more focused on "minor" details in the second resume than the first. Not every resume is great and not every great candidate has a great resume, but if a resume has relatively weak employment background AND is not specific, I'm probably going to file 13 it. Once it gets to the interview stage, I focus on content, and woe to the candidate who claims expertise he doesn't have. I don't always care what you did as long as you did it well.

expresswrittenconsent said:

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EcoZapp.BCS.Air.Roofing said:

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I agree. Putting together a narrative makes sense and is believable. Being broad raises questions like " what did you do between x date and x date" rather than how you could benefit the company. Major thing about giving interviews is spotting lies. giving Incompleteness on info leaves gaps. Gaps = gray areas on resumes and may arise questions

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Kind of funny that the scammer of the board feels like the "major thing about giving interviews is spotting lies".

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Scammer on texags ? Excuse me good sir .. ( please give some details and elaborate before slander directed towards alumni )



- Also, if you have actually given a lot of interviews, spotting lies is one of the most important aspects of an interview. Determine lies from exaggeratIons to someone trying to say whatever to get a job.

Resumes and interviews matter so very little after a month into the job. Some might say anything to get a job.


Lies or " slight lies" in interviews might occur every other response if one listens closely. Not always intentional, but ppl don't always interview well and interviewers don't always give great interviews. Reading a poker face or lack of a poker face is important when trying to place a person as being a good fit or not within a company

I find it odd that you talk to hiring managers who don't care about where previous positions for potential employees

OnlyForNow said:

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I find it odd that you talk to hiring managers who don't care about where previous positions for potential employees

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Why? Why do you find that odd? Please, tell me. Share.

Please tell me why the location at which a candidate was employed is pertinent. Maybe I've been talking to the wrong people.

I'm surprised 8/10 managers don't care about location of current employees because that's usually a huge hurdle in my experience.

'Oh another Texan applying for a job in Denver. Two years and they're gone-pass.', 'Why dole out a relocation package, just go with option B.'

These aren't things that have happened to me, but I've seen it happen to friends.

Denver is a really good example, Texans leaving after two years is a pervasive belief. Our office there tried not to hire from Texas for that reason. They figured internal transfers from Texas would be fine, but all three that I know about left the company within a few weeks of relocation running out.

there is some good advice here. there is also some "iffy" advice that probably won't hurt you. So, I'm not going to argue with anyone's advice. But, I recommend you think hard about what advice you take.

More importantly, I think you need to ask yourself why you are asking this question to begin with. The fact you are bringing this discussion to the wise board is likely because you feel guilty of job-hopping. I think that is the bigger concern here.

Let's be real, this wouldn't be your 5th job in less than 10 years...this would be your 5th job in less than 7 years. And your most recent job since just the prior calendar year (2019). I think you think you are job hopping and as a hiring manager, I would see that many jobs in that little time as a big risk.

I think you've shown good reasons to leave each one, but employers don't care about that. They just want you to stick around for more than 1-2 years. If you want to overcome your internal concern about job hopping, keep your job you have now and see it through to the next promotion....then the one after that and the one after that. Commit and it will come faster than you think.

Just my couple of pennies. Good luck.

Why are you changing Jobs... for better pay and better work OR
Because it leads to your career Goals. WHY do you want to work? Do you love it or live it ?
Obviously to meet family obligations and pay the bills, but WHY do you jump out of bed at 4 am to jump into that work??
We talk to a lot of people that are chasing their tails, because they haven't worked through their purpose...Why they are on this earth.

If you don't know, you should take time to work that out.
Based on what we have learned helping career changers is that you may not be called a jumper, but you will start hearing a lot of 'You are Overqualified' for many of the wrong reasons.
Consider sitting in on one of our Former Students Career webinars.. We have a youtube of a prior event if you need to see it on a different schedule. fscshelp@tamu.edu
Overview of our resources

I spent 7 years with my first company and 20 years with my second company.

I am now in a job search for the first time since 1992.

So far, loyalty doesn't seem to have helped. (but I am relatively early in my search)

Ulrich said:

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Denver is a really good example, Texans leaving after two years is a pervasive belief. Our office there tried not to hire from Texas for that reason. They figured internal transfers from Texas would be fine, but all three that I know about left the company within a few weeks of relocation running out.

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Lots of people in my neighborhood were from Texas and have stayed for quite awhile, probably to never return. Glad my new company took a chance on me, but it could be somewhat different as they knew of me from industry connections.