Context engineer in manufacturing. I’ve been at my current job for 5 months. It’s not great and I’m looking to move on. However, I want to stay long enough that I can have it on my resume without awkward questions. How long do you think that should be?
I would feel weird listing anything less than a year. I feel like it takes a year to really get up to speed on a job, in engineering anyway, before you’re out of training and really say if it’s for you. (I’m not talking about actually miserable conditions like bad team, bad safety, etc.)
Somewhere between 2 and 3 months
If it’s FTE then maybe 6mos.
If it’s contract, no minimum. If it’s a super short contract I just bundle it with some other entry or a self-employed entry.
For overlapping FTE I just list one or the other.
For overlapping contract it doesn’t matter so I lost them all.
A resume is a list of skills. If an experience taught you something useful for the purpose then it should be added regardless how much it lasted
Keep it positive and about your goals, and explain why the company you’re applying to can fulfill your goals. Focus on the future while sprinkling in something positive about what you did at the past job.
"While there I accomplished X, however the position did not meet my career goal of Y. I’m looking to join your team as an Z here continue developing my skills in Y.
Here’s an example; you’re goal is to be park ranger. Last park only had you doing trash pick up. The park your applying for does all kinds of community engagement/event type stuff.
“While there I had a fulfilling job keeping the parks clean, however the position was not leading me towards my goal to become a park ranger. I’m looking to join your team as a junior ranger to continue developing my skills for community events and continuing my work of preserving the environment.”
Fluff it up a bit to not sound scripted and you’ll be fine.
3 to 6 months but in my work I look to do something in the first week and something of significance in the first month. The reason I give a range is because I want to be able to list a major accomplishment, initiative, etc that I helped make happen and that usually should come about by 6 months. So like my last job was 4 years but it had three major arcs that have a fair amount of initiatives and accomplishments in them (especially the middle arc which was a big project)
It depends. I agree with your take about engineering jobs taking time to get up to speed on, but you also need to balance it with not having a gap.
Personally, for it being a current job I would list it. Five months may not be enough to get up to speed, but it’s definitely long enough to identify a bad fit, and I wouldn’t want hiring managers to go “So what were you doing for the last half a year?”.
I’d also stay in the job while job hunting. Most job markets are absolutely fucked right now. Thousands of applicants for every posting.
Once it drops down in-between longer jobs, I would drop it down to maybe a single line of title, employer, start and end date. Eventually it’s more about the skills demonstrated in relation with the jobs than the jobs themselves, so a single line note to indicate you weren’t unemployed is fine.
Companies can get weird when they get the idea you can survive for months with no income. They don’t like the idea that you could easily walk off.
Just list the years in your resume and not the months. Then you can skip over a short term job.
I have a 6 month stint on my resume. I also have others with multiple years and up-levels in titles. I know it’s not “great looking” but I keep it on because I wouldn’t expect everyone’s career path to be perfect. If it comes up in a hiring conversation I can use it to highlight what I valued and was looking for at that time in my career.
The problem I would see most with a 5-month entry is, why is this person leaving so soon? Are they going to leave us just as quickly?
Different industries and managers are going to interpret things differently. If you can justify the short stint and especially if you are job hunting while keeping the current job, then I wouldn’t worry much about it, just be prepared for it if it comes up as a question. And of course keep in mind, trash talking past employers never looks good.
A couple weeks. Best case scenario: I stay at the company for a couple/few/more years and eventually update the resume again to keep it current-ish. Middle/worst-case scenario: I soon leave after and either have a short period with an employer which will raise an eyebrow or two, or I just simply delete that short period with the employer and claim some personal time, volunteer time, etc.
In sum: I see no harm updating your resume frequently.
As long as it isn’t a pattern it’s alright. Sometimes things don’t work out.
This. I’d be more hesitant if someone has a lot of 1,5 - 2 year stints, than something like 3 years - 5 years - 5 months. As long as it’s recent, I wouldn’t list a 5 month job I had 10 years ago unless it was really relevant for the job I’m applying for.
Anything you didn’t get fired from, is fair game.
6months+ rounds up to a year, and my CV only states years not months. If it’s valuable to keep on my CV, I include everything that I can reasonably attach to a start and end year.
Having said that, I haven’t needed to send my CV anywhere in over 10 years. And some point the people potentially interested in hiring you don’t give a shit about the paper route you had as a kid. And a couple of points beyond that you’re embedded deep in the industry network that a CV isn’t really needed anymore.
