tchzarmok wrote:
Thanks, I appreciate the replies. Now I need practice applying the positive spin during an interview. I can't say this was anything profound or unexpected, but the reinforcement has helped beyond anything I could have imagined.
Honestly, the issue with reasons for leaving past jobs isn't as huge as most might make it out to be. I've conducted dozens of interviews, and barely even notice if there's a gap in employment. If someone does notice and asks, don't make a huge deal out of it. Something like "I took some time off for X" works fine. Saying you were working on a home business works fine as well. Heck. Anything works, as long as it comes off as sincere and *you* aren't stressed about it. If there's one thing that really comes through in an interview it's the degree of nervousness of the interviewee. If you're nervous it implies to the interviewer that you don't think you're qualified for the job and are hoping that he wont figure it out. This impells interviewers to look harder and ask more questions.
The most important thing is to actually know the area of expertise you've got written down on your resume. I've seen a lot of different structures of resumes. I can honestly say that the *best* format is to list your job skills *first*. Compile a list of everything you know how to do that is relevant to the position you are applying for (yes. that means you modify your resume based on where you're applying). Follow that with work experience from most recent to least recent. Then finish up with education (degrees and certificates. Don't be afraid to include training courses you've completed if you don't have strong degree credentials).
What this does is give the interviewer a nice list of things right up top that he can ask you about. You've listed what you can do. Therefore, he'll focus on that since it's right there. Just make damn sure you are comfortable talking about anything you wrote in your skills area. And don't BS or pad. The people interviewing you are likely to be experts in their fields (that's why they're interviewing you). If you say you know something and don't, they'll know it and you wont get hired. Following this with work experience is good because in that area you can (and should) list any major tasks/projects you personally did while employed there. This gives the interviewer a second line of questions to ask you. Again. Don't BS. And don't imply you ran a project that you just took part in. You would not believe the number of people I've interviewed who'll claim that they implemented a rollout of "X", but when questioned can't seem to explain what they did other then in very vague terms. If you worked on a project, say so. If you ran a project. Say so. But don't say you ran it if you only worked on it. We can tell.
In your case, it sounds like you aren't even getting that far. That implies to me that there's something about your resume that's not grabbing people's attention. It's a bit hard to describe the process, but I can tell you that when I whittle down a stack of 20 resumes down to 4 interview candidates, it's based on just a couple primary things:
1. Proximity. People who live nearby tend to get looked at first. This may not be an issue where you're applying and in your field, but I can say that a guy from India had better have an incredible resume to get an interview where I live. That's not to say he *wont*, but he has to be very clearly a top candidate to get an interview. This is a simple money thing.
2. Skills match. This is why the skills list is so critical. First off, the HR folks sort based on those. If they can't figure out that you'd fit into a particular job opening, they wont hand you to the guys like me who look through the stacks of resumes. You won't even get looked at by someone who knows what to look for. Additionally, if you clearly list your skills, you'll get more accurately put into the right stacks of resumes that get sent to the people who might actually hire you. If your skills match what I'm looking for, and your work experience indicates a degree of capability that fits the job title, you'll likely get at least a phone interview.
I really can't stress enough how important it is that you list those skills. It could very well be that's the major reason you aren't getting any bites. One of the things you have to remember about corporations is that they are large. They have departments that do nothing but sort incoming resumes based on skill set. These people don't know *anything* about the jobs themselves. They're going off some basic keyword matches. Make damn sure you write the correct words that match what their sort criteria is looking for.
Dunno. It's just that I don't think it's gaps in employment that are your problem. It really sounds like you aren't even getting to that point in the selection process. I suspect you just have a poorly formated resume.