It’s a commentary on the state of our economy that I have been getting a lot of letters asking questions relating to short-term jobs, both temporary assignments and what began as full-time jobs.
The general question is: “Is it ever OK to leave a job off a resume?”
The concern on the part of the job seeker is that if a short-term job was a mistake, or just a temporary source of income, and it does not complement long-range career goals, can it be eliminated?
Questions like this put me in a difficult position. You know that the truth is always best, but as I often say, “In an interview situation or on an application, always tell the truth, but only as much as you are asked for.”
It’s like the salesman who makes his closing pitch, then instead of patiently waiting for the customer’s reply, continues talking and either kills the sale altogether or considerably reduces the positive result. Don’t talk yourself out of a sale.
So, the moral question is, if you leave off a job that didn’t work out for you and lasted less than six months, are you being dishonest?
My take is, no, you are not telling a lie as long as you don’t change the dates of other jobs in order to fill that gap. You are simply not telling all of the truth.
Suppose that you worked one job for 10 years and left because of an economic restructuring or whatever the employer came up with to explain why he or she was downsizing. You were not fired, and you did nothing wrong.
Then, you took a job in haste that turned out to be a mistake for whatever reasons, and you left after four or five months. It might be better for your job search to eliminate this unfortunate experience and fill that time with continuing job/career searching.
On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with including a short-term job that was nothing more than a stopgap for income, or a possible networking opportunity even though it did not complement your career goals.
You have to make the judgment call, but I suggest that sometimes a job that lasts six months or less might be better treated as if it never happened.
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