Uh oh, I took the wrong job
By Joan Lloyd
Q: I recently made a job change. After the
first month, I have realized that making this change was a mistake
and I am ready to begin a job search again. My employment history
is six years in my last job, and ten in the previous job. All have
been in the same field.
This job is in the IT industry. This company is 20 years behind
current technology, the people are not friendly and I don't see
this job turning into what my expectations were. How do I address
this situation on my resumé and during the interview? I
haven't been there long enough to even have roles and
responsibilities to put on my resumé. Please advise.
A: Don't sweat this one. With your past longevity in jobs and your consistent history in the same field, you can explain this fairly easily. Don't belabor it. On your resumé, you can skip it altogether (since you've been there such a short period of time). Where you list dates of employment for each company, use years instead of specific months/ years. The few months you've been away from your old job won't show up and you may not even want to discuss this job at all.
On the other hand, you may feel more comfortable listing exact
dates and jobs. You will surely be asked why you want to leave
after such a short time. In response, say something such as, "The
job was not what I expected it would be. The technology is 20 years
old and I was under the impression that this would be a career move
that would allow me to grow on my job." Enough said. You don't need
to go into detail about the climate or people.
Let your cover letter sell your strengths and don't go into detail
about why you are leaving. That is better left for the
interview.
