By Gerrit Hall
In the perfect world, we’d all love our jobs. All the time. Forever.
Unfortunately, reality is far from that perfect world. Everyday, there are plenty of folks getting hired to, enduring, or finally quitting terrible, miserable, and horrible jobs.
Whether it was a personality conflict, unreasonable clients, or a horrible boss, we’ve all been there. However, once you’ve escaped that bad job experience, what’s the next step? How can you translate that crummy job into substantial experience that will get you hired?
Check out these three ways a job seeker can handle a bad job on their resume:
Keep it cool
Maybe that nasty boss or impossible client makes you want to scream. Go ahead and scream, just not in front of your new potential boss. Unless your interviewer is sworn enemies with your former boss, do not let emotions get the best of you on your resume, in your interview, or online.
Instead of writing something snarky, or your side of the feud on your resume, stick to the bare bones approach. List your responsibilities, accomplishments, and overall, focus on what you learned from the experience.
Be honest
You might have left at a bad time or maybe you were fired – whatever the case may be, honesty is the best policy. There are things that your potential employer should know and it’s in your best interest to tell the truth about them.
Nix it entirely
Keep in mind that this tip is not permission to lie. Your resume is a marketing document that should put you in the best light possible. If there is something that you think might be better received if discussed in person, or the experience is a tiny smudge on an overall good career, keep it off your resume.
If you did a good job, met goals, and learned from a job, your potential employer doesn’t need to know that you hated your supervisor’s guts.
What do you think? Have you ever had a bad experience in your career? How did you handle it during your job search? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Gerrit Hall is the CEO and co-founder of RezScore, a free web application that reads, analyzes, and grades resumes – instantly. Gerrit has successfully combined his passion for computer science and the careers space by helping job seekers write the best resume possible. You can connect with Gerrit and RezScore on Facebook and Twitter.
