Finding employment can be hard for even those with no job experience. For recent college graduates, finding work can feel almost impossible. Companies are not only requiring more education, but they want professionals who have professional experiences as well!
Companies look at years of experience very seriously. Therefore, it is important to determine how many jobs you need to put on your resume.
Experience and education
Most professional employers look for at least a bachelor’s degree, if not a master’s or higher. Some even require a professional certification like those from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) or other organizations as proof of competency in their field.
With all this education needed, most employers have a hard time finding people with just the right amount of experience. That’s why it is so important to make sure your resume includes the appropriate number of job experiences.
These can be things such as working as an assistant manager, shipping supervisor, warehouse worker, etc. Or they could be more advanced positions like that of project leader, trainer, or executive officer.
How many jobs
Even though there is always competition for jobs, having too many job titles can actually hurt your employment chances instead of helping them. This is because when employers scan a resume, they want to see if you are applying for positions that match what their company requires.
If you have several different job titles on your resume, it may make you look like you don’t know which ones are best suited to you and your career goals. It also could make you appear to be someone who changes careers frequently or lacks stability.
Neither of these things will help you in finding employment anywhere. If anything, such behaviors could scare away potential employers who do not need this kind of uncertainty in their enterprises.
Depends on the nature of each position
Even if you’re just starting out, it is not necessary to have more than two or three positions on your resume at one time. If you are looking for employment after a break, you can probably leave some off of your resume until you find employment.
If you feel that your skills are limited due to lack of work, see what you can do to improve them. Re-tooling yourself is always a good idea!
And don’t worry about losing points by omitting past experiences.
Depends on the company
A growing business will often need additional help, so they’ll recruit someone new to do the work or advance their own career. As such, there may be an increase in job opportunities for people with these skills or positions that can be transitioned into.
This is especially true if the current employee is moving up or away from the organization. More experienced staff usually take advantage of this by leaving a position and creating a successful career for themselves.
By having more jobs under your belt, you’re demonstrating that you know what works and how to achieve results. This is an impressive skill that many employers look for when hiring.
However, make sure that none of the positions on your resume are too casual. Also, don’t list volunteer positions as employment unless it was your full-time job.
It's not all about experience
Having enough skills is one of the biggest reasons employers make contact with you. They want to verify that you can do what you say you can do!
By showing an ability to do so, you’ve put yourself ahead of the game. A recent study found that 70 percent of workers have no formal training in using computer software programs such as Photoshop, MS Office, and other similar applications.
That’s why it’s important to at least look like you're familiar with these tools. Better yet, go all out and learn everything there is to know about them, but only if you really want this job and plan on putting in the effort needed to keep up-to-date.
In certain instances, these skills might trump number of jobs you've had in the past.
Bottom line is...
Like most professionals, hiring managers spend their day looking at job postings, talking to current employees, reading company reports, and doing research about potential employers.
They mix all this information together to determine who they should hire next. What most people don’t realize is that most of the time, there's no direct correlation between what someone looks like in a resume and if they will be successful working for the company.
It's impossible to know that unless you work at the company, have researched them, and talked to their past employees. Same goes for experience. It might tell a better story, but there's no knowing how you'll behave, so employers won't be judging you based on only the number of jobs you've had in the past.
