Addressing "job hopping"

Question

I want to know how to best address the perception of "job hopping" during a ~2.5 year period.

After working in investment banking at a bulge bracket for 3 years, I quit to start my own company. During this time, I took on a handful of part-time jobs to supplement my income. I also completed a 3-month software engineering program to gain more technical skills. I eventually ran out of money and took on a full-time job as a software engineer. I got laid off from my first job after 3 months, but have since found myself at a new company that I love and plan to stay at until I go back to school.

I appreciate any advice!

Admissionado · Answer

Hey there,
Good question!
The first answer is: don't address it. What I mean is that if you start "apologizing" for job hopping, you will be qualified as a job hopper. And you don't want that. Instead, take your case as a unique thing and build a quality story, deciding what to tell them and not. For example, quitting to do a startup is fine (even if it fails), especially that now you have a good job. So the question is: Do you even need to write about the part time stuff? Honestly, if it's not helping you, I'd suggest skipping it (And the course), because it's not that important. Your narrative could work fine as follows - quit job to do startup, it didn't work out, found a better job. And you're done!

I hope this helps,
Best,

VeritasPrepEdison · Answer

Thanks for sharing your story.

Should you decide to mention the part-time jobs you took on, be sure to emphasize the company you were starting up and establish this in the story first, before mentioning the part-time jobs, which you took as part of your drive and efforts to keep your company going. You would want to show your entrepreneurial spirit and tenacity, apart from the learnings as part of the experience, and resilience to end up in your current job. So don't label yourself as a "job-hopper", instead focus on the your personal qualities that would help the readers understand your personal motivations.

Wish you all the best!

MBAPrepCoach · Answer

When I taught Strategic Management at the local university, I was known as a tough professor, having business seniors do thorough case analysis and present it in front of the class. Some students had coasted through classes up to this point and didn't like the rigor of my class, so I would defend why these critical reasoning & communication skills were essential for them. Privately, one of my students said to me, "you are the leader of this class, so when you respond to a student complaint, you are saying that it is important." It really landed with me. I feel that has some applicability here.

My suggestion would be to keep it simple. Don't draw attention to something that you already feel you will have to defend, or you feel will diminish the perceived value of you as an applicant. A resume isn't an autobiography or a confession; it's a marketing document and you have the right to leave things off. You're not being dishonest, you're focusing the adcom's attention on what will put you in the best light.

My recommendation would be to just stick with the name of the company and the value you delivered there. I see no reason to get into the whole part-time job situation *unless* there is a job in there that 1) demonstrates leadership, collaboration, and/or problem solving in a unique way, that you could discuss in your essays or 2). relates to your career goal or helps connect the dots to your post-MBA career goal. Otherwise, I really see no reason why you should include waitressing at Denny's or whatever on your resume.

As for the 3-month job where you were laid off, same principle. Unless the gap is more than a year, or this job is something you want to do in the future, same deal. You may need to explain the situation in the additional info section, but on the resume, there's no need IMO.

Hope this is helpful and good luck!
Farrell

PersonalMBACoach · Answer

While you need to report all official employment in the application (I don't recommend skipping over something where you received a paycheck), everything does not have to go on the resume. As you know, plenty of people create a startup and fail, and many of those are applying to business school. In terms of explaining the hopping, it is more important to come up with a cohesive story throughout your application. As part of that story, you will naturally explain the steps you took along the way, why you took them and what you learned. This doesn't mean you write anything in an optional essay explaining this (as mentioned above, that would just be calling it out and would not help you), but you should have the narrative for use in some essays and of course interviews. The part-time gigs can just be left out of this narrative and the programming class is extra and doesn't have anything to do with your professional career since it wasn't a job.

Good luck!

Best,
Scott

Good luck!

Best,
Scott

dollface · Answer

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses! I greatly appreciate it.

AugustAcademy · Answer

Consolidate all of your experiences under a single entry in your resume to highlight the fact that this was a particularly turbulent period in your professional life. Also address this in the optional essay, perhaps in a little more detail that what you provided here.

Your first 3 years at the investment bank, and your startup venture should shadow that weak portion of your resume - so cheer up!

Regards,
Karthik

Addressing "job hopping"

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