Had many varied jobs in the past? Worried about how it will affect your employability in the future?
Short answer is: a varied career history, speckled with lots of jobs, doesn’t have to be a bad thing!
While potential employers do look at your employment history, what they value most will depend on what they want from you as a potential employee.
It may be of concern to some employers if you appear to have a history of job hopping where for example: you have been in multiple jobs for only three months at a time, you may need to be able to provide valid explanations for why that’s happened.
Explaining what you’ve done, why you’ve done it and what you’ve learned from the experience will satisfy most good employers.
When hiring staff, potential employers want to know not only what you have done in the past but more importantly, they want to know about the wealth of work experience and positive attitude you can currently offer them.
They also want to know what you are looking to achieve in the future and what you’re going to do going forward.
For a potential employer seeking to fill a short-term employment contract for example your varied career history of have lots of jobs in the past may be your greatest asset and your competitive advantage over other people applying for the same job.
So, what happens if another short-term job is not what your looking for? What if you want to make a change in your career and are searching for a job where you can stay for a long time with the same employer?
You can spend time focused on what you’ve done in the past and feel good or bad about it.
But the real question is:
Do you know what it is you want to do going forward?
Because if you don’t, you may feel like you are stuck in a loop of repeating the same jobs and behaviour over and over again.
If you can take time to look at where you’re at right now in your career, what job you really want to do going forward, whether you want to spend time in one job for one employer for a long period of time, what does that look like, what kind of job would you be doing? What kind of team would you be working with? What kind of company values and culture would they have? Where is your ideal working location?
Working with a Career Coach can help you explore answers to these questions.
Maybe being stuck on one place doing the same job every day is something that really puts you off and makes you cringe, maybe it is something that couldn’t possibly be satisfying for you.
Maybe what you want is to keep jumping from job to job and do short term contracts.
If that is the case, then why is it of benefit to you and the potential employer? Why do you want this job, what makes you thrive in a particular environment and what appeals to you about it?
Because if you can present those positive aspects about yourself to a potential employer, explaining what you want to do and why you enjoy it, a potential employer looking for someone with your specific experience and attitude will really see value in what you offer and will likely consider you as a suitable person for the job.
Need help with moving your career forward?
Call Angela Couch (NZ Career Coach) on 0226467818 or email angela@careerinspiration.nz to discuss your next career move.