Searching for Jobs in Her State

[Shadowman]

I have been in a LDR with an old high school friend for about a year and a half now and we actually got engaged 6 months ago. We are planning the wedding for next summer. My fiancée really hates her current job because of issues with her management. She has been putting in for jobs in her local area, but has been getting rejected a lot because has a lot of temp jobs on her resume and it looks like she is a job hopper when really she has been getting laid off.

 

A couple of days ago, one of her old companies offered her an interview for a permanent job and she will likely get it. I'm apprehensive about her accepting jobs because we are less than a year away from the wedding and she is going to move to my state. I worry that adding another job to her resume for less than a year will make her look like even more of a job hopper and make it difficult for her to find employment here. About a month ago, she asked me what I thought about her job hunting and I told her I thought getting a new job was a bad idea because of her appearing like a job hopper. I want her to be happy, but at the same time, she has a definite time table for when she can get out of her current job. It seems to me like the potential benefit (a few months of being at a job she enjoys) are dwarfed by the risks (adding another job to her resume for a short period of time). Am I asking too much by suggesting that she suck it up and stick it out with her job until she leaves so that she will have a better shot when she moves here?

[justwhoiam]

Some details are missing in your post.

 

1. How long has she been working for her current employer?

2. How many jobs are in her resume?

3. How long was a typical employement experience in her resume?

4. What kind of advancement would she get with the new employer? I guess no new tasks/experience (as she already worked there). Maybe a much better pay? Any losing/gaining benefits?

5. Does her current employer offer any severance pay? If so, how does it work?

 

Without the above information, I would give just random advice, and it's not worth it.

 

But, I suspect that there might be more than just lots of small jobs in her resume that are preventing her from getting hired anywhere.

It could be her attitude, the way she introduces herself, the way she manages an interview, and the resume layout and content. Maybe it needs rewriting, highlighting a few things, taking off others...

[Shadowman]

Some details are missing in your post.

 

1. How long has she been working for her current employer?

2. How many jobs are in her resume?

3. How long was a typical employement experience in her resume?

4. What kind of advancement would she get with the new employer? I guess no new tasks/experience (as she already worked there). Maybe a much better pay? Any losing/gaining benefits?

5. Does her current employer offer any severance pay? If so, how does it work?

 

Without the above information, I would give just random advice, and it's not worth it.

 

But, I suspect that there might be more than just lots of small jobs in her resume that are preventing her from getting hired anywhere.

It could be her attitude, the way she introduces herself, the way she manages an interview, and the resume layout and content. Maybe it needs rewriting, highlighting a few things, taking off others...

 

Thanks for the reply. I actually reviewed her resume after the last time she got rejected (they told her that the job hopping scared them off). This is what I saw:

 

Her current job is a position she's held for just short of two years. There are six jobs on her resume total. The company she is interviewing for and possibly going back to is a place she worked before. When she worked there the first time she was there for two years. It was a government contractor she was working for though so she was laid off. She used a temp agency for one job that lasted three months. She did another government contacting job that lasted a year. She also had another contracting job that was six months long.

The only other job she listed was a retail job she worked for two years.

 

Since she got rejected last time she has added some things to her resume that list each of those as contracting/temp jobs.

 

The job she is interviewing for now definitely pays more. I'm not sure how much, but I know it is a significant jump because she was taking international trips annually with her friends and now she doesn't because she is pretty much paycheck to paycheck.

 

I don't know about the severance pay part. My guess would be no. The only benefit she would take with her is the 401k she paid into.

[cerridwen]

No, I don't think you're asking too much at all.

I understand your concern as you contemplate the future; while she may be more focused on her immediate dissatisfaction.

 

A job for less than a year, in addition to the six others she's had?

Unless she's a consultant that doesnt look too good on a resume.

[d0nnivain]

With a wedding coming up the extra money will help. Also if her job makes her stressed she needs a job without stress.

 

How will changing jobs effect her ability to get time off for the wedding / HM?

 

If she reorganizes her next resume by skills rather than chronology it will make the job hopping less obvious.

[Shadowman]

With a wedding coming up the extra money will help. Also if her job makes her stressed she needs a job without stress.

 

How will changing jobs effect her ability to get time off for the wedding / HM?

 

If she reorganizes her next resume by skills rather than chronology it will make the job hopping less obvious.

 

It's not so much about her getting time off. I am concerned because she has already experienced troubles finding work because she appears to be a job hopper (even though she really isn't) and she wants to take a job in her state 9 months before she moves to my state. By the time she takes this job and gets trained, she will work a few months and be ready to move.

 

In any event, she was in town this week and we talked. She actually will be learning a new skill so hopefully taking the job is more beneficial than harmful.