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up vote 9 down vote favorite

For various reasons, I only worked for a company for a few weeks. Is it OK if I just don't put that on my resume, and pretend this employment never existed?

There is really not much to talk about for such a short-term employment, and I also don't want to answer why I left that company in just a few weeks. (It's not my fault. I would have loved to stay. But it doesn't matter anymore, I simply don't want to bring it up)

I am not sure if the future employer will find out that I hide this experience. Our industry is quite small, and I stupidly put it on my LinkedIn profile (of course I shut down my LinkedIn now and the search engine cache is gone). Some headhunters also knew I was there.

If my future employer found out that I didn't put that experience on my resume, will they get pissed for hiding?

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6 Answers

up vote 13 down vote

You can choose to leave anything you like off of your resume.

Just be prepared in the event that this potential employer finds out about the missing job (we have our ways!). First, they could not hire you because they felt you were lying. Or they could challenge you on the missing position and ask for an explanation.

They might get pissed and you would be passed (over). That's your gamble to take.

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Hi Joe. Thanks for your reply. Certainly I understand it's my gamble to take, but I am just seeking a recommendation -- would you recommend leaving that off my resume? – ZCode Feb 27 at 22:29
Sure, go for it. Just be willing to accept any consequences, should you get "found out". – Joe Strazzere Feb 28 at 14:32
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You will have to account for something in either case, either the short employment period or the "gap" in your resume. Most employers will notice this as well. If you had a good reason for leaving, a good company will understand. I once quit a job because my boss was unethical, and it didn't hurt me at all in interviews - they asked and I explained. If you were fired for cause, you are not obligated to tell them, but avoid being dishonest! A resume is simply a sales tool you use to get an interview. – JAGAnalyst Feb 28 at 20:55
up vote 5 down vote

If somebody were interested enough in you to perform a background check and find out that you have work experience not listed on your resume, then they will also be interested enough to at least ask you about it (assuming they even care).

If you are asked about then just say that you were trying to remove clutter from your resume so that you can focus on all of your awesome experiences in the past. A resume doesn't have to list every detail of your employment history. I keep a number of minor contract jobs off of my resume just because I don't want it to grab attention from work experience that really matters.

Honesty is the best policy and if that isn't good enough for an employer then screw them, they are being overly picky anyway. Assuming you work in a burning hot field like IT like I am, I could secure 4 different interviews tomorrow if I was so inclined. It is a sellers market (if you are skilled) in the IT field now so there is no need to worry about a company that doesn't really want somebody that badly or is just looking for somebody fearful that they can closely control.

We interviewers are not plotting and scheming a master plan behind applicants backs. We all think differently and look for different things and personalities. We all have different prejudices too. Something like this would be completely inconsequential for myself personally.

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up vote 3 down vote

Disclaimer: My assumption is that this is not a high-level job where a background check will be conducted upon the submission of your resume. If that is the case, then please disregard the below suggestion as it will not apply to your case. My assumption is that there is a large pool of applicants and you want to maximize the chances to make it to the short list/interview stage.

If you leave it on...

Every single employer will ask you, "Why did you only work there for X weeks?"

Without fail.

Some employers may simply throw your resume in to the bin because of such a short term employment (especially if there is no explanation in the resume).

If you leave it off...

Some employers will ask you, "Why is there a gap of X weeks in your resume?"

They may know you were employed (due to LinkedIn or headhunters) or may not. Regardless, you have to give an answer to explain the gap.

Suggestion

If you had a job immediately following those X weeks, and a job immediately preceding them, then don't list dates on your resume (you can just list months, since you will have no gap that way):

  • August 2004-September 2005: Company X
  • September 2005-September 2005: Company Y
  • October 2005-Present: Company Z

Clearly you can leave out the "company Y" portion without raising any eyebrows.

If you didn't, and the gap will show up regardless, I would suggest to leave it off the resume. Prepare to have it asked in interviews. You can answer it many ways.

  • Truthful: "I left company X for reason Y"
  • Embellished: "I was at a point where I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with my career"
  • Untruthful: "I spent X weeks working on a side project/personal business/taking care of an ill family member, etc."

Which you pick is up to your sense of ethics, how bad the reason for leaving job X was, what you did before and afterwards, etc.

If you have a good reason (I joined company X immediately before they got sued by Google for patent infringement) then truthful is fine. No harm, no foul, what can you do if the company goes bankrupt or faces impending doom totally unrelated to your hiring? If the reason is not so good (you got fired, you quit in a huff, you got a better offer and immediately jumped ship), then your ethics will determine how dishonest of a response to give (just ambiguous, or downright untrue).

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2  
I am at a loss for words how much people discount themselves in the job search process. When has it been considered an egregious career wound to have a single job that just didn't work out? You don't become some ruined person, an Untouchable, that everybody avoids because you had one bad experience. And on that note I would walk out of an interview if anybody questioned a 2 week employment gap on my resume. That is offensive and belittling to accept being judged on something so inconsequential and ultimately pointless to the job at hand. – maple_shaft Feb 28 at 2:24
Yet you become an easy target for filters that are designed to reduce the applicant pool to a reasonable number. That is just the (sad) reality. If your job is to reduce the number of applicants from 100 to 30, and your job is to justify the remaining 30 to your boss, will you leave in the guy with a 2 week job on his resume? Sure, if he has 20 years of experience with company A, 2 weeks with B, and 10 years with C, is an expert in his field, and the best applicant by far it's no issue. For us mere mortals, getting to the interview is the important part. – jmac Feb 28 at 2:45
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I am not aware of any automatic filters that can do a background check necessary to identify employment missing from a resume. Certainly they can find an employment gap, but for two weeks??? That is probably just a between job vacation and isn't worthy of raised eyebrows. Employment gaps shouldn't be questioned until they are at least over a month. – maple_shaft Feb 28 at 12:50
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I am with you, @maple_shaft. You know why this quantitative evaluation of work history? Because recruiters are simply clueless, lazy and unimaginative to use instinct in determining quality. Quantitative heuristics in profiling skilled cadre is the most vulgar screening methodology. – amphibient Feb 28 at 18:19
Two weeks is probably too short to catch, but 'a few weeks' as ZCode said is a bit vague. Depending on length, timing, and resume formatting, it could be invisible or visible to employers, and while they can't 'automatically' filter for it, someone reading the resume may pick up on it. It also depends on the gap before and after that job as well. There are a lot of potential ways that this 'few weeks' could actually be more noticeable to recruiters who are 'clueless, lazy and unimaginative'. – jmac Feb 28 at 23:42
up vote 1 down vote

How relevant would that experience be for the jobs you are applying? If the experience isn't that relevant then it may well be better leaving it off altogether obviously. On the flip side though, you could have an awkward moment in an interview if you want to use that work as an example of a difficult work situation or conflict or other situations that may have happened there that didn't happen in other experiences you'd want to list. This is something else to consider here.

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up vote 0 down vote

I would rather hire someone that was at a company for only a few weeks than only a year.

Everyone can get into a situation where you realize very quickly that the current job is not for you, or you are not the one for the job. Get in, realize and take actions immediately - provided that you have a good reason. That is much better than sticking around for 1 year and then still quitting. You waste a lot of company resources that way through on-boarding, training etc.

I much less would hire you if I realized that you try to conceal things from me.

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Assumption: after joining the company he got a better offer from another job he applied to in the first 3 weeks, causing him to jump ship. Question: all other things being equal, would you pick the candidate that jumped ship, or a candidate with the same qualifications who didn't? The key word in your reply is "provided that you have a good reason". Reasons for leaving jobs are often not included in resumes. Most hiring folks do not assume the best ("I'm sure that typo is due to a rare computer virus, and not lack of attention to detail"). – jmac Feb 28 at 4:49
@jmac While of course, a candidate who did not have any rapid changes is the better one, a candidate who omits those and where I find it out later is the worst of all. If you think the quality of a resume is increased by obscurity, omissions or lies, you just have to take the risk that someone will regard you as a fraud when found out. Nothing else. – uncovery Feb 28 at 5:06
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I don't disagree. There are risks to both aspects. I believe that the risk of getting pre-filtered are greater than the risks that the employer will see what you are doing is dishonest and disqualify you. (A) Resumes are not stated as 100% complete, and aren't assumed to be (as a 30-something, I don't list internships/part time jobs on my resume). (B) Most companies would take issue with the gap during the interview when you can explain -- including the job in the resume raises more issues that may eliminate you from the chance to have an interview. – jmac Feb 28 at 5:49
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@jmac I guess it heavily depends what level of job we are talking about. The lower the level, the less I care about omissions. The higher the level the more I expect completeness. – uncovery Feb 28 at 6:33
That's an excellent point. I was assuming that a higher level applicant wouldn't even be asking this question (I'd hope!). My answer is contingent on the person being in a large pool of applicants and hoping to get to an interview. If it is a smaller pool with background checks from the start, you are absolutely right that the omission would be glaring (as it would be found out anyway). I'll edit my answer to be sure to be clear on that point. Thanks for the discussion! – jmac Feb 28 at 6:55
up vote 0 down vote

You have to cut what you put on your resume anyway, so you're not obligated to list everything.

Your resume is to show your achievements; you didn't achieve anything in those 2 weeks, so it's not deceptive to leave it off. If they find out and ask you about it, then you explain it. But most won't know or probably even care that you didn't list it.

Of course, if you have one of those every year or so, between the other shorter stints you do list, then you're being deceptive about being a job hopper. But if it's a one-time event, you're just focusing your resume on what awesome things you've done and can do.

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