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I was fired from my previous full-time job six months ago (have been freelancing since then), for reasons unrelated to my ability to perform the work. I was only at the company for a week, but I did gain valuable hands-on time with Java, Python, Ruby, plus Selenium and related QA skills.

I have experience in these very valuable skills, and don't want to keep them a secret. My concern is that discussion of these skills in an interview could raise issues about how and where I learned them.

What are some ways I can communicate my experience in the skills to potential employers?

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    Why cant you list your skills that you know? Skills dont have to be learned on the job to be relavent. Also how much experiene could you have gotten in a week?
    – RubberChickenLeader
    Oct 21, 2015 at 18:49
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    @mcknz re the edit; I feel the "after only a week" is an important part of this question. Why did you take it out?
    – Richard Tingle
    Oct 21, 2015 at 19:46
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    How much valuable hands on time can you gain with Java, Python, Ruby, and Selenium in 1 week?
    – paparazzo
    Oct 21, 2015 at 20:20
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    That was quite a weeks work, in between doing whatever got you fired
    – Kilisi ♦
    Oct 21, 2015 at 21:02
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    Having not seen the original question, losing the fact OP only worked that job for one week changes the definition of "skills" from something that has practiced and is a competency, into something that he or she saw someone do and think I can do it too.
    – Dopeybob435
    Oct 21, 2015 at 21:10

3 Answers 3

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I was only at the company for a week, but I did gain valuable hands-on time with Java, Python, Ruby, plus Selenium and related QA skills.

I have experience in these very valuable skills, and don't want to keep them a secret. My concern is that discussion of these skills in an interview could raise issues about how and where I learned them.

If you have real skill in these technologies, you should list them in the skills section of your resume. Be ready to discuss how much you know, how you can apply them, and in particular, how these skills are particularly useful in the job for which you are applying.

But if you only have 1 week of experience learned on the job at a 1-week job, then there is little value. In that case, you cannot have learned enough to be meaningful. Leave these skills off of your resume.

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I would suggest leaving these off without further study. It's great that you got some hands-on time with Java, Python, Ruby, and Selenium, but if I were interviewing you and you said you gained valuable in-depth experience with all of these technologies in only a week (you mentioned you were fired from the last position after only a week), I'd be very VERY skeptical, to the point that it would almost hurt your chances.

Honestly, I feel like you should leave the position off your resume, and only post it in your work history. If the interviewer asks about it say something like "I was let go due to XYZ, but XYZ has been fixed". Assuming XYZ is innocuous, something like say, lack of reliable transportation, then it shouldn't hurt you too much.

It might help get more quality answers about how to approach the situation if you were to post why you were let go as well.

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  • Thanks, Sidney! Yes, I absolutely did not list the job on my resume / work history (dumb question: is there a difference?). Nothing can be done about the work gap stuff (a recruiter demanded I leave driving Uber off, which is another issue) I have bullet points on top of my resume listing languages and frameworks I know reasonably well, and the QA stuff is one line item. I do have other small scale, maker group experience with Java (Android development) and from school, so I list that as such.
    – Mario Caiti
    Oct 21, 2015 at 22:28
  • @mariocaiti Yes, there is a difference, at least in the US. Your resume is your way to advertise the best of who you are in a limited amount of space; it's expected to leave less impressive things off. Many companies will require you to fill out a full and complete work history as part of the application process. High profile companies will then do a background check, and if the work history you supply is incorrect it may throw a red flag at the hiring managers office.
    – Sidney
    Oct 22, 2015 at 1:30
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Even if you include that one week stint where you apparently learned a lot, it may be difficult to convince a prospective employer or customer that one week of work would have improved your skills in several areas by so much. It will be much easier for them to accept your skills if you had gained these skills as part of a longer project and perhaps if you try to recall your work experience more clearly you may realize that you had actually gained those skills as part of a longer project and not in that one week stint. Also, there is no legal obligation to list every project you worked on in your resume just as a prospective employer or customer has no legal obligation to list every detail of their company's history to you.

Employers generally prefer that the resumes they get not have short emploument stints in them just as they prefer that the candidates they interview not show up with ketchup stains on their suits.

I think this gives you enough guidance on how to present your skills.

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  • Thanks, Real. I stated when I wrote the question that I understand it's only a week, and that it's just frustrating that I did get time to practice and I have to keep it a secret. The moderator of my question saw fit to remove this statement for reasons I may not question, I guess. I did not write it to state that I'm a genius at these skills, and the edit changed this.
    – Mario Caiti
    Oct 24, 2015 at 1:11

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