This story about Ken (Part III of IV ) is continued from the previous section who is preparing for a job interview. To start reading Ken’s question from the beginning visit Job Interview Preparation.
Question summary: Ken, is having a difficult time getting hired for a management position because he has not worked in management for the past nine years and he wants to know how to prepare for interview questions that will certainly come up.
Don’s Continued Answer to Ken – Part 3 of 4
Recruiters who say it’s a bad idea to list your business ventures on your resume have never been entrepreneurial business owners, so what do they know? They’re just quoting someone else who does not know what they are talking about.
I hate to contradict the advice from the recruiter, but from everything you have told me, and if I were you, I would proudly disclose my business ownership as a huge asset.
To get to your interview questions, I don’t see a problem with masking your businesses to hide Skaters Edge, but I also don’t see any problems with disclosing it either. But by masking it, it leaves room for errors, contradictions in our story and slip ups on your part. I only masked past employment to hide the fact that I was job hopping where I only worked certain jobs for 3-6 month periods.
Now for the big one, how do you overcome the 9 year hurdle of going from Service tech to Manager?
Companies are usually only concerned with what you have been doing for the past 3-5 years, and if you have not been working in management, then what do you feel qualifies you to be a manager now? If you don’t use and practice your skills, you lose them.
The key here is to convince them that you are still on top of your game and that you have not lost your skills. If you have not been using and practicing your management skills over the past nine years, then you may have to stretch the truth a bit to close the gap.
Telling them you were a manager at Verizon would be outright lying and I would not go down that path, but showing them you have been an active manager in some sort of capacity, even if not at Verizon, say for a small business you have on the side would be the way to go.
Or even if you were a volunteer manager at a local church, school, youth group, etc. If you in any way managed people at Verizon or Pitney Bowes, but as a service tech, than play up that end of it to demonstrate your management experience.
If it were me and I was preparing for a job interview like this, I would probably hide the fact that I was a service tech at all and never put Verizon or Pitney Bowes on my resume, mainly because it’s not consistent with your background nor career choice.
I once worked as an insurance agent, but I never put it on my resume because I was always looking for IT jobs. Remember, a resume is not a confession of everything you ever did. You can put down as much or as little about your work history as you like, as long as it’s factual.
I would probably extend my length of service on my resume for Advanced Pay Phone to the present day, after all, you do consult with them, so you’re sort of still working there, and you’re not lying about what you did.
To read the conclusion rest of Don’s answer comments to Ken, visit Interview for Success.
You have just read a transcript of real problem posed by Ken who needs help with how to prepare for interview questions about his past jobs. He is having a difficult time getting hired for a management position because he has not worked in management for the past nine years.
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