What is the best way to address getting laid off twice on your resume?

Question

Many companies have questioned my loyalty to a firm, becuase they see that I have changed jobs, but it was not by choice, I was downsized twice in a row. Should I address that in my resume, if so, will that bring unwanted attention to that aspect or my career?

Answer 1

When an individual has been laid off but still records the job on a resume, he/she will often have difficulty explaining the reason for leaving that job. Even though lay offs are commonplace today, it is a blow to your ego and those emotions are still right on the surface. If asked why you left that job, you stutter or your face gets red and that employer knows something happened.

So, your goal after being the victim of a layoff is to come up with a plausible and true reason why the company laid you off. The key word in the sentence above is ‘true.’ The next goal is to put that event in its place and realize that while hurtful, it was not personal.

Economic conditions

In most cases, when you are laid off from a company it’s related to poor financial condition. Most times, companies have lost revenues over a period of time and find that they must cut back on their workforce to prevent more damage being done. No matter what the reason, the company is no longer able to support their employees and they will start laying people off.

So, the first part of your reasoning could be that the company you were working for was having financial difficulty. Hopefully you were not the only person laid off and you can say, “ABC Company ran into financial difficulties and laid off 8 employees (or however many it was).”

If that is not the case and you were the only person laid off at the time then try to be more generic and say something like, “I got caught in the layoffs of 2003.” This way, you are still telling the truth but letting the employer draw his or her own conclusions from your statement.

Why You?

Sometimes an employer might ask why you were the one laid off, so you will need to be prepared to answer. Look at your situation before you were laid off and decide what might have caused that employer to pick you. Were you at the highest end of the pay scale for the position? Had you gone as far as you could in the position and started looking for a promotion.

If you answered yes to any of these questions then you have additional details you can add to the reason why you were laid off. Now you can start building a statement like, “ABC Company ran into financial difficulties and laid off 8 employees. I was chosen from my department because I had reached the top of my salary grade.”

Be Careful what you say

No matter what you decide to say, always be careful and be sure that you are not slandering a person or company or implying that they broke the law. This falls back to the rule that you should never bad mouth previous employers. Instead, stay detached and explain your reason matter-of-factly and move on to the next subject.

Once you decide on your reason, practice it over and over until your response comes naturally no matter who is asking the question. No matter what, be honest and open and the prospective employer will respect you for it.



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Answer 2

Years ago, being laid off twice was a red flag on a resume. For the last 10 years or so, there have been so many layoffs and downsizings that nobody thinks anything negative of you if you got caught up in it twice. Put it on your resume, mention on your resume that you left due to downsizing so it doesn't look like you're a job-hopper which is something hiring managers do worry about.

Answer 3

the corporate time period is RIF (help in stress). that is no longer a detrimental it merely shows your employer fell on confusing situations and had to in straightforward words artwork force. With 4 months on the job you've been the junior guy contained in the gang so certain you'd be RIFed. do not concentration on the outline of responsibilities a lot. use the resume actual belongings to reveal the way you more advantageous the employer, kept money, made existence more effective acceptable; something like that. Summarize the responsibilities right into some lines above accomplishments. large INC precis of responsibilities - 4 lines at maximum keep it short and easy. Bullet accomplishments a minimum of two, 4 is reliable. " " " " once you've been out of work for a at the same time as do something effective, volunteer or take coaching. This shows you're nonetheless influenced and do not merely take a seat round playing international of warfare-craft.

Answer 4

These days employers want you to account for every bit of your time as they want to know if you've been hospitalized (for good or strange reason) or been jailed, as that may lower your chances if they had to decide between two candidates.

I would say mark (company downsized, laid off) after the employer notation..., and if that still bothers employers, and if those downsized jobs were for less than 3 months I'd delete them totally and just say you were looking for work during those months and were looking for a job commensurate with your education.

Sometimes employers use comments to see if you would squirm or if you are being honest with them. Others try to spot a pattern.

If you've worked for several years with one company you can point that out by saying, "I worked for this company for a long time" (meaning, "that's loyal")...but hey, loyalty isn't in the workplace anymore so I think maybe you were talking with recruiter who was new at their job.

Answer 5

There is an old saying that if you can't hide it, you flaunt it.

Instead of trying to hide the lay offs, bring them out front and center. EXPLAIN in the space for it "reason you left" that the companies downsized, or laid off others or went out of business or whatever... be specific and read your answer several times to make CERTAIN you said what you wanted to say.

At one time a person who changed jobs a lot was a red flag to the Human Services person. In this day and age, however, when companies have absolutely NO loyalty to their employees, it's no longer the bad thing it once was.

JUST BE HONEST... if you try to lie or to hide the truth, you WILL be found out and you could be fired if you already have the job.

Answer 6

If you are up front with answers to any question an employer might have, you're way ahead of the game. Nobody questions a layoff due to downsizing but if you don't explain, then the layoff c/b for misconduct. Being a former business owner, get it out in the open at the start.

Answer 7

Keep all of the information on your resume. Right underneath the line with the company name and your job title put in small letters:
Company Downsized my Department. Enough said.

Answer 8

That's not included on a resume. That's asked durning the interview. Work History section of the Resume ask for the dates, the Job title, The company name, city and state, and job duties only

Answer 9

I would just address it directly. Let the interviewer know that it was due to company downsizing, and had nothing to do with job performance. If you can, try to get a letter of recommendation from the previous employers.

Answer 10

I would not put that information on your resume itself as you should keep that as concise as possible. It would be appropriate to include that information in your cover letter in a matter of fact sort of way. I've been laid off twice too and am about to have a contract end in the next year. Good luck with your future job search!