Job history gaps ? Is there still hope ?
I've been unemployed for about 8 months now and my previous position was a temp role in operations at a top 3 credit rating agency for 6 months and before that I had a 2 year unemployment gap ( traded stocks and options) after graduating from a non target school with no internship experience. So far I've been able to land about 5 interviews in the 8 month span. I have been using temp agencies and also applying for full time positions mainly in operations/admin, middle office/back office. I fear that this job history gap is a major flaw in my search to enter the corporate financial services industry. Is there any advice anyone can give me on improving my chances of landing a role ?
Sounds like you have had a job for about 6 months out of the last 3+ years. Is that right?
Have you been without a job since you graduated from undergrad?
Just the 6 month temp role at a top 3 credit rating agency
You just have to keep grinding man!
Thanks, I found a temp role within compliance, and I moved to a permanent Ops position within Asset Management at a BB.
Congratulations!!! So glad it worked out for you!!
Resume Gap for Hiring Manager (Originally Posted: 06/01/2016)
I just did a quick Linkedin search on the hiring manager for a job I have a second round interview for next week. I noticed he had a 4-5 month gap in his recent employment history and he's also been floating around the same level for the last 5-6 years at a number of different firms.
Is it appropriate to ask why he left his last firm and then probe more if he says he thought he had a good opportunity to come to the current firm given the gap? I work with some fairly incompetent manager currently and it's not something I'd ever like to deal with again.
You can certainly ask about the interviewer's background and most of the time they will mention some previous jobs. After that, you can follow up by asking why he decided the join the current firm. Would refrain from asking why he left other jobs, as he could have been fired or some other reason he's wouldn't want to share.
3.5 month gap on CV...Help! (Originally Posted: 08/19/2016)
Hi all,
I won't go into the details too much here but will provide enough to hopefully give sufficient background. Any helpful responses are really appreciated here!
I have a gap in my CV since the beginning of June this year, before which I was studying/working/doing explainable things; I'll be starting a 1 year master's towards the end of September this year.
My initial plan for this time period (jun-sep) was to cold-call & network my way into a (very) small buy-side shop of some kind (research, investment management, HF) working for free for a while just to get some much needed decent experience on my CV/resume. (I'm London based btw)
Then some very difficult family issues surfaced and, long story short, I had no choice but to move back home to take care of the family for a few months.
With recruiting season around the corner, I'm increasingly certain that this gap will be unforgivable by the recruiters given short supply in hiring and a competitive supply of candidates. I should mention, I did use the time to read in advance for my master's, begin studying for the CFA level 3 (June 2017) and self study some financial modelling courses.
Thanks in advance!
No one will care. It's not a gap in which you were unemployable... you just took some time before stating a masters. You are worrying about nothing. People quit jobs early all the time before starting MBAs or whatever; had several friends in banking / consulting leave and go travel for a few months before heading back to school
Gap is short and justifiable. I wouldn't worry about it if I were interviewing you - story seems consistent.
Thanks for the quick responses; much appreciated.
How much does a "break" hurt recruiting? (Originally Posted: 05/25/2017)
All,
I am a 1st year analyst at a BB firm in a coverage group in NYC. This is my second year in IB (lateraled from another firm). I have been fortunate to close a decent amount of deals and have gotten some great experience over the last 2 years.
I will need to take an extended break for the summer for personal reasons, and my time here will come to an end at the end of June. My question is, how will a 3-4 month gap look to buyside recruiters (and firms) if I were to start recruiting in the fall, even with a BB name and deal experience?
Do an online internship.
If they notice a long gap in job history just say for 22 years you went Kerouac on everyone's ass, I heard it worked out well for a couple guys.
Quit my job 2 months ago and didn't get an offer (Originally Posted: 09/05/2016)
Hello everyone, I am in a bit of a situation now: I had an interview a few months ago and everything went well and was contacted by the HR that they will put together an offer. For some reason, I had some comfort and just quit my job before signing the contract (yes, it was a stupid mistake). It was taking a bit longer than I had been expecting and was told very recently that the offer couldn't be made because of the overall tight situation in the department.
It's been 2 months since I quit my job and I have started to apply to new jobs recently, but realistically, it will take at least 2-3 months to get a new one from now, and that's only when I get lucky.
I wonder how I can spin (?) the story in a positive light during any interviews in the future of why I quit my job and how I should explain my unemployment period.
Thanks.
Just say that you received a job offer but it fell through.
Thanks for your answer.
But I think a follow-up question they're going to ask if I just say the offer fell through is that whether I've actually signed the contract before quitting, which I haven't.
At this moment, it really doesn't matter if I had or not from a personal perspective because it fell through anyhow, but I just don't want to come across as sloppy or stupid for the decision I've made. Also, if I had actually signed the contract and the offer fell through, then I at least have some legal rights to raise serious complaints to the company, which in this case I have none.
If asked, should I just explain this situation as the way it really happened, or say that the offer was not extended after I signed the contract?
You could say that you told your last company that before quitting so that they could hire and train a new employee for your place and make a smooth transition between the two companies with no hard feelings.
Edited: horrible misspeling
Employment is at-will. An employment contract is utterly irrelevant--at best, a contract would have guaranteed you some compensation. But you are never, ever guaranteed the right to be employed. Not even professional athletes with ridiculous contracts receive the right to play.
No one is going to ask you whether or not you had a signed offer. Say that you got an offer and quit your job. The new company basically screwed you. You can say they pulled the offer due to budget or department restructuring, etc. and left you in the lurch because you'd already quit.
Quit my job 2 months ago and didn't get an offer - after a month from the disaster (Originally Posted: 10/11/2016)
Hey guys,
I am launching a second thread after my first one (see below). http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/quit-my-job-2-months-ago-and-didn…
So just to recap my situation, I quit my previous job several months ago and had been traveling around before I got a notification from my expected future employer recently that the offer cannot be made because of the tough situation in the department. However, after several weeks, they kindly came back to me and offered me a temporary position for several months for the same role. The purpose of this is to help me with the job search activity because it's better to be with them instead of being unemployed and was told that they can push for a permanent position if the situation gets better next year.
While I am really ticked off with this whole situation, the people who were trying to hire me were very supportive and nice, and if possible I would like to work with the company.
However, there is no guarantee if this would happen, so I still need to search for positions as a hedge.
The practical question here is, how do I write my resume in this situation? Do I have to explain this in the cover letter or make a bullet point in my resume and explain this? Or would it be better to just not mention this at all and just explain it during an interview? The reason I am thinking about writing this down in the first place is that it would look very weird from a recruiter perspective that I am applying to new positions right after I started a new job.
Thank you, and I would really appreciate any inputs.
I'd make a regular resume and mention the situation to your headhunter. They normally include a short note in candidate profiles where they can present this information.
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