Leave Job Off Resume from Which He Was Terminated?

Today’s posting is a guest entry from the “Career Doctor,” Randall S. Hansen, PhD

Jeff writes:

Recently I was terminated from a sales position after two months. I am considering whether or not to include the employment on my resume. My employment gap will only be two months if I exclude the position.

Would it be better to list the position and use the term downsized? Or should I use terminated?

Any advice or tips will be greatly appreciated.

The Career Doctor responds:

Let me reiterate a critical point about resumes that all job-seekers should tuck into the back of your heads: A resume is not an all-inclusive job history. Your resume is a marketing document. You tailor the facts in your resume to fit each job with each employer. Notice I did say facts. I am not advocating lying on a resume; I am advocating making your resume a unique document for each opportunity you seek.

And here is a second point about resumes. Never provide unnecessary information. You do not need to make any mention on your resume why you left a particular job — simply put the start and end dates. You should also NOT put your supervisor’s name, your salary information, or phone numbers. For each job you have held that you wish to include, you should list your job title, the organization’s name and location (city, state), dates of employment, and your key accomplishments.

You don’t say why you were terminated so quickly, but two months is such a short stint that I would never recommend including it on your resume. And you’re right, two months is not much of a gap, especially in the current job market.

Regardless of how you handle this job on your resume, however, you will need to have some sort of story to tell in the job interview — either about why you only lasted two months on the job or why you have a two-month gap on your resume. In terms of lingo, downsized usually results from budget cuts and does not reflect on the quality of your work while terminated says your work was no longer needed (or was bad, ineffective, etc.).

If you are working on your resume, visit this section of Quintessential Careers for much more resume advice, tips, and samples: Resume and CV Resources for Job-Seekers.