Quitting a job may be unavoidable at times. After all, we all have to move up. But even when it’s a good career move, it can look bad on a resume.
Do you know how to explain quitting a job on a resume? Everyone understands the desire to move forward, strive for better and to take on new challenges. But truthfully, no employer wants to be the next in your line of people left behind. Learn a few resume writing tricks to make even quitting seem like an asset.
Resume Writing Tricks
A good resume is not necessarily the one featuring the most experience and accolades. You want your resume to highlight your successes, but also to downplay your failures so well that these, too, look like successes. At some point, you’re going to have to explain away a job you left behind. But how do you explain quitting?
It’s standard practice on every resume to show the duration of employment with every job you list. As most resumes show employment history from at least the last five years, this will inevitably mean listing a job you left at some point in the past. Whether you quit or were perhaps asked to leave, there’s always a way to spin this truth to make it more resume-friendly.
How to Explain Quitting
Never lie. You can tell the truth and still find the best way to tell that truth. For each job to which you are no longer currently employed, be sure to include a “Reason for leaving” under the job description. Here, list a reason that highlights the best part of the truth. Instead of saying you weren’t being paid enough money, say you “chose to leave in favor of work offering higher compensation.” Instead of saying you didn’t get along with coworkers, say you “left to pursue a more challenging environment.” Get the idea? Anything can sound like a positive - just find the right way to present it.
