Job application question - if anyone is still up...

[AahRee]

I'm working on a job application tonight, and if anyone is still up, I could use some advice on it.

I'm applying for a paralegal position, which is the field I'm trained for and was working in when I had Katie (and stopped working to be a SAHM). Since I quit my last paralegal job, I have been an at-home transcriptionist (for a few months) and sold scrapbooking stuff as an independent consultant (self-employed). I wasn't planning to include either of these jobs in my application or on my resume.

Since I just started at Restoration Hardware (about a month ago now), I'm not sure if I should put it down on my application or just leave it off as well? I feel like it doesn't exactly show a stellar work history, especially since I was only at my last job for 10 months, and at the one before that for 11 months, and the one before that for 6 months... :mope: I don't want to seem as flighty as I feel this makes me seem. I had good reasons for leaving all of those jobs (having Katie, them ending my position and me taking a new position closer to my home, respectively), and I have a good reason for wanting to leave RH and take this job (working in my field, getting paid a reasonable salary and moving back to full-time employment). But I feel like this all makes me look really flighty. :( So, I was thinking I'd leave RH off - is that even legal?

Also, since my work history is so spotty, should I try doing a functional resume instead of a chronological one? Or would that be an automatic strike against me? I'm applying for a position with the law clinic at the campus of a Catholic law school. I'm guessing, and this is totally just a guess, that they might prefer a more traditional resume. Lawyers can be like that. :lol:

[Alyssa]

Hmm...I haven't completely thought this through but I'm going to answer as best I can. I've done a lot of resume screening in the past few months, and have had a number where there were big time gaps when I assumed it was because the woman (always a woman in these cases) took time off to raise her family...but I was never quite sure.

As such, I think I'd go one of two directions in this order:

Functional resume (because if they like your experience, they'll look past the fact there are no dates and then you can explain in person about the past few years)
Chronological resume for the legal-related jobs and then if you can put something something like 2002-2005 Misc. and then list some of the PT roles you've had - without exact dates - and that you took some family time to have a child. I had a couple resumes that came across like that and they didn't bother me...in fact, I felt better about seeing that they took family time instead of just a huge time hole that was not explained and could be because you were not able to find a job. If they turn their nose at that...well, that might mean they're not a family friendly place and I'm sure you don't want that.
Anyway, that's my sleep-deprived thought. :)

[AahRee]

Thanks Alyssa! One other question - since I have to do an application as well as the resume, and the application asks for a *complete work history including self-employment and part-time work*, do I have to include everything there? I'd like to wriggle out of that somehow, if possible, but I don't want anything to come back to bite me later!

[Alyssa]

Hmm...that is a tough one Anne. I guess, unfortunately, I think you have to be completely open on the application because omitting information might make you look less than honest if they figure that out/do some sort of employment history search?

[AahRee]

That's what I was thinking, Alyssa. :( What I ended up doing was including the transcriptionist thing, since I considered that a real job, but omitting the scrapbooking thing, because I didn't actually make any money with it (I just spent quite a bit :lol: ), and I only sold a few things to a few friends, so it was really more of a hobby. A lot of people join IRW just for the discount, and might sell a couple of things to a friend here or there, but don't really consider it a business, so it's a common thing to do, I think. And if I included IRW on the application, I would have had to leave off my most relevant paralegal job, so I think (hope) this was a good way to do it. :dunno:

[Brooke]

That's what I was thinking, Alyssa. :( What I ended up doing was including the transcriptionist thing, since I considered that a real job, but omitting the scrapbooking thing, because I didn't actually make any money with it (I just spent quite a bit :lol: ), and I only sold a few things to a few friends, so it was really more of a hobby. A lot of people join IRW just for the discount, and might sell a couple of things to a friend here or there, but don't really consider it a business, so it's a common thing to do, I think. And if I included IRW on the application, I would have had to leave off my most relevant paralegal job, so I think (hope) this was a good way to do it. :dunno:

I think that sounds fine. I bought into Mary Kay awhile ago for the discount and never sold anything. I wouldn't consider it a job at all.