4 Tips to Downplay the Appearance of Job Hopping on Your Resume

While it is increasingly normal for people to have many jobs over the course of their careers, there is still a stigma attached to “job hopping.” Prospective employers may infer that you are not a loyal employee, or that you are difficult to work with. But that is not always the truth. Bryan Keppler, a passionate conservationist, had the bad luck of going from one habitat restoration company that collapsed a few months after he joined to another that failed to send his paycheck regularly. In spite of having done absolutely nothing wrong, Bryan was having a very difficult time finding a new job with these two experiences appearing front and center on his resume — and positioning him as a dreaded “job hopper.”

1.) Be Strategic With Your Dates

In Bryan’s case, one of the easiest and most basic strategies to downplay the appearance of job hopping was to remove the months from his experience dates. The original entry read:

Company 2, Toledo, OH …………………….July 2017 — Present

Company 1, Bowling Green, KY……………. November 2016 — March 2017

The updated entry:

Company 2, Toledo, OH, 2017- Present

Company 1, Bowling Green, KY, 2016–2017