Developing a solid picture of your work history

Dear Sam: I am curious what employers consider a solid work history. Is it the number of years on the job, number of jobs or a combination of both? In the last 7 years I have had 3 jobs with a 2-month and a 7-month gap in employment. I have been in my current position for nearly 4 years. Prior to the last 7 years, I was employed for the same company for 8 years, but I don’t include that information on my résumé because it was so long ago, and for the most part, irrelevant. Additionally, one of the gaps in employment was due to a layoff. I usually put "downsized" on an application when asked for the reason for leaving. Is this okay? Is there something more appropriate? How are layoffs viewed in the employer’s eyes? Thanks. — Diana in Columbus

Dear Diana: There is not a precise formula to determine a solid work history; rather the screener is looking for a consistent record of staying with a company and adding value, versus "hopping" from job to job every year. I don’t think you have anything to worry about based on the chronology you listed, but be sure you are not presenting months of employment so you can eliminate the appearance of those two short-term gaps. Also, presenting 15 years of experience is not unheard of, so you may want to byline your previous experience in order to show longer tenure with an employer. By bylining the experience you simply place a brief note at the end of your Professional Experience section stating, "Additional experience with ABC Company between 1991 and 1998." If you are worried about the chronology of the past 7 years, try to camouflage the years of employment by not presenting them right aligned surrounded by white space, think about pulling achievements before the Professional Experience section so dates become secondary focus, and be sure your qualifications summary is selling your most transferable and related skills all of these efforts will help minimize the appearance of any potentially dis qualifying factors. To answer your question of how layoffs are viewed the employer’s eye, I’d have to say that being downsized is something that happened to most of us, employers understand that it usually has nothing to do with performance, and I think you’ll find that hiring managers are immune from this unfortunate event Unfortunately, layoffs have become somewhat routine, and should not dis qualify you from an opportunity. When you have been laid off, as in any other situation when you have left a position you should try to showcase all of your achievements to overcome any assumption of lackluster performance All the best!