Listing Previous Work History- 1 Month at Job

Question

I was recently fired from a position after the 30-day trial. I attempted to work out issues with my managers, but they offered no support, no training, and were never available or responsive to attempts to fix issues that would pop up. I'm afraid that listing the job on my resume would hurt me. Can I leave it off the resume, and job applications? I do work on the side with my own company, so I wouldn't have any holes.

Answer 1

I agree that it might hurt you to have that listed on your resume. However, if it shows up in your employment history a recruiter or HR department may well dig that information up in the future.

That being said, yes, I'd leave it off and only deal with it if it comes up. A few thigns to keep in mind:

• Some companies will consider this lying and black-list you without giving you the opportunity to defend your decision, or explain.
• Other companies may very well give you the chance to explain, but be very wary of why you left it out.

When it comes time to deal with that second scenario I would not explain it the way you did above. There's no way that the fault was entirely on management's side. Even if you feel you have good arguments against their training/treatment of you it will show you in a very poor light if you start criticizing that company.

Instead, remain neutral and accept part of the blame:

I was at Company X for a very short time. It became apparent after only a few short weeks that I was not a good fit for their team/company culture, and management and I both decided it would be better if I sought employment somewhere else.

If pressed to provide examples as to why you were not a good fit, remain passive:

I don't want to badmouth my former employer in any way. They have a company culture and team-dynamic which work well for them, and I respect that. It was just one of those rare situations where I didn't feel I really wanted to be a part of it.

If further pressed you may have to either make something up, or simply say that it's personal.

If asked why you didn't list your time with them say that it was too short to reflect on your otherwise busy/successful career.