Should I put my bad job on my resume?

Yes, and during interviews, you can actually make your past "bad job" as a topic for discussion. You can turn this previous bad experience in a positive one by discussing to the interviewee how do you really fell about a job that doesn't fit for you. Its called learning by observation. No matter it wouldn't fit for the next job your aiming at, it is still adds as a job related experience.

Yes, the gap in the work history will hurt you worse, than no work experience at all, they always question that !

I worked in a personnel office for many years, and I would advise you to put the information on your resume. Experienced human relations workers will spot your omission and start questioning just what it is you're trying to hide. Be up front about the problems you had at your last job before the new business has a chance to call your old boss. You can deliver a much softer version of the story that that ex-boss will do.

If its the only job you have had, you are almost obliged to mention it in your resume. You may not need to be very specific about it, in fact you shouldn't need to actually mention the name of the company. All that should be necessary, really, is a job title and a few words (a couple of sentences, maybe) describing the nature of the job. You certainly don't need to go into detail about your reason for leaving. That is something that would be more appropriate to expand on (carefully) at interview. It might, for example, have been 'pressure of college work'. If you have not put contact details of the previous employer in your resume (and even if you have), it's rather unlikely that any prospective employers would take the time to check on your employment record at that stage in the vetting procedure. It is said that, when writing your resume, you must bear in mind that you have, effectively, 10 or 15 seconds to catch someone's attention before the resume goes on the 'No' pile. When I worked with people from the Job Centre (usually 6 months unemployed at least), we used to start resumes with three to five sentences of 'Personal Statement'. This generally seemed to work very well, especially when there was a short or non-existent work history.

You could put that job on your resume if you don't have any other's but get a fake reference, like as a friend to act like a manager that worked with you there and give them his #. Also use your college experience as job experience material. People are probablly going to hate on me because I told you to fake references but I am telling you that it has worked for me and my friends. Employers are only supposed to call the #'s you give them. And even though managers of previous employers are supposed to be proffesional in how they review you often they talk sh23t. So use what tools you can to win, as the job market is not fair, be shady if you have to to get what you deserve.

First of all i would like to say that there is is'nt anything such as a bad job unless offcourse if it is illegal.Everybody goes through ups and downs in life.Even bill gates dropped out of college and went on to be one of the biggest entrepreneurs.Steve jobs even admitted publicly that if he had'nt been fired at apple he wouldn't have come back stronger.So i guess you definately must have learnt something out of that experience and there is no reason why shouldn't put it on your resume.I know you are concerned it will have a bad impression on the interviewer but if you can convince him that you actually took something meaningful from that experience then you should put it on your resume.

i'd dump it. some places no job experience is better than saying you only lasted 4 months,they'll consider you a quitter.at 19,it's easier to just say you have none. technically employers aren't supposed to bad mouth former employees,but they always find a way around it.if you want to find out if they are dogging you,you could have a friend call them posing as a potential employer and see what they do say.

hmmm.. well it might not be the sole reason why employers does not call you back. is it the only job you have listed in your resume? based on my experience, i do put all the jobs i had before but employers do not call those companies to do background check, instead i put a character reference section where i knew they called one of the reference i put and he was able to put a good word for me. But if you do not have any choice. maybe you could not include it since it is just a volunteer work and not really a full time work. and during interviews you could further explain it but then i also do not opt for further explaining it since you sound so nonchalant as well...just do not include it and hopefully your future employers would not notice it, it sounds cheating but its your resume you have every choice to whatever you want to put there :) goodluck and hope you would be lucky soon to have and find the right job for you.

Well, it is better to tell them the truth. Many companies really appreciate honesty. So lets say you are hired by a company by hiding your past job, and in advance the company know about your past job then it will cause some trouble for you in the future also. I agree with some comments above that this bad past job even can be used as a topic upon interview, so they can know how will you react on some tricky situation, etc. So that's it for me, put every little detail of your work experience on your resume. Oh, and please don't take a negative thinking about you are not even called for interview. There are a lot of people who send their resume (maybe they are more qualified) also not called for interview. It's just not your position yet to work in that company maybe. Keep trying. Good luck!

I am sorry that has happened to you. Maybe you shouldn't put it on your application it sounds like they are giving everyone a bad reference! It is so sad that people act that way over employment. I am 45 and since they shut down my job in September I have had nothing but bad luck with finding employment it is so hard at this time for me. My old boss won't even answer any calls. And the number to the office where I worked at is disconnected. So there went my references. And those temp places forget them! They are liars! They say o.k. they say fill out the application, take the tests, do a background check after they already told you they have jobs available than to call them the next day your'e ready to go to work and all they can say is we will put you on the list. I can't stand those places or the people that work there it is like they are getting paid for doing nothing! I have never had this much trouble as well and I wish you luck!

If it only brings you bad luck to get another job and it will not help you to get another job then if I were you, take it off. Only have information you can use to get the job you want. I have to admit, I did not include the last company I worked for because it does not add any positivity to my resume.

Personally, I do not think that you need to declare any past job experience that is not good. It will reflect badly on your record if you were applying for a job. Right now, all you have to do is to be patient and your time will come and someone will contact and hire you.

it is better no need to put your previous job that lasted only 4 mos... if you think that;s the reason why nobody hire you to all the jobs you apply... dont lose hope in looking for a job, just think positive...

i never put bad jobs on mine

A Human resource personnel friend of mine advice me to do not put the job I have been for 5 months and below. She said it is not counted as a work experience. Since you are a student now, it is okay to do not put that job you are talking about on your resume, but rather put the organization in school you joined in and some seminars you attended to. It will show your wide knowledge about your course.

olisaur on my opinion, the reason why you left your job seems to be disturbing everytime you tell it to the interviewer. try to think of this, what if the company that you are applying into has the same kind of employees? the same thing with the unorganized atmosphere? will you resign as well should you encounter the same problem or will you be more professional this time by setting example on being good employee and teach them to be organized? sometimes no matter how bad your experience was with the previous company, you need some white lies in answering interviews for them to somehow understand and accept the situation coz if not, it might end the same results to your next, next, next application.

Hi, Olisaur! The 'bad' job you mentioned was not the job itself, but the people you were working with, right?! So, I think what's more important how you found the working experience yourself. Did you learn something from your job? Any new skills or knowledge that you should share? When you put this job in your resume, at least when the interviewer ask you about it, you will be able to stress more on the working experience you have gained. Never bad mouth about your previous employer as it is not appropriate. Good luck in your job hunting.

I think you'd better not to put this short job experience in the resume. It is really a short time. Many companies don't hope to hire a person who is likely to change his job frequently. If you really have some qualifications, I think you will find a job finally, because some company care about your real capability, not experience.

Most of companies don't call your previous job. I would list my previous bad jobs too just to add experience, as usually they don't research further. With the actual economic situation is hard to find a job, no matter what you write in your curriculum, so don't give up.

Personally I wouldn't if I were you. I have done this before and not gotten jobs because the previous employer bad mouthed me just because I quit because I didn't like the work setting. It seems all employers you desert are bitter, unless it's for a good reason.