Employment history on application form question

first78

I would like to ask for some advice about listing my job history on application forms.

In the past 12 months I have had 6 different employer's...purely because these have all been employment agencies who have given me work for a few weeks and then said that they have no work. I've jumped from one agency to the next in order to try and keep a steady income coming in.

Whilst I believe this shows how willing I am to work, it does not look good when it comes to writing my employment history on an application form

I have seen a job I really want. It asks for a 10 yr work history...from 2001-2010 I have only had 3 different jobs, but I worry that all these jobs in the last year will put employers off.

Is it worth writing a letter to accompany the application form explaining why I've worked for so many different agencies, or would a letter just be disregarded?

Please can anyone offer me some advice as this is really playing on my mind. All I want is to get a good full time permanent job.

Thanks.

cr1mson

Could you not just put temping for that period and put details on separate sheet?

C

DVardysShadow

cr1mson wrote: »

Could you not just put temping for that period and put details on separate sheet?

C

More or less, I agree. I would fill in the period with overall dates as though it were 1 job, 'temping' and summarise the employers and roles under that heading, without being specific about the dates of each

scheming_gypsy

I contract for a living so my CV is full of short term roles, at the end of each job title i put (contract) or (permanent)

It's not uncommon for people to do temporary work through agencies so as long as you highlight that you were temping on your cv / application you won't have any issues. If you don't highlight it, you'll give the impression that you've been job hopping.

sarahfitz

I agree with scheming....I too have some temporary assignments on my CV, and on application I put Temporary before the job title to show why it was a short term position, I.e Temporary Bookeeper.

It shouldn't go against you as everyone knows how tough the employment market is....good luck

sarahfitz

I agree with scheming....I too have some temporary assignments on my CV, and on application forms I put Temporary before the job title to show why it was a short term position, I.e Temporary Bookeeper.

It shouldn't go against you as everyone knows how tough the employment market is....good luck

bevanuk

I would write something along the lines of:
2010 - Present
Temporary contracts via various agencies
Including: DVLA - Admin Assistant, Tesco - Payroll, Boots - Cleaner

Keep it simple.

saintjammyswine

Plus you could highlight that by doing these different assignments, you have used & developed different skill sets & have experience in different industries & types of company (size, structure etc) and so are a more rounded & skilled potential employee.

Linda32

Hi, Yes I'd just put that it was temporary work, no problem there at all. Shows you wanted work IMO

first78

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice, it's very much appreciated. I don't think it's too hard to cover the time period as one period on a CV but am unsure how to do this on an application form that has: Employer address, from-to, responsibilities, etc. Can anyone shed any light??

LadyMissA

bevanuk wrote: »

I would write something along the lines of:
2010 - Present
Temporary contracts via various agencies
Including: DVLA - Admin Assistant, Tesco - Payroll, Boots - Cleaner

Keep it simple.

I have something similar on my CV where I did 3 temp jobs from the one agency for a year so I have the dates and a heading 3 Temporary Jobs and underneath who they were with