"months of experience"

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"months of experience"

by coholio » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:11 pm
Hi there,

I am on the lower end of the average work experience range for bschool and so the question of "how many months of experience" I have is important, but I am not sure how to answer it... Should I "count" any of the following:

1. I worked for 2 years before starting for my Bachelors in a customer service type job (shift based)

2. Worked part time though school (4 years) at two jobs, one of which as a teaching assistant at the uni.

3. Graduated 2 years ago, started working as a contractor (but 40 hour weeks) for a company. After 6 months was hired full time .

4. Through the last 2 years, I have also been running my own business. Do I count those years twice?

I apologize for the long questions and hope that others will be able to learn from this as well. Thank you in advance for your help!

C
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by Lisa Anderson » Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:49 am
Dear C,

Your work experience is defined as professional, full-time work experience after graduating with a bachelor's degree. So any work before or during college would not be counted in this number. You cannot "double count" time, so the number of months you have worked full-time since graduating from college is the number of months, regardless of how many hours or jobs you work in that time. Based on your post, it appears you have been out about 2 years and working full-time since for either a company or your own business. Thus you have at least 24 months of experience. Most schools want you to count up until you enter business school though, so don't forget to add any months in 2011 that you plan to work full-time in a professional capacity.

Good luck,
Lisa
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by coholio » Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:57 pm
Hi Lisa,

Thanks so much for your help. I found it very strange that I couldn't find an "official" answer to this question anywhere...

By the way I mentioned I worked as a contractor right after graduation (from law school) having just moved to the US, and was later hired by the same company for a junior level position, and recently promoted. Would you show all these steps in the resume / application or just talk about the latest position? My dilemma is showing professional progress vs. possibly raising the question of why I took a step backwards after law school and did contract work / junior level position. Hope this makes sense... and thanks again for your help!

Regards,

C

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by Lisa Anderson » Sat Dec 04, 2010 1:44 pm
I always think it is best to show the full story on your resume, and you must absolutely disclose all of the titles on your application. First, career progression is an advantage in your evaluation. Second, if a background check is done, you don't want to look like you are hiding something. You can disclose your progress with a simple bullet on the resume noting the progression and different titles, or by indicating each title with an actual line on the resume including dates in the position. If you go with the latter, you might also want to list the accomplishments you had in each role under the title.

Regards,
Lisa
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