How many times have you finished an interview and all day sat around thinking about the mistakes you made or what you could have said better?

The most common mistake interviewers run across is not being prepared to walk through their job history in an organized fashion. Here are five key tips on walking an interviewer through your job history:

1: Practice the walkthrough. This will help minimize your rambling. Making it a point to know what you want to say for each transition helps you remember the key points you would like to hit, ensuring you don’t have to rush and end up missing those points. Practice and watch your time management of how to answer the question, and only spend so much time on each job.

2: Be clear and decisive about why you left. Don’t beat around the bush; don’t try to make something up. Just tell them why you left. Whether the business closed, they ran out of cash, there was a layoff, you got fired, your spouse had to move — whatever it was, just be clear and concise about it.

3: Clarify if it was a temp assignment or a contract assignment in any way. — anything that might make it look like you were a job hopper, be sure you clarify.

4: Never speak negatively about the employer. There’s so much advice on this topic you’ve probably heard this before, just remember that it’s never a good idea to talk negatively about a previous employer, ever.

5: Talk about your job history that is relevant to the position you are applying for, no matter how far back it was. If there is a job from 10 years ago and it applies to the role you’re trying to get, bring it up!

For more helpful advice and tips from the number one headhunting firm in Colorado, check out our blog today!