Dear J.T. & Dale: Next month, I will have been unemployed for a year. Since moving cross-country in 2003, I have held three different jobs - a year and a half at the first, a year at the second and nine months at the third. I’m worried that my instability of job tenure is working against me. I’ve had five interviews, but they hired someone with more experience or from within the company. Are my relatively short stays at three companies working against me? If so, how do I overcome it? - Harvey

J.T.: It’s definitely possible that your short job tenures are working against you. The nationwide employment average is a little over two years, so yes, hiring managers may be wondering why you don’t have more sticking power.

Dale: Yes, it’s true, if hiring managers draw a trend line through your employment history - 18, 12, then 9 months - they might be concerned. Still, you’re getting interviews, so they weren’t frightened off by your resume. So the first thing I’d suggest is working on your interviewing skills. Get a book on the subject - there is a good one by Kate Wendleton called “Interviewing and Salary Negotiation” - and either hire a career coach or seek out colleagues for mock interviews.

J.T.: It’s always good to get better at interviews, but I’d also work at getting more of them. Try meeting employers face to face by hitting job fairs, attending business networking events, trade shows, etc. That way, a prospective employer’s first impression is not your resume, but you in person. After all, we don’t know how many interviews you did NOT get because of your work history. Also, I would try to reconnect with the firms you interviewed with. One, you can explain that you are looking for a good company like theirs, and explain that you are less concerned about titles/levels than you are about being part of a solid organization. Second, the person they hired might not work out, and, if so, there you are, a solid contender who is ready to go and who showed the initiative to stay in touch.

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Jeanine “J.T.” Tanner O’Donnell is a career strategist, author and founder of Careerealism.com. Dale Dauten’s latest book is “(Great) Employees Only: How Gifted Bosses Hire and De-Hire Their Way to Success” (John Wiley & Sons). Please visit them at jtanddale.com, where you can send questions via e-mail, or write to them in care of King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10019.

© 2008 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.