How to list short-term jobs on your CV

List a short job like any other, with month and year, unless it adds nothing and leaves no gap. Group temp, agency and seasonal work under one heading, and save the reason for a short stay for the interview.1

Written 13 October 2026. CitedCV. How we write our guides

Check your CV for ATS problems, no account needed

Drop a PDF, DOCX or text file, or paste the text. You get a score, the problems a parser trips on, and your CV as a parser files it.

Runs in your browser. The file and its text never leave this device.

First, sort every short job into one of three piles

Short jobs cause trouble on a CV only when they are presented one by one, each with the same weight as a five-year role. Before you format anything, decide what each one is for.

Pile	Which jobs	What to do
Keep as its own entry	Relevant to the job you want, or removing it would leave a visible gap	Full entry: employer, title, month-and-year dates, two lines of what you did
Group	Agency assignments, seasonal work, fixed-term contracts, gig or casual work	One heading for the group with a date span; one line per assignment underneath
Leave off	Irrelevant, a few weeks long, and covered by the dates either side	Omit it from the CV, but answer truthfully if a form or an interviewer asks for every employer

Leaving a job off a CV is editing; denying it when asked is not. US background reports can include employment history, and in Türkiye the SGK service record lists every insured job, so a job you drop from the CV can still surface. The guide on lying on a CV covers where that line sits.

How short is short? The tenure figures

There is no official threshold for job hopping. No careers service source we read for this page names a number of months below which a job looks bad. What exists is data on how long people actually stay.

In the US, median tenure with the current employer was 4.1 years in January 2026, up from 3.9 years in January 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics release of 24 September 2026, read on 13 October 2026.
Tenure rises with age: the median was 9.6 years for workers aged 55 to 64, more than three times the 3.0 years for those aged 25 to 34.
So a two-year stay in your twenties is close to typical in the US data. A run of several jobs under a year each is what readers notice, and that is where grouping and reasons help.

Worked layouts for each kind of short job

Invented people, employers and agencies. The layouts are the point; the names are placeholders.

Agency temp assignments under one heading

Prospects notes that on temporary or contract work through an agency you may stay on the agency's payroll, with the agency handling timesheets, holiday and pay. That makes the agency a fair umbrella for the entry, with the client businesses underneath.

Temporary Administrator, Brightpath Recruitment (agency), Leeds, Jan 2024 to Dec 2025
Assignments: Northgate Energy, accounts payable cover (5 months); Leeds Teaching Trust, admissions season (3 months); Harlow Foods, order processing (6 months)
Processed supplier invoices in Sage 200 and cleared a two-week backlog in the first month at Northgate.

Seasonal work by season

The National Careers Service lists building work experience for your CV among the reasons for taking seasonal work. Put repeated seasons on one line so they read as a pattern, not as a series of departures.

Seasonal Retail Assistant, Fernhill Department Store, York, Nov to Jan, 2023/24 and 2024/25
Returned for a second season on invitation; trained four new seasonal staff on the tills.

A fixed-term contract that ended on schedule

Name the contract type in the title line. "12-month fixed-term contract" tells the reader the end was planned, which no amount of wording in the bullets can do as quickly.

A job you left during probation

List it if it would leave a gap or if you did something worth showing; the CV entry looks like any other. Keep the reason for the interview and give it in one neutral sentence, for example that the role turned out to be mostly cold calling rather than the account management advertised.

Several short permanent jobs in a row

Add a short reason to the title line where the reason was not yours: "Role ended when the company closed its Bristol office" or "Contract role, project delivered". For moves that were your choice, the CV needs no reason; a strong bullet on each entry does more than an explanation.

Reasons: which go on the CV and which wait

Why the job was short	On the CV	In the interview
Fixed-term or project contract ended	Yes: name the contract type	What you delivered before the end date
Company closed or role made redundant	Yes: a few words in the title line	The business decision; the layoff guide has more
Agency or seasonal work	Yes: implied by grouping	Which assignment taught you the most
You resigned in probation	No	One sentence on fit, then what you look for now
The employer ended it in probation	No	A short, honest answer and what you changed afterwards
Relocation or family reasons	Optional, a few words	That the move is settled
A better offer came quickly	No	Why that offer fitted your direction

What the rules say about probation

United Kingdom

Acas says there is no legal requirement to have a probation period and that it can be any length. An employee who resigns during probation must give the statutory minimum notice or the notice set in the contract or written statement. Acas also notes that from 1 January 2027 protection from unfair dismissal becomes a right after six months in a job. Page read on 13 October 2026.

Türkiye

Article 15 of Labour Act 4857 limits a probation clause to two months, or up to four months under a collective agreement. Either side may end the contract during that time without notice and without compensation; wages and other rights for the days worked are kept. The Turkish version of this page shows how that looks on an SGK record.

What this means for your CV

A probation exit is a normal, legally expected outcome in both systems. It needs no label on the CV; if an interviewer asks, one calm sentence is enough.

Who this page is not for

Months with no job at all: the employment gap guide covers how to name a break.
A recent redundancy: the guide on a CV after a layoff covers notice, dates and the reason line.
Freelance clients and gig platforms: the freelance guide shows how to present several clients as one business.
A string of short jobs because you are changing field: the career change guide covers how to lead with transferable evidence.

Next steps

Sort your last five years into the three piles, then rewrite the grouped entries using the layouts above.
Write one interview sentence for each job under a year and say it out loud once.
Run the result through the free checker on this site: it flags mixed date formats and roles with too many bullets.
CitedCV writes each entry from the dates and employers you confirm and does not stretch or shorten them; a grouped heading is built from the assignments you enter.

Questions people ask

Should I put a job I only had for three months on my CV?

Yes, if removing it leaves a visible gap or it is relevant to the role. If it is irrelevant and the dates either side cover it, you can leave it off, but disclose it if a form asks for every employer.

Does job hopping look bad on a CV?

It depends on the pattern, not on any official rule. US data put median tenure at 4.1 years in 2026 and 3.0 years for ages 25 to 34; several jobs under a year in a row is what readers notice.

How do I list temp agency work on a CV?

Under one heading for the agency with the overall dates, then one line per assignment naming the client and the length. Add a bullet with a result from the assignment closest to the job you want.

How do I put seasonal work on my CV?

On one line covering every season you worked, such as "Nov to Jan, 2023/24 and 2024/25". Returning for a second season is worth a bullet, because it shows the employer asked you back.

Should I mention that I failed probation?

Not on the CV. List the job like any other if it fills a gap, and prepare a short, honest interview answer about why it ended and what you took from it.

Can I leave a short job off my CV?

Yes, a CV is a selection, not a full record. Do not deny the job if asked directly, and include it where an application form or a background check asks for complete employment history.

How do I explain several short jobs in an interview?

One neutral sentence per job, then what connects them: a skill you built across them or the kind of role you are now aiming for. Avoid criticising former employers.

How long should you stay in a job before leaving?

There is no rule. Probation length is set by the contract (in Türkiye at most two months, or four under a collective agreement), and in the UK unfair-dismissal protection starts after six months from 1 January 2027.

Sources

US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Employee tenure summary (24 September 2026)www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.nr0.htm
Acas: Probation periodswww.acas.org.uk/probation-periods
National Careers Service: How to write a CVnationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/cv-sections
National Careers Service: Seasonal work advicenationalcareers.service.gov.uk/seasonal-work
Prospects: Recruitment agencies (April 2025)www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/getting-a-job/recruitment-agencies/
4857 sayılı İş Kanunu (mevzuat.gov.tr): article 15www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/1.5.4857.pdf