Worked as a temporary employee in the past? Wondering what the best way is to highlight your experience at positions that were not full-time or long-term? Perhaps you’re finding it tricky to fit multiple temporary gigs into one standard template. Whatever the reason, the good folks at ABL Careers have a few suggestions on how to include temp jobs on your resume. These tips can help boost your employability and get your resume on to the recruiter’s yes pile. Read on for more!
LABEL YOUR EXPERIENCE
In today’s dynamic job economy, recruiters won’t be surprised by one or two temp jobs on your resume. In fact, flexible work is in high demand with new Canadians, parents re-entering the workforce, students, new grads, and semi-retired folks, so having great references from temporary work experiences can highlight your adaptability, resilience, and flexibility. Regardless of whether you have actively chosen temp work for its flexible schedules or to learn new skills, or simply opted for agency placements while you look for a permanent role, consistency in how you label your experience is key. Decide whether you refer to the experience as temporary, seasonal, or contract and then maintain that verbiage throughout your resume and cover letter.
GROUP IT TOGETHER
If you’ve accumulated several temporary assignments, it may be more advantageous to group them together. Especially, if the assignments are short-term. You can either list all your experiences under the staffing agency you’re working with or get completely creative and add it under your own name as a kind of consultant. Either way, try adding a short, descriptive paragraph to connect all your work under a common theme, to zone in on your unique skill set.
Here’s an example of what your grouped temp jobs could look like on your resume:
ABL Employment
March 2017 – Present
Various contract assignments for companies in need of administrative assistance and advanced reception skills. Scheduled appointments and consultations, greeted customers, kept the workplace clean and tidy, answered the telephone, opened and closed the business, and organized orders, among other various day-to-day tasks.
Placements included:
- Art Gallery of Burlington
- Hamilton Business Association
- North York Women’s Clinic
How will you format your resume?
BE SELECTIVE
If you find that adding all your various work and volunteer experiences to your resume is more of a hindrance than a help, you might consider pairing it down. Remember, there is no obligation to include all your work experience. Only experience that is related or relevant to the job you are applying for should make the cut. Besides, employers prefer resumes that are clear, concise and no longer than one or two pages.
LET YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS SHINE
At the end of the day, you want to impress your potential future employer and convey how committed you will be as a member of their team. Focus on achievement and impact rather than responsibilities. Show how you added value to each of the organizations you worked for. Incorporate key words and phrases used in the job advertisement or career-posting that you are applying for: this will help your resume be selected by any screening/filtering software and moved forward to the manual review process by a hiring manager.
If done correctly, your temporary work experience won’t be seen as an obstacle, but as an asset that demonstrates how resourceful you can be. Your future employer will thank you for it later!
Are you looking for your next temporary or permanent role in Hamilton, Burlington, Mississauga or the GTA? Our experts at ABL Careers will be more than happy to get you started.
