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While many people find resume-writing to be a painful process, writing a good resume can make or break the success of your job search.
In fact, 77 percent of hiring managers say they’ll disqualify a resume due to typos or grammatical errors. Additionally, 17 percent of hiring managers say that a resume that’s longer than two pages is a dealbreaker.
Before you get started on your resume, there are some important things you need to know so yours doesn’t fall in the DQ pile for hiring managers. One of the most important things to know is how to include temporary or part-time work on your resume.
Many people struggle with this aspect of a resume, but when presented in the right way, temporary or part-time work can really help catch the eye of hiring managers.
Check out this guide to learn how to include temporary or part-time work on your resume.
1. Use a Resume Template
One of the biggest difficulties of discussing temporary and part-time work on your resume is doing so in an organized manner.
To keep your resume organized, we suggest using a resume template. A resume template will help you find the right place to discuss your part-time job experience. If you’re looking for a resume template, be sure to visit ResumeBuild’s official website.
2. List the Experience Appropriately
If you’ve worked a variety of temp jobs, you’ll need to update your resume frequently, as your employment is constantly changing. Whether you’ve worked just a couple of temp jobs or multiple, you need to make sure you properly list your experience.
To do this, begin by writing down all the jobs you’ve had, and then decide if it’s best to write each assignment separately or group them together. If you’ve only done a couple of temp jobs, we suggest listing them separately. You’ll list them just as you would with a full-time position, writing the organization’s name, location, your start and end date, and your position.
To differentiate your temp work from your other work, make sure you label it appropriately. Alongside the job title, you can write “temporary”, “temp”, or “contract”. Make sure you just choose one word and that you keep it consistent throughout your resume.
Here is an example:
McMurray Law Firm, Hartford, CT
Legal Secretary; Temporary (May 2019-August 2019)
- Filed documents
- Answered and directed phone calls
If you’ve worked several or more temp jobs, we suggest grouping them together. This especially works well if you’ve worked several similar assignments with one agency. Here’s an example of what this would look like:
ABC Staffing, Hartford CT (2016-Present)
Contracted by the ABC Staffing Agency to work on a temporary basis doing administrative duties for a diverse range of organizations throughout the Hartford, CT area.
Office Assistant, Johnson Law Firm (Jan 2019- March 2019)
- Directed 60 plus phone calls a day
- Filed 30 plus documents an hour
Administrative Assistant, DFW (April 2019-May 2019)
- Managed the schedules of 12 employees
- Maintained the file room
Receptionist, Brook & Co (June 2019- August 2019)
- Checked in 30 plus clients per day
- Maintained the records of 25 clients
3. Reference Your Employers Correctly
One of the biggest mistakes people make when adding temp work to their resume is listing their employers incorrectly.
If you are sent on a work assignment by a recruiting agency, they are your employer, not the company you are providing services for. This is because client companies pay recruiters to provide them with temporary workers. And, it’s a recruiter who assigns staff members placements accordingly. Therefore, you need to list the recruitment agency as your employer.
4. Highlight Your Achievements
Whether you’ve been working a handful of temporary jobs or you’ve had consistent full-time employment, the goal of a resume is to impress recruiters.
Therefore, it’s very important that you highlight the main achievements of each role you’ve undertaken. Additionally, you should explain how the position has contributed to your overall career development.
We understand that it can be hard to make waves in a temp role that only lasted a couple of months. But, you can surely think of some way in which your short stay had a positive impact on the company. For example, maybe you updated the company’s records. Or, maybe you assisted a lawyer on a big case. Or, maybe you learned a new software program that will help you with your next job.
Whatever it is, make sure you highlight it so that recruiters know that your temp work was time well spent.
5. Be a Proud Temp
Last but not least, make sure you’re a proud temp. While many people view temp work as lowly, most seasoned recruiters understand the value of it as well as the necessity of it in this tough job economy.
So, don’t downplay your time as a temp or be apologetic about it. Instead, highlight how working as a temp has made you flexible and adaptable, and how the work is preparing you for a full-time role.
As you can see, including part-time and temp work in your resume isn’t that difficult. Comment below if you have any questions about how to execute these tips!
