Should You Include Temp Work on Your Resume?

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Working as a temporary or contract worker is a wonderful learning experience! It is a great way to broaden your skill-set in a short period of time and learn more about type of company culture you prefer. Plus, some industries rely heavily on temporary and contract workers, simply due to the nature of the projects or cyclical workloads.

Whether you’ve had many temp jobs or just one, you definitely want to include them on your resume. It is important to clarify that the positions were of a temporary nature, as you never want to mislead the reader, and you don’t want a hiring manager to quickly dismiss you because it seems like you can’t hold a job for more than a few months.

Follow These 3 Steps to Include Temp Work on Your Resume

Need little help incorporating temp work into your resume? Follow these three steps:

  1. Be clear: List the name of the staffing agency as well as each company you worked for. This makes it easy for the reader to understand that you went through a staffing firm to find each temporary position. Note which positions were temp work by writing “temporary” or “contract” next to them. Be sure to choose the same wording for each one so as not to cause any confusion. Make it easy to identify the dates of employment (to show there were not employment gaps) and that the assignments were temporary.  This uniformity makes it crystal clear that you are not a serial job hopper.
  2. Be consistent: Keep your temporary experience listed in reverse chronological order (as with all work experience). Depending on the duration of your assignments and whether you were placed by the same temp or staffing agency each time, it might make more sense to list your experiences out individually or together under one listing (under the agency).
  3. Be concise: If you’ve worked as a temp for a number of companies, writing long descriptions for each job could easily make your resume span a few pages in length. Simply list your key responsibilities and accomplishments at each position to make it easier to scan your resume. As with any work experience listed on your resume, focus on jobs that are more relevant to the position you are applying for. Make sure that you can still elaborate on the other experiences though, in case it should come up in an interview.

Find a new job that allows you to reach your potential.

RealStreet Staffing matches experienced construction professionals with rewarding career opportunities in the Federal, architectural, engineering and construction communities. We know the market. We know the decision makers. We have the contacts, resources and experience to help you build a better career. Contact our team of skilled recruiters to get started today!

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