People sometimes wonder whether they should include temporary jobs on their resume, or downplay them. And the short answer is – why not include them? If the contingent work is related at all to the job you are applying for, putting it on a resume can only help your chances of getting a job.
Any job, especially a contingent one, can enhance a resume. Here are a few reasons why.
1. Maintaining and Developing Skills
Working at a temp job will help you to keep your skills sharp and also help you to learn new skills. This will only enhance your attractiveness to employers, especially because they are concerned about the deterioration of skills among the unemployed.
Working contract jobs also enables you to accumulate more work experience, which is valuable in itself. It improves your ability to do your job. If you work at more than one company, you also gain experience in different work environments. You get to see how different places run their business. This also enhances your value to an employer.12
Including contingent work also shows that you have well developed soft skills. To work at different temp jobs, you need to be flexible and adaptable, able to jump into different work environments with different people. You need to be a good communicator, a quick study, and someone who can work with others.
2. Showing motivation
Taking a contingent position also shows your motivation, drive and persistence. It shows that you have initiative, that you are being proactive. It also shows resilience, that you are not simply biding your time until something comes along, but putting in the effort to create opportunity for yourself.
3. References
Working in a contingent position, you have the opportunity to meet new people. If you do good work, you can use these people as references. But these people are only available as references if you include your temp job on your resume.
Are you looking for a new job?
At Opti Staffing, we value quality over quantity. We care about our job candidates, our results and our relationships. We take the time to get to know our candidates, enabling us to make better matches with employers. We treat our people with respect, and establish long-term relationships. We have placed thousands of people since 1999. Explore these new opportunities or Give us a call today to see what Opti can do for you.
