It’s a bit of extra work, but you’ll see better results with a customized resume.Įmphasize your accomplishments. Read the job description for key qualifications and responsibilities, then select and emphasize contract work you’ve done that most closely matches those. This is where contract work can be a real asset, especially if you have experience wearing a bunch of different hats. As with any resume you send out, make sure your work experience is tailored for the client or position you’re hoping to land. It emphasizes your skills and qualifications over work experience.Ĭustomize your resume for the prospective employer. You can impress the recruiter if you’ve done contract work for some reputable companies.įormatting a resume with contract work can be tricky, but we recommend the functional resume format if you lack sufficient full-time work experience. Just make sure it’s clear that the staffing agency was your employer and your projects were done for other companies. Don’t be afraid to list both the contract firm employing you as well as the specific company you did the work for. List each company you worked for individually. If you’ve done multiple projects for the same company, list all of that work under the same company’s name.īe clear with your formatting.
List your contract work in reverse-chronological order, starting with your most recent experiences. You can group by industry or job type whatever makes sense for you. Group all of your contract work into one central location of your resume, so that any interviewer will be able to quickly scan and understand which work experiences of yours were done in which context. For this reason and others, the organization of your resume is extremely important for your resume. Work experience at a single company over a long period of time tends to do this by default - if you’re stringing together work you undertook on a variety of projects, then the job of crafting the narrative of your work experience falls on you. The most important thing about including contract work is to focus on telling a story. While you should definitely list your contract work on your resume, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind as you do so: Regardless, leaving off your contract work is something that you likely can’t afford to do.ĭoing so could leave noticeable gaps in your employment record - and for another thing, the more contract work that you leave off your resume, the more you’re hiding legitimate work experience you have from your potential employers, which is bad for both of you. Plenty of employers are aware of this, even if others are still catching up.
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When in doubt, include any contract work that can make your work history more impressive, emphasize your qualifications and accomplishments, and ultimately help you stand out in recruiters’ minds.Ħ Tips for How to List Contract Work on Your Resumeįor one thing, contract work is not a bad thing - in fact, it’s how plenty of people make most or all of their total income. Regardless of whether or not that’s true, it’s a look you want to avoid when you’re constructing your resume.īut when contract work is all you have, it can be even more harmful to leave off this kind of work.
They might start to worry that you’re the kind of person who gets bored easily, who won’t stick around for very long. If these experiences aren’t properly detailed (or even sometimes if they are) then it can easily look to a potential employer like you’re the kind of person who jumps from job to job at a moment’s notice. This is because hiring anyone is essentially an employer making the following bet: Will this person I’m hiring remain with my company long enough to make up the money I’m going to spend on training them?įor this reason, it can be a bit of a red flag when employers see too many seasonal or contract-based work experiences on your resume. Still, listing contract work on your resume can be cause for alarm to some (although not all) employers.įor the most part, a recruiter or hiring manager prefers to see steady work experience where someone works for a number of years at a single location before moving on. The main issue with including contract work is a little bit dated since the gig and freelance economy have been thriving in the recent job market. It proves that you weren’t idle while in between jobs and that your resourcefulness led you to find other avenues for paid employment. Working as a contractor also shows recruiters that you’re capable of adapting to new work environments quickly, which is an attractive trait in a job seeker.Īdditionally, contract work that helps fill gaps in your employment is crucial to include. Any legitimate work experience that helps prove you have the right skills for a job should be listed on your resume. Yes, in most cases you should include contract work on your resume. Should You Include Contract Work on Your Resume?
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