Including Temporary Employment on Your Executive Resume

Are you an executive who has spent time working on a couple of temporary jobs while waiting for the big opportunity to show up? You may feel a bit apprehensive about including this type of opportunity on your executive resume. However, you’d be surprised by the number of employers that are actually used to seeing temp jobs. As you probably already know, there are some great temporary executive level jobs out there – some that definitely deserve respect. So as you write your resume, don’t feel that your temp positions deserve anything less that the treatment you would give a permanent position. And most importantly, don’t exclude them. Instead, learn how to add them on. Here are a few steps to consider: Follow the Standard Resume Format You may be tempted to use different resume format since you’re adding material that is not considered standard on your resume. However, you really need to make your resume seem as normal as possible when adding temporary positions. This means making your temp job entry the same as the other employment history entries on your resume. So how do you make it known that this position was a little different than the other positions? Well, since a temporary position isn’t exactly the same, you would simply add “temporary” at the end of your job title. For instance, if you were filling in as the Executive Communications Director, then you would simply write “Executive Communications Director, Temporary” on your resume. This is the only reference to your position being temporary that is necessary. If the employer has more questions during the interview, then you can answer them then. Make Sure to Add to Regular Job Section Again, you want your temporary position to have the same feel as the other jobs on your resume. So as you’re adding positions chronologically, you want to add the temporary position in the correct place that it fits. In other words, don’t create a separate “temporary” section. The truth is you fulfilled the duties of any real employee in the same position. So why should you treat it as anything less? Listing Your Agencies If you were hired on a temporary basis through an agency, you do want to list the agency on your resume. If you had only one assignment through the agency then it’s a good idea to combine the assignment and agency into a single entry. In other words, you would list the job you worked for and your title then list the agency you worked for in the job description. On the other hand, if you had multiple assignments through an agency, then you want to list the agency in the place where you would normally list the company. If you want to list more than one of the assignments you had with the agency, the assignments will be listed as bullet points under the company. However, if you want to list only one, you would still list the agency in the place the company name would go then in the job description mention the company’s name (basically the opposite of the example in the previous paragraph). So, now, do you feel more comfortable with adding a temporary position to your resume? If so, then there’s no better time than now to get started.