How to List Temporary Work on Your Resume

Temporary work means that an employee is hired for a limited time. It can be several days, weeks, months. Everything depends on the employer’s needs.

Many stereotypes surround this type of employment. Some people think that it mainly works for students or unskilled personnel. However, companies may temporarily hire lawyers, IT specialists, crisis managers, project managers, business consultants, copywriters, designers, etc. Temporary work can be challenging, creative, and lucrative, and professionals with diverse backgrounds can use it as a career opportunity.

Employers often think about hiring temporary staff when the work scope increases or knowing that a permanent employee will be absent for a certain period. At the same time, a temp job is a good option if a person has problems with a permanent one or plans to enter a new industry smoothly. In this case, temporary work allows you to gain unique professional experience and knowledge, an opportunity to replenish your portfolio, and a chance to expand your professional network. And of course, it can make you feel more independent.

The main question is how to play this card right, and we are here to help you find an answer. This detailed guide will reveal insights into how to list temp jobs on a resume and give you sound arguments on why to do this. Moreover, you will get some examples of how to list temp work on a resume that you can use in your application documents.

Why Put Temp Jobs on a Resume

A resume is your business card. It provides the recruiter with information about your education and gives insight into your work history, skills, and personal qualities. If you want to make your professional background more convincing, listing your temporary work experience in your CV could be the right solution. Here are several reasons why.

It fills the gaps in your employment history

If you had a rather long break in your career path, but at the same time, you were hired for temporary or project work, we advise you to highlight this in your resume. Showing this experience will present you as a person who doesn’t like sitting around doing nothing and will help you avoid questions about employment gaps during an interview.

It expands your skillset

Temporary work is an excellent chance to learn new skills and improve existing ones. Highlighting your talents and professional abilities acquired during temp employment in your resume will boost it and make it more convincing. Additionally, by indicating your achievements, you will demonstrate yourself as a real result-oriented professional.

It highlights your personal qualities

Temporary jobs help develop not only professional skills but also personal traits. Flexibility is one of the most important ones in today’s labor market. It also includes versatility and the ability to adapt to a rapidly-changing working environment. By specifying these qualities on your resume and confirming them during the interview, you can stand out and impress your potential employer.

How to Put a Temp Job on a Resume: A 6-Step Guide

Now that you know the benefits, it’s time to find out how to list temporary jobs on your resume correctly. First, you should know that the formats vary depending on what kind of temporary work experience you had.

Let’s start with limited temp work experience, which means that you had one or several short-term jobs and were employed directly by the company.

1. Indicate your employer

The first thing to mention when describing your temporary job is the name of your employer. Put the full name of the company or organization that hired you and make sure there are no spelling mistakes. You can also add a link to its official website.

2. Specify your position

The job title is the first thing recruiters check on resumes. Therefore, make sure to write a specific and correct position title. If your position did not have a particular title or you are not sure how to name it correctly, you can always write “Specialist in (your primary duty)”

3. Put a “temporary” label

Recruiters receive hundreds of resumes per day. Thus, it’s crucial to make it easier for them to find relevant information during the several seconds they spend reviewing documents. Labeling your position as “temporary” or “contract” will help hiring managers understand that you have not worked for a specific company or in a particular position for long.

4. Point out the period of employment

Indicate the start and end date of your employment using the month and year format. If you are still working, then write “present” instead of the end date.

5. List your duties

When describing your temp job, add several bullet points describing your key responsibilities. Write clearly and concisely and use the past tense. Remember that your resume shouldn’t be more than two pages long. Otherwise, your resume will turn into a CV.

6. Highlight your achievements

Last but not least, put your professional accomplishments. They are especially impressive when describing temporary employment because it shows that you can achieve results in a short time.

Look at these two examples of presenting temporary positions and see how our recommendations mentioned above are used.

How to Put Temp Work on a Resume: Staffing Agency Experience

Another option to search for a temporary job is to contact a staffing agency. It recruits employees for businesses that need to fill certain positions. Typically, the process works as follows:

1. The hiring company contacts a staffing agency.
2. The staffing agency prepares a job description, searches for candidates, and checks them.
3. The hiring company makes the final decision about the candidate.
4. The staffing agency takes care of the paperwork.

Candidates can contact the staffing agency themselves to discuss employment opportunities and conditions. If you meet the requirements for a specific vacancy, staffing agency specialists will send your resume directly to the company that needs an employee.

If you’ve had temp work experience through a staffing agency, we recommend using this plan to describe it in your resume correctly.

Specify staffing agency

If you got a job through a staffing agency, this staffing agency becomes your employer. So, instead of putting the name of the company you’ve provided your services to, you should specify the staffing agency’s name and location.

Indicate the period of collaboration

It is also essential to indicate the period of your cooperation with the staffing agency. Indicate the month and year when you started and finished your work. If you are working with this staffing agency up to the present day, you can write “present” instead of the end date.

Explain your connection to the staffing agency

You can indicate your profession, field of activity, and purpose of cooperation. This description should be clear and concise. Don’t tell the whole story in detail. Better save some space so you can concentrate more on your duties and accomplishments.

Give details about your employment

Indicate your role and the company that hired you. Additionally, specify the period of your work. Use the month and year format, which you used to indicate the time frame of your collaboration with staffing agencies. However, you can add days if you worked less than a month.

Describe your duties and achievements

It’s the most crucial part of your temporary job description because it makes the employer understand what you can do and whether you can cope with the tasks. Use bullet points to indicate 3-5 of your primary duties and connect them to your desired position. If you want to create an impressive resume, you can also include some of your main achievements.

If you have been working with a staffing agency for quite a long time and have had several contacts, you can include additional descriptions in the reverse-chronological format.

Impress the Recruiter with Your Temporary Background

Now that you know how to list temp work on a resume, we will share a few secrets on making your description even more attractive and convincing.

1. Include only relevant temporary experience on your resume

If you have extensive temporary employment experience, you shouldn’t include all of it on your resume. The recruiter wants to get only relevant information. For example, there is no need to mention that you’d worked as a nanny for two months if you are applying for an administrative employee position. In this case, it is more interesting for a recruiter to know that you’ve temporarily worked as an office clerk.

Secondly, if you describe all your temporary jobs, your resume will be too long. The longer it is, the less chance the recruiter will read it to the end.

2. Tailor your temp job description to the position

Resume customization is a crucial aspect of preparing a professional document. You should tailor your application to each job. Read the employer’s requirements carefully and use the job listing language to describe your duties in temporary work. When choosing which responsibilities to describe, focus on those that overlap with the new position’s tasks.

3. Use numbers

When describing your accomplishments, use quantitative metrics to impress the recruiter. If you did not have significant achievements that can be measured, try to use numbers when describing your duties. For example, specify how many calls per shift you managed to receive, how many documents you managed to prepare, or how many events you managed to organize. This information will help the recruiter get a clearer picture of your productivity.

4. Don’t forget about the cover letter

A cover letter is a perfect way to complement your resume and tell the recruiter about yourself and your experience in more detail. You can use this tool to describe your skills and personality traits that helped you succeed in temporary jobs and add value to the position you apply for.

Conclusions

Today, temporary work is becoming quite popular, and people with such experience are no longer perceived as job-hoppers. Temp jobs provide important expertise, skills, and knowledge, which should be presented correctly in your application documents.

Building a professional resume that can win you an interview and sometimes even a job is difficult and requires time and effort. We are confident that you will manage to present your temporary employment in the best way possible by following our advice, and your job search will be crowned with permanent success.