If you have been out of work for a while, or have secured temporary jobs lasting only a few months throughout the past few years, how you choose to share that information on your resume can make all the difference in whether or not you get called for an interview.
The most important point to keep in mind, first and foremost, is that the purpose of a resume is to get an interview. To get noticed. To get a phone call. To get called in for an in-person meeting.
A resume is NOT to get offered a job (before you even see where you will be spending 40+ hours of your life each week) and a resume is NOT to explain every detail in your personal and professional life to some stranger at the other end of the email, or to the secretary who opens the incoming snail mail, or to some recruiter who is looking for a new job himself.
So, for many situations these days, the best way to handle time gaps is to NOT put any dates on a resume. Let the potential interviewer CALL YOU and ask you. Once you have him/her on the phone, you can answer and explain – with confidence and calm – any gaps that may come up in your discussion of your employment.
If you have been called to work at several companies via one or two temporary agencies, list the agency as the employer and under that highlight the different assignments and your ability to “embrace new challenges and make independent decisions while working as an integral member of a company’s team.”
What you choose to include on your resume, and how you decide to design it makes all the difference in the job search process.
