Short Term contracts on CV

budeman

Hi,

I was looking for a bit of advice on how to account for these on my CV. Prior to my current role which I have been in for a little over 18 months I worked on a number of short term temporary contracts. Obviously I know this looks bad on my CV so is it wise/ok to put next to the job title description that it was a short term contract?

Thanks,

Mark.

avantra

Why do you think 'it's bad' ?

Hermia

I spent a couple of years temping. On my CV I just list the from and to date I was working. Next to it I just write "During this period I worked for the following companies..." and then I list them with a brief description of the type of job I was during (luckily it was similar for each company so it's only a short paragraph).

I haven't noticed that employers are put off by this.

PlutoinCapricorn

The CV should list your job record in reverse chronological order, giving start and end dates for each position. You could put the start date of the first contract and the end of the final one and just summarise the work done, explaining that these were short term contracts.

However, I agree that in the world of today short term work is nothing to be ashamed of: 30 years ago recruiters were on the lookout for signs of "jobhoppers" who kept changing employers, companies wanted someone stable who would stay for years. Now, no job is secure even if you wanted to remain with a company for decades.

It is the purpose of the covering letter not the CV to clarify things, and it is best tailored for a particular job. The letter should explain why your work record makes you particularly suitable for the job, with references to the CV where appropriate. You could mention that these contracts demonstrate that you can pick things up quickly and are adaptable, and that they have given you experience of several different areas of work.

brians_daughter

I would always put on a covering letter that some of your posts have been short term contracts and this has enabled you to gain valuable exp that you would otherwise of missed out on.

Also on the cv put dates to from, company and job title along with 'temp contract or other wording to ensure the employer is aware youa rent into 'job hopping'

budeman

avantra wrote: »

Why do you think 'it's bad' ?

Dont get me wrong i dont think its bad at all - its just that I had call from a prospective employer asking why I had so many jobs in a short space of time. When I advised that they were due to short term contracts he was fine but I imagine that some potential employers not knowing this would rather skip to the next CV than actually call me to find out the reason - I was just after some advice on how best get this across on my CV ie group the contracts together, a single line explaining each one etc.

DVardysShadow

budeman wrote: »

... I had call from a prospective employer asking why I had so many jobs in a short space of time. When I advised that they were due to short term contracts he was fine but I imagine that some potential employers not knowing this would rather skip to the next CV than actually call me to find out the reason

That is why you use the cv to forestall such questions as hernia and P~inC~ suugest