Working as a temp certainly has its perks. You can make your own schedule and choose who you work for. It affords you the opportunity to see how a variety of practices are operated and to pick up useful knowledge along the way. However, once you decide to settle down and take a full-time job, a long string of temping has the potential to appear negative to some hiring managers and dentists.
In “Life After Temping: How to Portray Your Temping Experience When You Seek a Permanent Career,” by Katherine Hansen Ph.D. for the career advice website Quintessential Careers, Hansen writes about how to handle your temping experience on your resume and in interviews.
“It is possible to become pigeonholed as a temp and to be viewed as someone who can’t or won’t hold down a long-term job,” Hansen writes. “That’s what happened to long-time temp Cecelia Hittle who says she has been frequently asked in interviews, ‘Why haven’t you landed permanent employment?’ ” Hansen writes that Hittle temped while her kids were little so she could create her own schedule in order to spend time with her children. After she divorced, she found a permanent job with an employer who saw her temping experience as an asset, but the practice downsized and she found herself without a job and without many prospects. Hittle was caught in the temp world loop seeking regular full-time employment, and because the market has changed, she now finds herself in a temp cycle.
Hansen says the key to avoiding or getting out of the temp cycle is to make sure you play up your temp roles correctly. Here are her eight tips:
- List your experience based on the client companies you worked for not the temp or staffing agency that hired you. “Many career counselors say you should acknowledge the role of the temp or staffing agency but list as your main employers the companies for whom you actually did the work,” she writes. Hanson goes on to say that some career counselors say to avoid the word temp all together.
- Shorter-term temp assignments can be listed under the temp agency. Hanson cites Lyn Hood of Cabrillo College on this one: “Since it is important to show consistency in a work history and if possible at least a year in residence at each employer I recommend listing the work for temp services based on a variety of factors,” says Hood. “If the jobs have been very brief but employment through the temp service or services has been steady I might list [this way]:
- 1999-2001 Manpower Temporary Services San Jose CA
Product Testing and Quality Assurance for a variety of high-tech companies including Variotech Micromechanical Veriwire and Marcoware. Received excellent performance reviews etc. etc…
- 1999-2001 Manpower Temporary Services San Jose CA
- Multiple short temp assignments can be grouped together if appropriate. Quintzine’s Maureen Crawford Hertz said she occasionally recommends jobseekers list short-term temp jobs this way:
Kelly Temps Phoenix AZ. March 2000-present. Various temping assignments for companies in need of skills in word-processing PowerPoint databases and reception of visitors. Placements included: New England Aquarium, Arizona State University Office of Residence Life, Tempe Women’s Clinic, Phoenix Digital Technology
- You may not need to list all or any of your temp jobs. Hansen said you might get to the point where you have enough experience to list on your resume that you no longer need to list every temp jobs. List them only if they help you sell yourself your skills and your accomplishments.
- A functional or chrono-functional resume may be the best approach for frequent temps. For this tip, Hansen professional resume writer Deb Dib, president of Advantage Resumes of New York. “Here’s an idea if there are a lot of temp jobs,” Dib says. “It prevents the ‘laundry list’ look that can happen when there are rows and rows of jobs and dates. Also makes the resume more readable and understandable. Use a format that combines jobs by function.” Dib gives the following example:
Systems Design: Jobs through (list temp company or companies) including work as (list titles) with companies including (list companies). Fourteen months 2000 to Present
Y2K Remediation: Jobs through (list temp company or companies) including work as (list titles) with companies including (list companies). Fifteen months 1998 to 2000
Project Management: Jobs through (list temp company or companies) including work as (list titles) with companies including (list companies). Twenty months 1998 to Present - Make the most of your temp experience on your resume. Career counselor Karen Hartman, who used to temp herself, said to list only the experiences that are marketable. “I would list any (1) accomplishments with positive results anything I did that was (2) above and beyond what was called for in my temp position and any (3) new skills that I had learned. I would focus on the depth and breadth of my experiences to give a well-rounded idea of my future capabilities.” Similarly Jane Grogan of Career Match Inc. advises her clients to compose “an accomplishment bullet for each company the person was assigned to,” Hartman said.
- Resumes of those who’ve deliberately made a professional career out of temping need special handling. Maureen Crawford Hertz said she thinks that people who are temping in a specific field, such as dentistry, should make sure their work is distinguished from the regular connotation of temping, such as answering phones, filing, etc. An example is:
Accountant placed by Kelly Temps Phoenix AZ. March 2000-present. Various professional assignments for companies in need of short-term financial staff. Placements included:
–New England Aquarium
–Arizona State University Office of Residence Life
–Tempe Women’s Clinic
–Phoenix Digital Technology - Take advantage of your temping experience in interviews. “In interviews be completely upbeat and positive about your temping experience,” Hansen writes. “Make your broad and diverse background a selling point. You might have occasion to explain the circumstances under which you temped but frame those circumstances in positive terms. Don’t say you were so desperate for a paycheck that you were forced to temp. Instead say you wanted to develop your skills and experience corporate culture before seeking permanent employment.”
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