How can you sell yourself if your resume is chock full of contract jobs? 3

[Tunalover]

I'm in a bind because no one wants to hire me because my work history includes a bunch of contract jobs. Recruiters seem to love my skills and experience but the employers are another story.

I've got a resume where I actually dropped off four contract jobs of six months or less and rounded the rest of the dates to the year. This eliminated gaps between jobs and shortened the resume.

But employers inevitably require you to complete an application with a Work History section needing Mo/Yr of employment. When I complete the application I normally show ALL the contract jobs to eliminate gaps (they never allow you to just write "See Resume" in the Work History section). Then I've got the problem that the application doesn't match the resume and the employer then suspects I was trying to "pull a fast one."

I got into contract jobs reluctantly when I was laid off a few times from direct positions; they were the first jobs available at the time and a man has got to take the first thing that comes along unless he's got a spouse that can cover all expenses with her income alone.

TIA for any advice on how to handle this.





Tunalover

 

[Triangled]

This may be off the mark, so - there, But....
I read "application" and "HR automaton" and you have all my sympathy.
How about an 'end around' getting your qualifications in front of the person who needs the work done and not the person who needs little boxes checked. How? LinkedIn did good things for me. I am not suggesting abandonment of your procedure, but just perhaps an additional alternative direction. Best of Success!

 

[GregLocock]

LinkedIn is soo 2013

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[MikeHalloran]

Functional resumes are a Red Flag to any HR automaton, whether carbon or silicon based. Don't bother.

Don't group short jobs into one. Put in month and date and some detail for every damn one.

DO make it clear that you worked for the entire agreed duration of the contract, completed all assigned tasks on time and in a satisfactory manner, and stuff like that.

If you didn't complete the contract, for whatever reason, say so, and explain.

If you were fired for cause, say so, and explain.

By 'explain', I mean make it clear what actually happened, >without defaming anyone<. That last is difficult, and is sometimes best done with a little sly humor. You want the reader to think, "Yeah, I had a job like that once, and I'm sure glad it's over."

Speaking of explaining, making my reason for leaving every job perfectly clear greatly improved the response rate.

Speaking of response rate, keep a spreadsheet with the contact info of every company you apply to, including which resume you sent. Yes, you may need a couple of different resumes, emphasizing one or another skillset.

... and yeah, you will probably have to send out enough resumes that you will be able to measure the response rate with statistical significance.

On the bright side, keeping track of the response rate by resume version allows you fine tune the resumes. Retain whatever changes helped, undo whatever changes didn't help.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[IRstuff]

Sorry, TL, seems like a lot of motherhood and apple pie. Specifics on how you solved other peoples' problems, plus how your work experience and skills can solve THEIR problems. This is not about you, but about them and their problems.

TTFN
faq731-376

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Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

 

[GHartmann]

MikeHalloran:

I was curious to know the reasons that functional resumes are red flags to HR people.

Regarding resume services: my experience is that they don't have a clue about engineering work. They all want accomplishments rather than tasks. As a design engineer the accomplishment is completing the assigned tasks accurately and on time. And certainly as a member of a design "team" one didn't achieve an accomplishment by oneself. Sorry, just venting!

I had one service write a sentence that was incomprehensible and combined a sentence fragment and run on sentence all in one string of incoherent words. I ended their service right then and there and have avoided a non engineering specialist to review my resume ever since.

 

[2dye4]

Ghartmann

Mainly because hiring managers are heavily hung up with the psychological aspects of the candidate, particularly the HR goons.

They believe job history can show them things about how you get along with people and maintain loyalty to companies.

It is a shortcut to doing the actual work of contacting the person and checking their fit directly for the position.

My personal pet peeve with the HR people is focusing so closely on particular 'trivial' aspects of the job. Like asking do you have
experience with German made voltage meters. To them it's a mysterious thing and you might ask in return have you ever used a Russian
made toaster??

 

[MikeHalloran]

The functional resume specifically occludes periods of unemployment in your work history. HR weenies seem to be trained to filter out anyone who has been out of work for more than two weeks, lifetime total.

They also expect someone who has been working for five years to have had only one job, but also to have gained substantial experience in at least four different specialties, and to work for a clerk's wage.

One time I submitted a functional resume that must have had a few of the right buzzwords. An HR weenie spent two hours grilling me for dates, and did me the huge favor of producing a chronological resume on my behalf. The actual content was mangled into gobbledygook. Said HR weenie refused my offer to send in a chron resume of my own; the transmogrified monstrosity went to the Hiring Manager, who of course never contacted me.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[2dye4]

Why are they so concerned with unemployed periods. What does that really say about someone.

I bet said HR nitwit has had some gaps.

 

[ewh]

Were all of the positions with different clients? I have quite a few contract positions on my resume, but several were for extended periods or for multiple periods with the same client(s). When asked in an interviews about the seeming job hopping, I point out the multiple and extended positions. It helps that there were one or two direct positions earlier in my career that lasted more than 4-5 years.

"Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively."
-Dalai Lama XIV

 

[GHartmann]

I have seen quite a few profiles on LinkedIn with a long list of contract assignments especially for commissioning jobs.

I am usually impressed by these profiles (but then I am not HR)

I have used a functional resume because of a long career with one company. It has landed me my last 3 jobs and I have a few gaps also. It has also resulted in 2 - 3 recent telephone interviews.

The more I think about this I like Snorgy's idea of saying you were self employed and had the following clients/projects.

I wouldn't go out of may way to point out the contract aspects in a cover letter, but that is MHO. Its like being on the court testifying bench, don't disclose any unnecessary information.

If I were the OP I would try to connect on LinkedIn with every previous "manager" or colleague at the actual employer you were contracted to. Say something like: "Remember me? I helped design the spaceship to Neptune rocket propellant system for you. I am looking to return to similar challenging opportunities and wanted to know if you were aware of any relevant employment opportunities."

You will be surprised how helpful your engineering contacts will be. Most of us have a "red flag" somewhere. Our capabilities just need to outshine the red flags.

One last thing. At a recent networking meeting, the speaker (a recruiter) stated emphatically that advice concerning any resume or cover letter is only THEIR OPINION. He further emphasized taking ownership of ones own resume and job search.

Good luck to you

 

[TheTick]

Some girls don't like guys like me, but some girls do!

True for any job search. All resumes and all employers are unique. Just need to chip away until something works.