Ask the Experts: Describing Temporary Work on Your Resume

Question:

I was a temporary employee twice. One of those positions ended up becoming a permanent position for me. How do I describe the positions on my resume? Should I list the company that I worked for, just the temporary agency, or both?

First Answer:

There’s no hard-and-fast rule for how to handle temp positions on a resume, but many former temps prefer to list the company they worked for first, followed
by a parenthetical reference to the temp agency. Here are a few ways to
handle temp positions on a resume:

2. Option 1: 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.

   Sample 1:
   Assistant, Total Renal Laboratories, DeLand, FL

   Temporary placement via Kelly Temps, March 2000 to present.

   Sample 2:
   Assistant, Total Renal Laboratories (Kelly Services), DeLand, FL

   March 2000 to present.

   Sample for a temp-to-perm placement:
   Assistant, Total Renal Laboratories, DeLand, FL

   March 2000 to present. Temporary placement via Kelly Temps; hired
   full time by TRL June 2000.

3. Option 2: Shorter-term temp assignments can be listed under the temp agency.

   Sample:
   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…

4. Option 3: Multiple, short temp assignments can be grouped together, if appropriate.

   Sample:
   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:

   • Phoenix Aquarium
   • Arizona State University Office of Residence Life
   • Tempe Women’s Clinic
   • Phoenix Digital Technology

   These options and samples come from an article I wrote that might be helpful to you: Life After Temping: How to Portray Your Temping
   Experience When You Seek a Permanent Career.

— Katharine Hansen, former speechwriter and college instructor who provides content for the Web site, Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and prepares job-search correspondence as chief writer for Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters

Second Answer:

Because you did hold a permanent position, list this work under the employer, as follows:

ABC Corporation, City, ST – years employed
Job Title

Hired into this position after a “temp to perm” assignment of 6 months
duration on the payroll of Manpower Technical.

Statement of scope and magnitude of permanent job.

*accomplishment statement

*accomplishment statement

*accomplishment statement

MANPOWER TECHNICAL, City, ST – years of the temp work
Long-term assignment to ABC corporation, from which I was subsequently
hired into a permanent position.

Long-term assignment to XYZ corporation as a paralegal.

Change the employer, title, temp agency, etc. as appropriate.

If the temp assignment that didn’t turn into a permanent one did not immediately precede the temp to perm job, delete the reference to ABC
corporation under the temp agency, to preserve reverse chronological
format. The employment dates for ABC corporation can reflect only the
time on ABC’s payroll, because that’s what the HR department will
report.

Temp work is a great way to prove yourself to an employer, as you experienced; it’s not a negative on the resume.

— Carol Anderson, Career Development and Placement Office, Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City

Third Answer:

You want to list both the temporary agency that did not place you in a situation that became permanent because they were your
employer during the time that you were conducting a job search.
The fact that they kept you working for a period is evidence
that you proved to be a good employee for them who they chose
to keep busy. That agency will be your reference.

On the other hand, you want to present yourself as a person who is more than a seasonal worker. In the second situation, the
agency was essentially your broker for helping get you in the
door so that you could prove yourself worthy of permanent
status. It was the company that hired you from the agency that
knew you best and then made the decision to take you on full
time. They then became your employer and you should list them
as your employer, not the agency that introduced you to them.

In the temp-to-perm situation, it was the company with which you had the most exposure and where you developed the most
contact regarding your work habits, fit, and other employment
issues. The company is the one that will be your most reliable
reference.

If you want to list places where you have been able to show adaptability, you can list the second agency (the one that
placed you) as an additional place where you have experience.
But it would be better to talk of them during an interview, if
the subject comes up, as one other agency you used with success.

—Yvonne LaRose, career and professional development coach, Career and Executive Recruiting Advice

Fourth Answer:

In my opinion, you have a great opportunity to make your value as an employee show. The fact that a company you once temp’d for hired you on as a full-time
employee speaks very favorably of your competence.
In this case, I would mention both the temporary agency and the company that
hired you. Using both their names to highlight your situation of going from a
temp to an employee only shows that you are valued by the companies you’ve
worked for, and that you prefer to be in a stable, long-term position.

— Pamela La Gioia, home-based employment expert and owner of Mommy’s Place.NET

Originally posted by alwin