Resume difficulties

Question

Hey guys,

I need help with my resume. I've always had a "legit", on the books job. I've been working for the past five years at the same place, maintaining web sites and web servers. I also do that same work on the side to supplement my income. How do I make that clear on my resume? I've always had a bunch of side jobs, never having one completely full-time job, and I simply don't know how to represent that on paper. I've also made a lot of money trading on the stock market, working solo at that venture.

Basically, on paper, I've had not too spectacular jobs, where in reality I work various side jobs and am able to pay the bills with no difficulties. Can anyone recommend on how to get this across in my resume?

Thanks a ton,

Chris

nink · Answer

Sounds like you take on lots of projects from different clients. In a lot of cases, people call this "consulting."

You are providing your web expertise to your clients.

You can consolidate your work background into different categories based on your job assignments. (i.e. - web designing, web hosting maintenance etc etc)

foodstamp · Answer

Can you explain a bit more by what you mean "on the side?" Do you market yourself as a service provider to potential clients? If this is a legitimate business that you do on your own time, you might be able to form a legal entity (LLC, etc.) which will make it a lot easier to describe the types of services you provide in a structured manner on your resume. If this doesn't have a legitimate business structure, then maybe you can include a section on your resume titled along the lines of Independent Contractor.

As for investment related experience, I'd add to the activities section of your resume (but add a little detail such as the size of your portfolio, biggest trades, % return, return trends, etc.).

As for investment related experience, I'd add to the activities section of your resume (but add a little detail such as the size of your portfolio, biggest trades, % return, return trends, etc.).

Chris62vw · Answer

Thank you so much for the replies. I think my problem is thinking of using terms like "consulting" and "clients". To me, web design and programming is a hobby that provides me with an income, so I fail to view my work in professional terms. However, the work is indeed professional in nature and is recurring enough for me to call myself a consultant.

Foodstamp, to answer your question, I build websites, write back-end scripts for websites, manage web servers, etc. I have thought about creating a small corporation to help legitimize my business dealings, instead of just being a sole proprietor. For now I think I will decide on whether to say I have been consulting for the past x years, or that I am an independent contractor.

Thanks again guys!

foodstamp · Answer

No problem. Good luck!

mbagal1 · Answer

The one thing you need to think about a bit more before declaring your work is whether you have paid taxes on the side jobs you have had. Even as early as when you write your resume, you still need to think about, hopefully, once you get an admit, what can be verified in the background checks. Also, you will need to think about what about those jobs you can talk about at length in an interview (examples, what an experience taught you etc)

My suggestion to you is not to try and cram all your side jobs, but think strategically in terms of an interview and include a couple of interesting experiences you can talk about.

My suggestion to you is not to try and cram all your side jobs, but think strategically in terms of an interview and include a couple of interesting experiences you can talk about.

Resume difficulties

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