How you present the facts of your work history makes a huge difference, writes Jim Bright.
James from Fitzroy, Melbourne, is having trouble presenting his experience as a contractor in a positive light. He writes, "I have a problem in how I can market my experience, which stems from the fact that I contracted in accounting and finance roles for a good three to four years at one stage and this has created the perception that I was a 'contractor' and did not have some career progression over that period.
Some agencies will not deal with me because they don't think they can market me to clients for permanent roles, so I feel as if I have been going sideways rather than forwards in my career.
In hindsight, I will admit that I changed jobs because it seemed easy to do as a contractor and now that flexibility seems to have cost me some credibility in terms of career progression/stability.
How can I present my contracting experience in a positive manner, make the point that I am after a permanent role with stability and overcome the perception of the 'contractor' who is not looking to commit to a company?"
Having looked over James's CV, my first reaction was to wonder what the problem was. I did not see any glaring information pointing to his working as a contractor. In fact, the first thing that I noticed was how (like 95 per cent of job hunters) he was underselling and underspecifying his achievements. More on that later.
A second, closer look revealed that James had a run of four jobs lasting between three and six months. Before that he had a role for about a year (February-December) and before that, one for two years.
Presumably it is those short-term roles that are the problem.
My first suggestion is to consider removing the months from the dates provided to give a little more flexibility in presentation.
I know recruiters will howl at this and claim they check the dates carefully but when I presented recruiters with CVs containing an unconcealed gap of 12 months, only 50 per cent even noticed, despite their claims. Secondly, consider dropping some of the shorter gigs from the CV - the three- and four-month ones. For jobs where the role spanned years, consider showing this as "2009-2010" instead of "November 2009-Jan 2010".
Thirdly, consider including a positive career summary at the beginning of the CV, highlighting experience and skills and making the point that your career objective is now to make an ongoing, long-term contribution to an organisation in a role with prospects of career development (this statement needs to be tailored to the needs and language of any job ad James responds to).
A fourth strategy that may work is to completely reconfigure and re-present the contractor experience as a combined block of consulting activity. So, instead of listing four or five roles separately, present them as "consultant accountant" or similar between, say, 2003-2008.
Then list the various roles as clients. Again, not everyone needs to be included, rather, a phrase like "assignments included" might cover it.
Finally, James needs to emphasise his skills and achievements that are most directly relevant to a permanent role throughout the CV and de-emphasise the more "project-focused" skills and achievements.
Frankly, I am not convinced that James's only issue is the contractor one. He could profit by emphasising his achievements more than his responsibilities to give a more confident impression. He could also verify that his referees are not raising questions about his suitability for permanent roles.
Jim Bright is a professor of career education and development at ACU and a partner at Bright and Associates, a career management consultancy. Email marked clearly "FOR PUBLICATION" to brightside@jimbright.com