Writing a resume can be the most frustrating and time consuming task. Most people would rather file their own taxes rather than write a resume. This is because, there is a level of uncertainty about what the employer might be looking for. It becomes even harder for a contractor, who does not have a chronological work experience stating that they worked for a certain company over a specified period, filled a certain position or did specific roles while at the same company. Contractors work for a short period, and in some cases, they can work for different companies at the same time.
Employers are looking for employees who have a stable work experience, employers are impressed by a resume that does not have gaps. If an employer notices that the employee took a month or six month in one job, then the employer might see it as a red flag, as it shows signs that the employee cannot hold on to one job in the long run. The dream of every employer is to work with an employee in the long term so that the cost of training the employee can be realized in the long run.
As such, how should you organize your resume as a contractor? When applying for freelance contract positions, a chronological resume will only scare away potential employers. A project based resume will be more helpful to you as a contractor to organize your work experience in a more convincing manner.
Project Based Resume
Project based resume involves organizing the resume by the individual projects completed instead of by the companies where you have worked in the past. Arranging the resume by the project will mean that some projects took a month, but because they have been organized to show that it was a contract, then the employer will be in a position to understand why the job lasted a very short period.
In a project based resume, there are four sections that the contractor should follow to organize the resume. These includes the title, the duration, Technologies and Descriptions.
Title
In this section, insert the project number, the name of the position you held as the freelance contractor, and the company that gave you the contract.
Duration
The duration is the time you took to complete the contract. Freelance contracts may take weeks to months. In rare cases, the contract may go for years.
Technologies
These are the tools that were used to complete the tasks. Every position must use some type of technology to accomplish desired goals. The technology can be an app, or programme that was used in the project.
Description.
In this section, write a short paragraph describing what exactly you did for this company. Describe the project, what were the goals? Did you achieve the goals? Were the technologies helpful? In this section, describe the most fascinating aspects of the project. Add information that you feel may be important to the employer.
In a nutshell
Depending on the number of projects that you have done, you can have several sections mentioning the process above. More sections are likely to impress the employer. Organizing the resume in terms of projects completed instead of companies you have worked for would help the employer see the most relevant work experience and increase the chances of landing the contract.
