Summer is the time when people take vacations and spend time with their friends. Young people though try to use this period to begin secure their own future by building up their work experience and earning their first money. However, many of them question whether they should actually include those experiences on their resume. Obviously, one won't be able to brag about any serious accomplishments at those kind of jobs, but does that mean we should all just forget that first job experience? Absolutely not! While at that point the main goal is to earn money, gain a sense of responsibility, and develop workplace skills, seasonal jobs can also help one position himself/herself as a strong candidate on the pages of your main marketing document.
How Can Seasonal Jobs Fit On a Resume?
Hiring managers understand perfectly well the nature of seasonal or temporary employment. They also know what job seekers usually include into their application packages to make them stand out more. These two facts alone mean that one should be truthful when writing a resume as well as selective in regards to listing the most important information. Coffee shops, restaurants, bars, shops, amusement parks - they all offer a great platform to gain some professional skills. The question is how do you list this experience in a way that would demonstrate your understanding of the job requirements and professionalism at the same time?
First and foremost, draw parallels with your target job. Although most of the summer jobs don't sound very impressive in terms of accomplishments, responsibilities, and work hours, you can certainly show that you learnt some important things that would be relevant when hired for your target position. Think about work environment, soft skills, and values primarily - these things are often similar on a lower and higher levels. It would be a smart decision not to list details of your responsibilities (since for gig jobs they are almost identical), but to focus on client facing aspects, communication or teamwork skills. Another thing you could highlight is the ability to strive under pressure and multi-task successfully. These skills are relevant for higher positions.
For example: Served 120+ guests/day in a fast-paced restaurant environment, resolving complex client issues and collaborating with other team members to improve guest dining experience.
Secondly, jobs for teens as well as other seasonal jobs still offer a great chance to prove yourself in terms of results. Although you won't be able to do massive things for your employers (like growing sales by 180% or saving $1M for the company), you can still demonstrate that you are capable of achieving things, not just working on them. This is where your seasonal jobs on a resume can be a huge hit. Sometimes, even if your gig job is not quite relevant, achieved results can become a great attention grabber for employers. So focus on the impact you've made rather than things you were responsible for - this is so much more effective to showcase what you achieved as opposed to what you did. Once again, the scale is not important here. What matters is your ability to perform well in order to achieve results.
For example: Served as a customer support agent in the GA Sports GearX, achieving 99% positive feedback rate and overachieving sales objective by 15%.
Lastly, it is important to demonstrate that you can learn new things pretty quickly. If you are aiming high, most likely there will be a bunch of things for you to learn before you can start working. That's where your ability to learn quickly can become a significant advantage! This is a universally needed skill that will help you go a long way, especially with companies who prefer hiring potentially good performers. So if you had a seasonal job that assumed you were put into a completely unknown environment where you had to learn quickly in order to survive - make sure you highlight such experience.
For example: Communicated with 50+ customers per day via phone and live chat, providing assistance in regard to technology product details which led to a promotion of Assistant Supervisor within 3 month.
Seasonal Jobs Can Make a Difference
While many people think that seasonal jobs can do no good to a resume, job seekers who understand how hiring process works use them to secure a better standing in the eyes of potential employers. Any kind of job employment offers an opportunity to gain some professional skills. It is only a question of how to fit those jobs on a resume then. We have all had odd jobs, those that we always wanted to leave out. But if you know how to organize them on your main marketing document, you can actually gain some advantage over other candidates. It could become that extra step that will make you unique and will boost you above others.
