Incorporating self employment on your résumé
Dear Sam: I currently own and run a very successful consulting business on a part-time basis. I also maintain a full-time job. My question is how do I incorporate my skills and experience gained from my own business onto my resume. The work experience is tremendous. Also, how do you list volunteer work on your résumé? I'm the Business Manager for a local nonprofit organization. Thanks. – Shawn in Columbus
Dear Shawn: How you incorporate your consulting experience is somewhat based on your current career objective. If your goal is to secure a new full-time position, and I am assuming it is as you are creating a résumé, then you need to tread lightly when highlighting self-employment. When presenting your own business in addition to a full-time position, a hiring manager may feel that you would be a short-term employee if your own business became successful enough. Moreover, if you are seeking a challenging full-time engagement, some might question your commitment to your employer. While this is unfortunate, if you have another engagement, you may not have the availability to stay late, work weekends, etc., something that might be required of your full-time role.
To highlight related self-employment experience without disqualifying yourself for any of the above reasons, you might want to include your consulting experience in a second professional experience section on your résumé. You would therefore first present, and focus on, your full-time positions, and in a second section titled “Consulting Engagements” present your self-employment. By doing this you can easily incorporate highlights from either tracks of your career in your cover letter, qualifications summary, and even an accomplishments section.
I mention an accomplishments section as depending on the chronology of your career and strength of accomplishments in your full-time positions, it may serve you best to pull out all of your accomplishments and place them on page one of your résumé. As you mentioned your consulting experience is very valuable, this would allow you to highlight that experience without showcasing that it was performed during an independent engagement. To do this, simply list your accomplishments with the employer or client name at the end of the statement. Then, in the consulting experience section, be sure to note the same clients for consistency, and so the hiring manager will understand the scope of the engagement.
Your résumé would therefore be ordered as such:
1. Qualifications Summary
2. Select Accomplishments
3. Professional Experience
4. Consulting Engagements
5. Education, etc.
By following this strategy you will showcase your value to the hiring manager. You will also have all of your critical data on page one of your résumé, and perhaps most importantly, not disqualify yourself by being seen as a budding entrepreneur seeking interim full-time employment.
As to your question of how to list volunteer experience, you can follow the same formatting as with your professional experience, as long as the experience warrants that focus. Remember, in your case you might already look like you have too many time commitments, so again, be careful about focusing on this too much unless it really enhances your candidacy over and above your consulting roles and professional experience. Thanks for the great questions!
Dear Shawn: How you incorporate your consulting experience is somewhat based on your current career objective. If your goal is to secure a new full-time position, and I am assuming it is as you are creating a résumé, then you need to tread lightly when highlighting self-employment. When presenting your own business in addition to a full-time position, a hiring manager may feel that you would be a short-term employee if your own business became successful enough. Moreover, if you are seeking a challenging full-time engagement, some might question your commitment to your employer. While this is unfortunate, if you have another engagement, you may not have the availability to stay late, work weekends, etc., something that might be required of your full-time role.
To highlight related self-employment experience without disqualifying yourself for any of the above reasons, you might want to include your consulting experience in a second professional experience section on your résumé. You would therefore first present, and focus on, your full-time positions, and in a second section titled “Consulting Engagements” present your self-employment. By doing this you can easily incorporate highlights from either tracks of your career in your cover letter, qualifications summary, and even an accomplishments section.
I mention an accomplishments section as depending on the chronology of your career and strength of accomplishments in your full-time positions, it may serve you best to pull out all of your accomplishments and place them on page one of your résumé. As you mentioned your consulting experience is very valuable, this would allow you to highlight that experience without showcasing that it was performed during an independent engagement. To do this, simply list your accomplishments with the employer or client name at the end of the statement. Then, in the consulting experience section, be sure to note the same clients for consistency, and so the hiring manager will understand the scope of the engagement.
Your résumé would therefore be ordered as such:
1. Qualifications Summary
2. Select Accomplishments
3. Professional Experience
4. Consulting Engagements
5. Education, etc.
By following this strategy you will showcase your value to the hiring manager. You will also have all of your critical data on page one of your résumé, and perhaps most importantly, not disqualify yourself by being seen as a budding entrepreneur seeking interim full-time employment.
As to your question of how to list volunteer experience, you can follow the same formatting as with your professional experience, as long as the experience warrants that focus. Remember, in your case you might already look like you have too many time commitments, so again, be careful about focusing on this too much unless it really enhances your candidacy over and above your consulting roles and professional experience. Thanks for the great questions!
posted by Dear Sam at Sunday, February 26, 2006
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