Although short-term employment can inflict serious damage on the face of your resume and make your job search a challenge causing potential employers to believe that you are unreliable, there are definite advantages to temp work and with a little effort can be effectively dealt with on the resume as well.
Benefits:
- Flexible schedules: One of the greatest benefits of temporary employment is the flexibility of timings. Whether you are a student on a summer break or a parent who needs to watch over kids, seasonal work could be extremely beneficial for your job search. Once you make proper arrangements you have the freedom to work at your convenience. You could choose to work in any way you wish - early morning hours, late night shifts, or even only weekends. All you need to do is find a job that fits your needs.
- Fills in employment gaps: You are unemployed and you need to have experience in order to get a good job. How do you work it out without a regular job? Temporary positions help you to get the required experience and they work incredibly well to fill in gaps of employment. Although a short term employment, potential employers get to see that you have been working and contributing value in some way or the other.
- Additional earning: Most of us want an extra bit to supplement our income and more often than not, seasonal employment increases your ability to earn more. Some employers even offer special bonuses to those who work an entire season or have worked for several seasons subsequently. This type of work sure makes a difference to your wallet.
- Job testing: Temporary jobs are a great opportunity to find out what you are best at. You may have a dream job in mind and trying it out on a seasonal basis, you could just end up hating it. We are all cut out for certain things and seasonal work could lead you to understanding what it is. Go on and test drive a new job.
- Skill set development: The entire process of conducting a full fledged job search can be intimidating. Being involved in seasonal employment can help greatly as a trial and error process whereby you get comfortable with it and know exactly what to do next time. The learning platform is wide and you have ample opportunity to get insight into approaching a variety of situations and honing skills which are directly related to your target job or can be considered as transferable. Hence, a temporary job is a great way to both test skills you already have as well as learn new ones.
- Confidence building: Doing something productive, be it a temporary or a paid job, makes an impression on potential employers. Work demonstrates your sense of discipline and responsibility and shows your confidence in taking up numerous activities. Thus, by getting a job and maintaining it reflects the fact that you have grown personally and professionally and have developed good working habits.
- Network expansion: Seasonal work provides great opportunity to meet new people, bond with coworkers and expand your network. Meeting new people opens up doors for a whole new range of opportunities that could eventually lead you to your dream job.
