Working is Better than Not Working
A few months ago I was offered a short term temporary work setting up new laptops. The role was very junior to what I had been doing in the past. I previously worked as a well paid Senior Applications Support Engineer. The temporary job came with no benefits and paid less than half of what I made in my senior role. I accepted the temp job because I believe working is better than not working. I reasoned my resume could say I peformed short-term contract work since my last job.
When that assignment turned into another assignment, I updated my resume to say I was working on short term contracts (plural). Then I was offered another short-term assignment, then another and another. I was able to update my resume to reflect I’ve been working short-term contracts from September to February. The assignments got longer. Still barely worth my time, but my resume is now able to reflect recent employment.
My most recent assignment lasted more than nine days from May into June. Now my resume shows a work history from September to June.
When I’m not at work on my contract, I’m applying for jobs.
One job I applied for was a combination systems administrator/help desk role. It asked for specific experience imaging computers. Imaging computers is something I’ve done in the past and something I could do in the future. But it was difficult to find a good spot on my resume to put the experience. On my short-term contracts spanning several months, I imaged computers almost exclusively. I was able to put that on my resume.
It was the last bullet I needed to demonstrate I had ALL the skills and experience the employer required.
I got the job. By accepting a low-paing junior technical job that paid less than unemployment insurance, I acquired the last bit of experience needed to get a well-paying, senior technical job. A low paying one-day assignment turned into multiple assignments lasting multiple days. It enabled me to fill a gap on my resume. It gave me the experience I needed to get a well paying long-term job.
