Resume help, tricky edition.
March 19, 2019 10:02 AM Subscribe
How can I best show my current and rather odd employment situation on my resume and LinkedIn?
In my most recent company (Company A) I was a Project Manager, consulting out to various companies within a certain industry and scope, starting in 2016. The largest of our clients (Client) was bought out by another company who then had me come in to work in-house full-time starting last June with the title of “(Dept.) Advisor” rather than Project Manager. This department type isn’t really known for Project Management work but I have been managing projects within the role.
Earlier this year Company A wanted to convert all employees to contractors which, for various reasons, did not work for my situation. Company A did not have enough work for me otherwise so in order to remain employed in the short term I moved over to Company B, a staffing agency, through which I continue to consult for the Client in the same capacity and internal title as before with no gap in time between the two companies.
The work with the Client may eventually run out, so I am now actively seeking full-time work as an employee elsewhere. I am looking at Project Manager jobs in various industries but I don’t know how to put my work for Company A and B on it in a way that shows continuity. I didn’t want to jump to a different company and I really don’t want it to look like I’m flighty, especially because I’m in a place that’s been hit hard by layoffs in recent years and have a couple of those in my history as well (though thankfully I found jobs right away after each). The decision to move to Company B was just necessary to ensure that I stayed employed.
Ideally I’d like to move out of this industry and specialty – I have pretty broad PM experience overall and would prefer not to have “(Dept.) Advisor” on the resume as it doesn’t align with project management for someone outside of the industry.
Timeline so it makes more sense:
August 2016 – February 2019 (Company A)
February 2019 – current (Company B)
The overlap: June 2018 – current (Client)
Questions:
1 - Any ideas about how to put this on my resume? I use a “targeted” resume format focusing on core skills and accomplishments and put a list of relevant work history at the end, this is the section on which I’m a bit stumped.
2 – I’d like to be transparent on LinkedIn but I really would prefer not to put the staffing agency as the employer. It’s only been a month since I moved over. What would look best in this situation to show (if nothing else) continuity with the Client work?
In my most recent company (Company A) I was a Project Manager, consulting out to various companies within a certain industry and scope, starting in 2016. The largest of our clients (Client) was bought out by another company who then had me come in to work in-house full-time starting last June with the title of “(Dept.) Advisor” rather than Project Manager. This department type isn’t really known for Project Management work but I have been managing projects within the role.
Earlier this year Company A wanted to convert all employees to contractors which, for various reasons, did not work for my situation. Company A did not have enough work for me otherwise so in order to remain employed in the short term I moved over to Company B, a staffing agency, through which I continue to consult for the Client in the same capacity and internal title as before with no gap in time between the two companies.
The work with the Client may eventually run out, so I am now actively seeking full-time work as an employee elsewhere. I am looking at Project Manager jobs in various industries but I don’t know how to put my work for Company A and B on it in a way that shows continuity. I didn’t want to jump to a different company and I really don’t want it to look like I’m flighty, especially because I’m in a place that’s been hit hard by layoffs in recent years and have a couple of those in my history as well (though thankfully I found jobs right away after each). The decision to move to Company B was just necessary to ensure that I stayed employed.
Ideally I’d like to move out of this industry and specialty – I have pretty broad PM experience overall and would prefer not to have “(Dept.) Advisor” on the resume as it doesn’t align with project management for someone outside of the industry.
Timeline so it makes more sense:
August 2016 – February 2019 (Company A)
February 2019 – current (Company B)
The overlap: June 2018 – current (Client)
Questions:
1 - Any ideas about how to put this on my resume? I use a “targeted” resume format focusing on core skills and accomplishments and put a list of relevant work history at the end, this is the section on which I’m a bit stumped.
2 – I’d like to be transparent on LinkedIn but I really would prefer not to put the staffing agency as the employer. It’s only been a month since I moved over. What would look best in this situation to show (if nothing else) continuity with the Client work?
Sorry, I'm still confused: has the client been the same across all of these roles the whole time?
posted by DarlingBri at 10:12 AM on March 19, 2019
posted by DarlingBri at 10:12 AM on March 19, 2019
Best answer: I'd structure the resume in a way that puts the emphasis on the work you were doing and for whose benefit you were doing it, with the question of who was actually paying you for that work as a secondary consideration. The magic word here is "via".
So you can say that from $date1 you were working as a consulting contractor in a Project Management role for X, Y, Z and Client via Company A, and from $date2 in the same role in-house for Client via companies A and B. I wouldn't bother listing the actual date of transition from being paid by A to being paid by B, since it's not relevant to the work you were actually doing from $date2 onward and therefore unlikely to be of interest to the person reading the CV.
posted by flabdablet at 10:26 AM on March 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
So you can say that from $date1 you were working as a consulting contractor in a Project Management role for X, Y, Z and Client via Company A, and from $date2 in the same role in-house for Client via companies A and B. I wouldn't bother listing the actual date of transition from being paid by A to being paid by B, since it's not relevant to the work you were actually doing from $date2 onward and therefore unlikely to be of interest to the person reading the CV.
posted by flabdablet at 10:26 AM on March 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Yes, my apologies, it's confusing. From August 2016 through June 2018 I worked for Company A consulting for various clients including the "original" client with the PM title (mostly working from home). When the original client was acquired last year I moved into an in-house role with the acquiring company (Client) with the Advisor title and have been there full time since, just through the two different third party companies.
posted by mireille at 10:28 AM on March 19, 2019
posted by mireille at 10:28 AM on March 19, 2019
Best answer: For what it's worth, I don't think you need to say your official job title on LinkedIn as long as what you put is accurate and representative of the work.
For example, there's a pretty common tech role called Customer Success Manager, but some companies call it cutesy things like "Customer Champion" or "Manager of Customer Happiness". I can't imagine anyone would be faulted for putting "Customer Success Manager" on their LinkedIn instead of whatever cutesy startup name they officially go by.
posted by matrixclown at 12:31 PM on March 19, 2019
For example, there's a pretty common tech role called Customer Success Manager, but some companies call it cutesy things like "Customer Champion" or "Manager of Customer Happiness". I can't imagine anyone would be faulted for putting "Customer Success Manager" on their LinkedIn instead of whatever cutesy startup name they officially go by.
posted by matrixclown at 12:31 PM on March 19, 2019
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posted by mireille at 10:06 AM on March 19, 2019