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How to List Contract Work on Your Resume: A 2024 Guide

In this article, we'll dive into exactly what contract jobs you should include or leave off your resume, as well as how to include them to ensure they appear favorably to a recruiter.

4 years ago   •   7 min read

In 2024, more companies are turning to contract work, so understanding how to present this experience on your resume has never been more important. This could include contract positions, temp work (directly or through an agency), freelancing, consulting, and any other kind of work that was intentionally short-term.

Listing contract jobs on your resume risks the appearance of job-hopping. On the other hand, leaving them off your resume is likely to leave large gaps in your job history. Either one is a major red flag to employers — so how do you avoid it?

In this article, we'll provide a step-by-step guide on how to list contract work on your resume, giving you a better chance to showcase your value to potential employers. We’ll dive into exactly what contract jobs you should include or leave off your resume. And we’ll provide tips to ensure each one showcases your adaptability, resilience, and ability to deliver value across different roles and industries.

Use contract work to your advantage

Contract and temporary work belong on your resume. Listed correctly, these jobs can strengthen your work history and demonstrate valuable skills. The trick is to make them work for you, not against you. In this section, we'll discuss how to put contract work on your resume in a way that emphasizes your flexibility, adaptability, and achievements.

Demonstrate flexibility and diversity of experience

When putting together your resume for contract work, think about the various industries, teams, and projects you’ve been a part of, and how you adapted to each new environment. Be sure to include any instances where you had to quickly adjust to new technologies, strategies, or working practices.

For example, you could write:

• Adapted to four different industries (healthcare, finance, education, technology) within a span of two years, effectively understanding and contributing to diverse project objectives.

Showcase adaptability

Detailing the skills you had to learn quickly or the challenges you had to overcome in your different roles. Discuss how you've rapidly grown into various roles, learned new systems, or grasped complex concepts.

• Leveraged adaptable learning capabilities to master three new project management software platforms in the span of six months.

Focus on your achievements

Like everything else on your resume, contract work needs to emphasize your achievements, not just account for how you’ve been spending your time. Your achievements should be quantifiable , results-oriented, and relevant to the positions you’re applying for. Focus on your ability to deliver results, regardless of the contract's nature or duration.

• Developed a new content strategy that increased web traffic by 30% in 3 months for a startup in the education sector.

How to list contract work on your resume

• List an employer. This can be the staffing agency (if you used one) or your own name.
• Give yourself a standard job title.
• Add "contractor" or "consultant" at the end of your title.
• List the dates of your contract (month and year is fine).
• Add a short blurb describing the nature of your work.
• Include 3-6 bullet points detailing your most relevant accomplishments .
• Start with an action verb and include hard numbers and metrics.
• Include relevant skills and keywords to bypass ATS and get your resume onto the desk of a hiring manager.
• Use a free resume checker to get instant feedback on how to optimize your resume.

If you want to check if you’ve listed contract work the right way, upload your resume to the tool below — it’ll let you know if your temporary experience highlights quantifiable achievements and valuable skills.

Here's a template for listing contract work on your resume that you can copy and paste:

YOUR NAME CONSULTING SERVICES, Columbus, OH Social Media Marketing and SEO Consultant (Jun 2017 – Present) Developed strategic insights for seven medium-large companies ($5M+/year) to improve SEO, web traffic and conversions. Revamped and implemented new websites for four companies. Selected Projects Name of project - 1-3 bullet points in the format [Action Verb] [Accomplishment] [Metric], e.g. Search Engine Optimization project for American pet store - Analyzed data from 25000 monthly active users and used outputs to guide marketing and product strategies; increased average app engagement time by 2x and 30% decrease in drop off rate Website Redesign for Top 5 Hospital in USA - Drove redevelopment Of internal tracking system in use by 125 employees, resulting in new features, reduction of 20% in save/load time and 15% operation time - Overhauled the obsolete legacy source code of two production applications, resulting in increased usability and reduced run time performance by 50%

Next, we provide some examples on how to show contract work on your resume, depending on your unique situation:

What contract work should look like on your resume

If you used a staffing agency.

If your contract jobs were all provided by a single staffing agency, list that agency as your employer. This format allows you to group a large number of jobs underneath a single heading, which makes your job history look more uniform and keeps your resume easy to read.

You can also include the company you worked for — this is optional, but it can help provide extra context. Just make sure you’re not representing the nature of your employment.

Group your experience

If you’ve held a few positions with different companies or agencies, it’s still possible to group these together. Think about what they have in common — like a similar industry or type of role — and list them accordingly.

If you were an independent contractor

If you’ve done a lot of freelance or contract work directly, rather than through an agency, there’s nothing stopping you from creating your own firm and listing your experience under that heading.

Using a grouped firm name — even if it's your own — looks more professional than a collection of unrelated freelance or temporary jobs (since it does not show you've had any gaps), and listing your work under one heading gives you the opportunity to emphasize the most relevant skills you’ve picked up. It also shows recruiters that you have a focus in one specific discipline or industry.

Related: How To List Contract Work on LinkedIn

Label your experience

If most of your job experience is full-time and you’ve only held one or two temporary positions, the simplest way to list contract jobs on your resume is to label them. List these jobs as you would any other, but label them clearly with ‘temporary,’ ‘temp,’ or ‘contract.’ It doesn’t matter which one you choose — but be consistent, and use the same format throughout your resume.

Highlight specific experiences

Underneath the employer section — which could be a staffing agency or your own contracting firm — write a short blurb that contextualizes your experience.

This works best if you’ve held a number of temporary or contract positions with similar titles or duties, but if not, try to find a common theme to connect your work. This approach is all about presenting a meaningful and consistent job history, so focus on highlighting your most relevant accomplishments from each assignment.

List specific dates

Having lots of contract jobs is one situation where it pays to list specific months — not just years — on your resume. Again, if you have a lot of these, it’s best to group them under a single heading, like a staffing agency. Underneath that, you can list each company or position and the exact dates you worked for them.

List temporary jobs in their own section

If none of the approaches above work for you — for example, if you’ve held a few different contract positions in between full-time jobs  — another solution is to create a separate section on your resume for temporary jobs.

This might be a good idea if the temp work you’ve done isn’t related to your current field but fills what would otherwise be large gaps in your work history . List your relevant work experience as normal, with a ‘Contract Work’ section underneath.

You don’t need to list every job

Not all contract jobs need to make their way onto your contract work resume. If a particular job doesn’t strengthen your candidacy, leave it off! This is especially important if you have a long list of temporary experiences. It’s okay to only include the positions that are the most relevant and best demonstrate your skills.

Ask yourself these questions when deciding which contract jobs to include:

• Did this job provide me with skills or experiences that are relevant to the position I am applying for?
• Did I achieve notable successes in this job that I can quantify or otherwise highlight?
• Did this job contribute to my professional growth or offer a stepping stone to more advanced roles in my career?
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How To List Contract Work On Your Resume (With Examples)

• How To Write A Resume
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Find a Job You Really Want In

#jobsNearToYou{display:none;}.noImage-major-hero{display:none;}.major-hero-header-wrapper.w-100{display:none;}@media only screen and (min-width: 800px){.intro-research{}}#jopbTypeEntryContainer{display:none;} #jobsNearToYou{display:none;}.noImage-major-hero{display:none;}.major-hero-header-wrapper.w-100{display:none;}@media only screen and (min-width: 800px){.intro-research{}}#jopbTypeEntryContainer{display:none;} Contract work is becoming more popular and is a great way to earn some extra money on the side or for your main source of income. While this can be an excellent way to make money and grow your professional skills, it’s essential to know how to list contract work on your resume . Listing contract work on your resume can help fill in any gaps in a resume and can help show your experience in the field. Whether you’re a freelancer, virtual assistant , or remote contract worker , we’ll go over how to list contract work on resume, provide some examples of how to list contract work on your resume, as well as some tips to keep in mind. Key Takeaways: If you have multiple contract jobs, you should create a new section for them on your resume. Be sure to include any relevant contract work to your resume, including temporary work. Try telling a story with your contract work to help craft the narrative of your work experience. In This Article    Skip to section How to list contract work on your resume How to put contract work on resume examples Should you include contract work on your resume? Formatting tips for listing contract work on your resume Listing contract work on your resume FAQs Final thoughts References Expert Opinion Sign Up For More Advice and Jobs Show More How to list contract work on your resume

When listing contract work on your resume, you should try and tell a story of your work experience and try to emphasize your accomplishments. Below is a more detailed list of how to add contract work to resume:

Tell a story. The most important thing about including contract work is to focus on telling a story.

Work experience at a single company over a long period of time tends to do this by default — if you’re stringing together work you undertook on a variety of projects, then the job of crafting the narrative of your work experience falls on you.

Organize your contract work. For this reason and others, the organization of your resume is extremely important for your resume. Group all of your contract work into one central location of your resume, so that any interviewer will be able to quickly scan and understand which work experiences of yours were done in which context.

You can group by industry or job type; whatever makes sense for you. List your contract work in reverse-chronological order, starting with your most recent experiences. If you’ve done multiple projects for the same company, list all of that work under the same company’s name.

Be clear with your formatting. List each company you worked for individually. Don’t be afraid to list both the contracting firm employing you as well as the specific company you did the work for.

Just make sure it’s clear that the staffing agency was your employer and that your projects were done for other companies. You can impress the recruiter if you’ve done contract work for some reputable companies.

Formatting a resume with contract work can be tricky, but we recommend the functional resume format if you lack sufficient full-time work experience. It emphasizes your skills and qualifications over work experience.

Customize your resume for the prospective employer. As with any resume you send out, make sure your work experience is tailored to the client or position you’re hoping to land. This is where contract work can be a real asset, especially if you have experience wearing a bunch of different hats.

Read the job description for key qualifications and responsibilities, then select and emphasize contract work you’ve done that most closely matches those. It’s a bit of extra work, but you’ll see better results with a customized resume.

Emphasize your accomplishments . Your achievements tell the story of what exactly the result of your contract work was. Use action verbs and quantify your accomplishments whenever possible. For example, instead of saying “Designed webpage for company X,” say something like “Revamped webpage, driving traffic by 23% over 2 months.”

Your main goal throughout the hiring and interview process is to convince a hiring manager or recruiter that you’re going to add real, tangible value to the company.

Focus on your skills. Go over the job posting and highlight the skills mentioned there. Then, emphasize those skills in the context of your contract work. Your cover letter gives you a chance to emphasize your skills even further, but you can still incorporate a few choice keywords into your resume.

How to put contract work on resume examples

Here’s a quick example of one way you can list a single entry of contract work on your resume :

Single contract work entry example

Marvel Studios, LLC; Burbank, CA Content Writer and Stan Lee Personal Bodyguard; Contract (July – Dec 2017) Brainstormed, workshopped, and ultimately executed ideas for both inline and blog content. Protected famed comic book author Stan Lee from numerous assassination attempts originating from an international cabal of out-of-work comic book artists/hitmen headed by Steve Ditko.

Note: When listing multiple projects under the same company, remember that you only need to list the company’s name and address a single time.

Full resume with contract work example

John Pilgrim Birmingham, NY | 999-876-5555 | [email protected] | www.linkedin.com/in/john-pilgrim/ SUMMARY STATEMENT Experienced writer , copyeditor, and editorial manager with a background in technology and science. Delivers high-quality, customized SEO web content, content marketing materials, and client-facing newsletters. Thrives in a deadline-driven environment while supporting sales goals and client-oriented projects. SKILLS Proficient with HTML/CSS Excellent written and verbal communication skills Expert with Google suite and Excel Working knowledge of WordPress Ability to translate complex topics into easily readable information WORK EXPERIENCE XYZ Consultancy | Birmingham, NY Calico Tech | Johnson City, NY Lead Editor: Science and Tech Blog; Contract (Sep. 2020-Present) Drove traffic to company blog by 67% over a 4-month period Copyedited 40 articles per week, maintaining consistent style, tone and graphics Managed a team of 8 writers and 2 designers to meet deadlines, develop new content ideas, and create customized graphics Developed and updated blog style guide Heya Science | Park Terrace, NY Content Writer: New Science Newsletter; Contract (May 2020-Oct. 2020) Delivered 2 long-form newsletters per week, totaling 5,000 words and reaching 10,000+ subscribers Conducted competitor research and reported weekly at Marketing team meeting Won best writer June 2020 Big Tech Jr. | Philadelphia, PA Marketing Assistant; Contract (Nov. 2019-June 2020) Planned new content and promoted page on social media Drove app engagement by 39% over first three months Created streamlined marketing/engineering protocols, improving turnaround time on new projects by 16% Johnson and Johnson | New York, NY Junior Marketing Assitant; (May 2017-Nov. 2019) Assisted marketing team by collecting data and reporting findings on a weekly basis Leveraged organizational skills to create spreadsheets for tracking success of various marketing campaigns Drove website traffic to the science and tech blog by 12% EDUCATION B.S. in Marketing (May 2017); GPA 3.8 University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT Dean’s List for 8 semesters

Should you include contract work on your resume?

Yes, in most cases you should show contract work on your resume. Any legitimate work experience that helps prove you have the right skills for a job should be listed on your resume.

It shows your experience. Working as a contractor also shows recruiters that you’re capable of adapting to new work environments quickly, which is an attractive trait in a job seeker

It helps fill in the gaps. Contract work that helps fill gaps in your employment is crucial to include. It proves that you weren’t idle while in between jobs and that your resourcefulness led you to find other avenues for paid employment.

The main issue with including contract work is a little bit dated since the gig and freelance economy have been thriving in the recent job market. Still, listing contract work on your resume can be cause for alarm to some (although not all) employers.

It shows how long you’ve been somewhere. For the most part, a recruiter or hiring manager prefers to see steady work experience where someone works for several years at a single location before moving on.

This is because hiring anyone is essentially an employer making the following bet: Will this person I’m hiring remain with my company long enough to make up the money I’m going to spend on training them?

It shows you aren’t a job hopper. For this reason, it can be a bit of a red flag when employers see too many seasonal or contract-based work experiences on your resume.

If these experiences aren’t properly detailed (or even sometimes if they are) then it can easily look to a potential employer like you’re the kind of person who jumps from job to job at a moment’s notice. They might start to worry that you’re the kind of person who gets bored easily, who won’t stick around for very long.

Formatting tips for listing contract work on your resume

When formatting your resume to list contract work, you should use your company name. Here are some more formatting tips to keep in mind:

If you’re an independent contractor, use your company name. This can be as basic as “Sam White Marketing,” or you can come up with a creative name and register it. Using your own company name can help you organize your contract work more clearly.

If you only had one or two temporary jobs in between permanent jobs, list them like you did your permanent jobs. Just mark them as temporary jobs by putting the word “temporary” in parentheses after the job title.

If you have multiple contract jobs, consider giving them their own section. This is an especially good idea if you need to show what you did during a gap (or gaps) in permanent employment, or if it just makes good sense for your resume’s organization.

If you aren’t sure how to format something, use common sense. At the end of the day, the point of formatting guidelines is to increase clarity, so if you get stuck, just ask yourself what would make your point clearer.

Put yourself in the reader’s shoes, or ask a friend what they think and then choose the option that makes the most sense for your resume.

Listing contract work on your resume FAQs

Can you put an independent contractor on a resume?

Yes, you can put an independent contractor on a resume. Independent contracting work counts as work experience the same as any traditional job. Just list your responsibilities and accomplishments as you would normally to show hiring managers what kind of work experience you gained in those roles.

Does a contract job count as employment?

Yes, a contract job does count as employment. Some hiring managers may see contract jobs as less valuable experience, but most these days count it just as they would any job.

Should I include temporary jobs on my resume?

Yes, you should include temporary jobs on your resume. The work experience you gained in these roles is just as valuable as work experience from permanent roles, so you should add them to your resume.

Just remember to show hiring managers how the work you did in those temporary jobs will help you in the role you’re applying for.

What type of work is contract work?

Contract workers, often called independent contractors or freelance workers, are hired for a specific project. The work is usually for a specific amount of time and has a set fee. These workers are often hired because of their expertise in a particular field or area.

What is contract work?

Contract work, also called independent contracting, is when a business will hire a professional to help[ them accomplish a task for a determined amount of money. Oftentimes, contract workers are freelancers and they are hired for their niche expertise for a short-term project.

Final thoughts

Remember that when it comes to listing contract work, including the work is always better than ignoring it. Job hunting is tough, but with these tips in mind, you should have a great resume to go along with your winning cover letter .

Even if you’re worried about the way that you’ll be perceived for the large amount of temporary or contract work, remember that most recruiters and hiring managers would agree that contract work looks better on a resume than no work at all.

Use strong action verbs, hype up your accomplishments, and tailor your resume to the job posting. By showing off all the impressive skills your contract work has helped develop, you’ll have job offers in no time.

TopResume – Ask Amanda: How Do I List Temp Jobs on My Resume?

Expert Opinion

What’s a general tip for writing a resume?

Lucas Moe Career Coach Consultant

Two quick tips:

• Be action/result oriented (result should be written in active voice e.g. streamlining, enhancing, producing, reducing, etc.)
• Make points quantifiable (if you struggle with quantifying your bullet, find the noun and quantify the noun – you can ask yourself: How much? How many? How often?).

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Ryan Morris was a writer for the Zippia Advice blog who tried to make the job process a little more entertaining for all those involved. He obtained his BA and Masters from Appalachian State University.

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