CV: Including ad-hoc roles

[northernladuk]

And I got an 'O' Level in Latin to learn this.....

Ohhh get you!!! Judging by your post on what agents do and how they influence IR35 your time might have been spent better reading other things

The post was mainly aimed at us dweebs who never bothered with Latin (would abuse the usefulness of a Latin O level but I have a feeling a few people have one so will shut up) and infact to correct a very popular misconception. You would not believe how many dicussions there are on the web that have this wrong. Even the wikipedia page on CV's has it wrong in the discussion area. It's not so much the latin wording that people get wrong, it is the correlation between single/many people and single/many lives people get wrong. People directly translate the words but not understand the true meaning. The most popular mistake is people using Curriculum Vitaum not understanding the plural should be on the first word not the second.

While I found it quite interesting anyway as my grasp on the English language is pretty poor let alone knowing a bit about Latin

[SueEllen]

And I got an 'O' Level in Latin to learn this.....

Well at least it is useful for something.

I only found it useful when I was stuck in a museum in Catalonia and there weren't any English descriptions.

[Dearnla]

Am bored and slightly off topic but did you know the differences between singular and plural CVs? Quite interesting really..

Singular CV - Curriculum Vitae
Multiple's of YOUR CV - Curricula Vitae
Multiple CV's of different people - Curricula Vitarum
Single CV of multiple lives - Curriculum Vitarum (but only eligable for for cats and maybe Buddhists)

Vitae relates to your life so you cannot pluralise this word as you do not have many lives. Curriculum means the course of so you can have multiple courses.

So Curriculum Vitae roughtly translates to the course of your life.

Interesting huh.....

Mock me if you want but I bet plenty of people are going to edit their CV's right now!

And I got an 'O' Level in Latin to learn this.....

[Wanderer]

I have been out of contract for a few months but have been doing some ad-hoc IT Support in my local area to keep me busy and some income coming in. Would it be a good idea to include this on my CV to account for the gap since my last contract?

Re-write it to put all the ad-hoc work under one heading as if you were a consultancy business:

Hicks Consultants Limited

Consultancy services to a range of customers in including x, y and z. Doing projects for a, b and c. Blah blah blah. Successfully delivered this and that using these things.


That covers gaps where you weren't working and a number of short term contracts. Give them the impression that you provide ad-hoc consultancy services to your clients as and when needed rather than a permie-tractor job where you do a 9-5 for 6 months.

Could go either way though - they may respect you more as a business man or they may worry that you'll be on the phone all day wheeling and dealing when they want a 9-5 permie-tractor who is 100% focused on their project.

[northernladuk]

Show off.

I thanqew!! <switches google off and bows>

[Svalbaard]

In my sales presentation (CV) I only states main projects worked on. I leave any smaller pieces out and would not state what I have been doing on my holidays (between contracts).

If that way works for you then great.

[SueEllen]

Am bored and slightly off topic but did you know the differences between singular and plural CVs? Quite interesting really..

Show off.

[dynamicsaxcontractor]

Thank you - some interesting viewpoints.




So, if you were out of contract for several months how would you account for this period on your CV?

By leaving it blank, unless I am working on a very interesting internal project.

[northernladuk]

Am bored and slightly off topic but did you know the differences between singular and plural CVs? Quite interesting really..

Singular CV - Curriculum Vitae
Multiple's of YOUR CV - Curricula Vitae
Multiple CV's of different people - Curricula Vitarum
Single CV of multiple lives - Curriculum Vitarum (but only eligable for for cats and maybe Buddhists)

Vitae relates to your life so you cannot pluralise this word as you do not have many lives. Curriculum means the course of so you can have multiple courses.

So Curriculum Vitae roughtly translates to the course of your life.

Interesting huh.....

Mock me if you want but I bet plenty of people are going to edit their CV's right now!

[Hicks]

Thank you - some interesting viewpoints.

In my sales presentation (CV) I only states main projects worked on. I leave any smaller pieces out and would not state what I have been doing on my holidays (between contracts).

So, if you were out of contract for several months how would you account for this period on your CV?

[dynamicsaxcontractor]

Good question.

Whenever I have a gap of more than a month or two I include a one liner (including dates) in the main body of my CV under career history called "Between contracts." That line refers the reader to a short paragraph at the back of the CV indicating what I was doing for the months in question, which also includes non work related activities such as travelling and pastimes.

I have never had any issues with agencies or employers using this approach, and some of my best roles have come about by being able to discuss this information, such as mutually visited holiday destinations and activities with interviewers.

Best of luck finding a role soon.

In my sales presentation (CV) I only states main projects worked on. I leave any smaller pieces out and would not state what I have been doing on my holidays (between contracts).

[Svalbaard]

Good question.

Whenever I have a gap of more than a month or two I include a one liner (including dates) in the main body of my CV under career history called "Between contracts." That line refers the reader to a short paragraph at the back of the CV indicating what I was doing for the months in question, which also includes non work related activities such as travelling and pastimes.

I have never had any issues with agencies or employers using this approach, and some of my best roles have come about by being able to discuss this information, such as mutually visited holiday destinations and activities with interviewers.

Best of luck finding a role soon.

[northernladuk]

Does it compliment your current skill set and roles you are looking for. If not I would leave it or attempt to use the elements you have picked up to compliment what you are after. Lazy agents (and clients) will read the last role and bin/read further from there. If you are a senior programme manager and you have a few months of IT support then you are f***ed.

If it helps use it, if it doesn't drop it.

[cojak]

Yes, put them in. Those ad-hoc jobs are as important for your CV as they are for the money coming in.

It shows that you're wanted and pro-active when it comes to finding work.

[Hicks]

Good afternoon

I have been out of contract for a few months but have been doing some ad-hoc IT Support in my local area to keep me busy and some income coming in.

Would it be a good idea to include this on my CV to account for the gap since my last contract?

I'm not sure it warrants it's own entry but perhaps a cursory mention would suffice.

Would welcome any thoughts/experiences of similar.