A very quick question about resumes and semi-seasonal jobs Forum

[RZ5646]

Let's say a student has a job at college. He does not work this job over the summer, for obvious reasons, though it is understood that he will return to the same position when school starts again, and there is no interruption in his employment from a paperwork standpoint, i.e., he is not terminated.

Does he need to list every gap in that work (if it can be called a "gap"), like

Campus Job: Aug 2020 - May 2021, Aug 2021 - May 2022, Aug 2022 - May 2023, Aug 2023 - present

or would it be acceptable for him to simply write

Campus Job: Aug 2020 - present

?

Any advice would be appreciated, since I can find very little advice online, and even less that is specific to law school and the various C&F issues that might arise.

[BillsFan9907]

The later. It's assumed that campus jobs are seasonal.

[bretby]

I don't think it's assumed that campus jobs are seasonal. A lot of people continue at their jobs, campus or otherwise, over the summer. The assumption would be that you worked the dates you listed. Just a thought.

[DiniMae]

Use the latter and say excluding summers

[BillsFan9907]

Perhaps. I was in a similar situation (see no harm in revealing). I did not list all the beginning and end dates. I spoke to someone in admissions and they said it was not necessary. They also linked me to some resume rules from their undergrads pre law program.

[BillsFan9907]

Use the latter and say excluding summers

Where could you put that on a resume so it doesn't look weird?

Also keep in mind on applications you can list your employment history in more detail.

Let me ask you this: in Europe people get a month off. Would they write on their resume that they took this month off? Even simpler: primary school teaches. I think - and tell me if I am wrong - that the OP was continuously employed but just was not working during the summers. He didn't have to get rehires every fall.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Edit: RC fail.

[BillsFan9907]

Wait did I read this wrong? I thought it was employment DURING the school year and NOT DURING summer. The later would be different I guess. I would still maintain the former is continuous employment?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Sorry, that's what I get for posting this early. I misread the summer part. Ignore me. I agree you can generally just say 2010-present for school year jobs. You could also list something like "Library Assistant, X University, Fall and Spring semesters, 2010-present" if you think it would be clearer.

[pcph]

.

[SPerez]

I have an on-campus job. I wrote "August 2013-present" and then in the description I said something like "15 hours a week during the academic school year"

This is the option I prefer. A huge number of college students today do not do college in the stereotypical Fall/Spring away from home, home for the summer, back to college sequence. Many don't leave home for college, others stay in their college town for the summers, etc. I can't make many assumptions that certain jobs were for certain periods. I've seen students list "XYZ Attorney-at-Law, 2010-2014" for jobs that are actually only during Christmas holiday breaks and maybe one summer while another summer is listed as a study abroad so they clearly didn't work that whole summer. In that example, just putting years makes it misleading, IMO.

Also big plug for listing hours worked per week. There's a big difference in time commitment between 5 hrs/wk sitting at a campus info desk and working 40+ hrs/wk.

Dean Perez
Texas Tech Law