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Hi all,

I am trying to move out of a highly freelance/project centric industry (3D/Visual Effects) after 10 years + education in the field. My resume is jam packed with 16 positions the longest being 18 months. Two positions spaning 2 years each simply list 7-8 companies I worked for.

I have applied the MT resume guidance as best as I can but obviously this leaves little room for accomplishments and fleshing out professional qualities on a 1-page resume. Furthermore to recruiters outside of my industy this will look like me running from the law.

Any suggestions on how to bundle this so it looks less patchy without creating gaps and make it appeal to a recruiter unfamiliar with the film/commercials/media industry?

many thanks

Carl, London

jrb3's picture
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My resume's like this from a variety of such contracts.

For much of the time, I worked these contracts either through my own firm, or another employer-of-record.  My resume lists "various clients" under that employer, or cites "at [client], [accomplishment]".  I highlight the clients since that's what's important to those reading my resume.

For one two-year project, I had one client but four (!!) employers-of-record.  I listed that client under the name of the first employer-of-record in the sequence, since it was a fail-cascade of buyouts, and none of them exist any longer anyway.  I started with one-liners mentioning each employer-of-record, then shrunk to "First Employer-of-Record [and successors]", then simplified it down to "First Employer-of-Record".

Failing that, perhaps a more functional resume?  Or else group similar projects together, citing "Some Employer-of-Record [et al]"?  I nearly had to resort to this when bouncing among a few clients who only hired contractors through captive hiring agencies.  I wised up, set up my own firm, and stopped working with those who wouldn't put me on their "preferred vendor" lists.

-- Joseph

tlhausmann's picture
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Hello Carl and welcome to the Forums.

Did you catch the podcast for assisting consultants, freelancers, and project managers?

http://www.manager-tools.com/2010/09/writing-resumes-consultants-and-pro...

There is guidance there for pooling your core responsibilities into a single paragraph leaving more room for documenting accomplishments.

Carl_M's picture

Wow out of all the pods I have been listening to for the past 5 years I managed to miss that particular one.

I shall devour it immediately - many thanks guys!