Get a Great Holiday Job With These Resume Tips

1. Find the right job board

First, decide what type of holiday job you’d like to have. If you have identified a company you’d like to work for, you’ll likely find their seasonal openings on the company’s career site. If you want to see what’s out there before you apply, try a general job board, like LiveCareer, that will contain lots of different seasonal opportunities, or use a niche board, like FlexJobs, that specializes in part-time or seasonal work.

2. Personalize your resume for the job

Whether you work full-time in another field and want a seasonal job for extra money during the holidays, or you have limited work experience and are hoping to fill out your resume with a holiday job, personalize it every time you apply. Read the job ad and take a look at the skills the employer is seeking and adjust your skills section accordingly.

3. Call out your accomplishments

If you’ve had past successes in your holiday jobs, make sure to call them out in your resume and cover letter. Use numbers wherever possible. For example, maybe you were the top Christmas tree salesperson at the nursery you worked at last winter. Or, perhaps your customer surveys gave you high satisfaction ratings. Name these accomplishments. They show – rather than tell – a potential employer that you’ve got the right stuff.

4. Don’t forget the soft skills

Research shows that it’s critical to add soft skills to your resume. According to LinkedIn research, mentioning your problem-solving skills, strong communication skills, and overall terrific interpersonal skills will give you a leg up on the competition. For holiday jobs, many of which involve a customer service component, these may be more important than hard skills.

5. Don’t leave room for confusion

If you’ve held a holiday job – or several – in the past, make it clear on your resume that these were seasonal roles. Otherwise, it might be easy for an employer to see several short stints at different companies and think that you’d been fired or that you are a fickle employee who quits jobs over and over again. To accomplish this, add the word “seasonal” or “holiday” before or after your job title. For example, “Sales Associate, Seasonal” or “Holiday Sales Associate” would alert employers to the fact that this was designed to be a temporary assignment.

6. Choose a resume format that right for you

Not all resume formats are created equal. While a chronological format will highlight your work experience, people seeking holiday jobs might want to consider a functional or combination format, which are more skills-focused. These formats can help draw attention to your transferable skills, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience in the field in which you are seeking holiday work. Resume-Now offers a selection of resume formats and templates for the fastest, easiest resume creation around.

7. Write a cover letter that highlights your experience

If you work full-time in an industry that is unrelated to the seasonal work you seek, your resume may not convey the skills that you’ll bring to the table as a holiday hire. Use your cover letter to highlight transferable skills and call out your successes in past holiday jobs. Pointing out in your cover letter that you are seeking part-time work in addition to your regular job will also help show that you are a hard worker. If you need help writing this document, turn to our cover letter builder.

8. Be flexible

If you are unemployed or working part-time, be as flexible as possible with your schedule for the best chance of landing a holiday job. Seasonal jobs in many industries will have extended hours during the holiday season and are looking for workers to cover them, which might mean early mornings, late nights, weekends, or overtime. While seasonal workers who are holding down other jobs might have less flexibility, remember that the more available you are, the more appealing a candidate you’ll be.

9. Keep in touch

Companies love to rehire people they have worked with in the past. Hiring the same seasonal people year after helps save on training costs and assures them that they are hiring people with brand knowledge. Your holiday job may be over at the end of the season, but your relationship with the company doesn’t have to be. Do your best to maintain relationships with managers and coworkers and reach out to recruiters early the following holiday season, so you have the edge over others looking for seasonal work. And, if you ever decide you’d like to apply for full-time employment, you’ll have built internal references that can be very valuable to you.