How to include one-time or non-routine responsibilities on a resume

Question

I'm in the process of looking for a new job after about 2 years at my current company. During this past 2 years, I have been given an increasing number of responsibilities, but not all of these have been routine responsibilities. In fact, in the case of one of the more significant responsibilities it was only a one-time task (to clarify: it was a critical project which involved me guiding a team of several over the course of about a month, and was a one-time occurrence because the need was fulfilled, not because I was seen unfit for the job).

What I'm trying to do now is figure out the best way to go about including these responsibilities on my resume. As far as I see it, my options are:

1. Include them in a separate section below my job history (I don't like this as it makes my resume seem disjointed)
2. Include them as separate bullets beneath my primary responsibilities and either:
   1. Use the present tense, as with the other bullet points (I don't like this because it could be construed as misleading)
   2. Use the past tense (I don't like this as it could be easily missed and may be a bit jarring to the reader, but currently it seems like my best option)

On a closely related note, what about the responsibilities I've taken on in the past several months/year? In that case, I would be inclined to us the present tense, but if I treat them as I do with my core responsibilities, I don't want to mislead the reader into thinking I've held these responsibilities for 2 years as opposed to the reality of a few months to a year.

Answer 1

Include one-time responsibilities as bullet points, but make it clear that they are about a specific project.

For example, I would say:

• Led widget polishing for project XYZ, completed on time and under budget.

Rather than:

• Responsible for widget polishing.

There is nothing wrong with the second statement per se. You could include it in a resume and still be accurate. But there is a risk that follow-up discussion in interview could reveal that your role was less than it seemed. Depending on the context, this might somewhat disappoint your interviewer, or it could even come across as slightly misleading.

It's not a huge deal, but I think a statement like the first one, which is more specific and allows you to highlight specific successes, can actually be stronger.

Simply include responsibilities that were added partway through your job without further explanation.

If it's an ongoing responsibility, there isn't a need to indicate that it's something added more recently. One would expect the list to be your final set of responsibilities; it doesn't imply that you did those things the whole time.

The exception would be if the new responsibilities involved a change of job title. Then it would make sense to separate the new title into a separate section with the additional responsibilities listed.

Answer 2

List them under responsibilities, whether it was one off for a month or not, makes no difference. A resume is about showcasing a product, always put yourself in the best possible light without lying.