Being Hired as a Vendor or Contractor, how do you put it on your resume?

Question

I did an internship/co-op at a company, and then I went back to my home university. From there, I continued to work with them on the project and they hired me as a Vendor to be able to get a badge and access data etc. They also financially support my education for a year (through a research associate position), so although they do not pay me directly, they are paying me indirectly through my home university.

How should I put this on my resume? Can I include the time that I was at my university in the internship/co-op time? After all, putting a longer period of internship/co-op can be more impressive on resume.

Answer 1

Being Hired as a Vendor or Contractor, how do you put it on your resume?

A resume is a sales tool, and not a legal document, so you don't have to worry so much about getting the employment details exactly right.

Paid or unpaid, the important thing is that you worked on the project in a specific role, continuously, for a given length of time, so that's what you should emphasize on your resume.

In your resume's employment section, you could simply list your job as having been with the company, and list your title as Intern/Vendor, including:

• the project name
• the month/year you started
• the month/year you ended (if applicable)
• the project description

Within the project description, provide details about the overall goal of the project itself, your role, and what you accomplished during the project.

If it makes things easier for you to explain, you can also include a note within the project description regarding your transition from intern to vendor.