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Here's the situation. I work one full time job as a Systems Admin. This job provides me with 85% of my income. I also work two other ongoing side contract gigs, also both as Sys Admins, for small companies. One contract gig is for 5 hours/week and the other for 2 hours/week. It's looking like my primary employer (recently acquired by a big company) will be laying off all employees and, in a best case scenario, will offer them their existing jobs back on a contract basis.

So, I'm looking for work. The question is, should I list those two contract jobs on my resume? They certainly add a lot of value to my brand, and offer more insight into my skills, but they also may scare off some employers that prefer 100% devotion or may be worried I'll be working for other clients on company time. I'm in California, so employers (generally) legally cannot expect to hold an exclusive relationship with an employee (and non-competes are generally unenforceable), but in practice it often doesn't work out that way.

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  • I'm going to preemptively point out that workplace.stackexchange.com/q/17210 does not address the should of this question, only the how.
    – nod
    Jul 9, 2017 at 20:29
  • The purpose of the resume is lay out your experience for someone to see and be interested enough to talk to you. Since your side jobs are completely relevant to your work aspirations, you need to include them and give them the same treatment as you would if you had held the jobs one at a time.
    – Kent A.
    Jul 9, 2017 at 20:31
  • Does this answer your question? Should I include side project in resume?
    – gnat
    Jun 28, 2021 at 13:19

2 Answers 2

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Personally, it hasn't negatively affected my job hunt when I list that worked multiple jobs at the same time. In fact, my latest startup company liked the fact that I worked multiple jobs, but your mileage may vary.

I would try looking for a job first with side jobs listed and the percentage of your time spent on each e.g. 85% Job 1, 10% Job 2, 5% Job 3. If that doesn't seem to generate a lot of interest, remove the side jobs.

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    FWIW I really wouldn't bother pointing out the "percentages". It is so totally commonplace that you simply list them as jobs. Just say "Contract, AWS Sysadmin, Medium Corp" and "Contract, SQL Admin, Another Pty/Ltd". No big deal.
    – Fattie
    Jul 9, 2017 at 23:25
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I wouldn't include it on your resume if you have enough other experience listed (meaning your resume already fits one full page). It'd be different if your contract gigs were for something other than Sys Admin, because then they'd showcase a skill that's not already on the table. It's best not to risk looking unfocused or like you're overextending yourself. If anything, you can bring it up during an interview after gauging the vibe of your interviewer. For instance, when the question "What can you tell me about yourself that's not on your resume?" comes up, you can use your contract gigs to emphasize your expertise in the field or enthusiasm for being a sys admin.

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