Should You Include Your Side Hustle on Your Resume?
With 38% of the U.S. workforce choosing to freelance (Upwork's 2023 Freelance Forward Report), answering this question will be essential for many jobseekers.
Conduct an honest analysis. Will including your side gig make you a better candidate?
Have you developed skills during your side hustle that will round out your candidacy for the specific role in which you are applying? Listing side gig skills can be crucial when changing industries or transitioning into a new field.
Does your side hustle detract from your brand or muddy your message?
Could you come across as less than committed or as having a conflict of interest? Could a hiring manager infer that you don’t have time because you are spending 20+ hours per week on your side hustle in addition to your full-time job?
Recent clients with side gigs:
An HR Leader had a side hustle doing HR, accounting, and administrative work for three private clients. We chose to handpick select parts of her work that supported her HR efforts and list those on her resume..
A Sales Manager had a side gig with a multilevel marketing company. We decided to include her experience because she had some remarkable national achievements. I created a separate category on page 2 entitled Entrepreneurial Experience.
A Medical Lab Scientist held a paid part-time position as a club soccer coach. Although my client was very proud of this work and the leadership skills earned, we decided to leave it off. His skills, education, instrumentation, and software experience were more pertinent. We did choose to include a brief sentence about his passion for coaching soccer on his LinkedIn profile.
The biggest problem I see with deciding whether to include a side hustle is pride and relevancy. Individuals are proud of their side hustle and the initiative it took to learn something new and launch a small business. This sense of acheivement can sometimes cloud objectivity. Look through the recruiter’s lens and ask yourself, “Why do they care?”. If you have a convincing reply, then your side hustle is worthwhile to include.