Generally speaking, a resume’s purpose is to inform a hiring official of the experience, education or achievements that you already have and how that makes you a strong candidate for a job position.
However, what if you have an internship or future job coming up that is really impressive?
Is it proper resume etiquette to include it on your resume? If so, how can you put an incoming job on your resume?
These are some questions you may have regarding an incoming position and below are your answers!
Let’s first discuss when to include it and when to leave it out entirely.
Should you put a future job on a resume?
Add an incoming job on your resume if you have already been accepted and it is a highly competitive position. That way, it is impressive to the recruiter. It is also better when it is an internship as these positions are centered on learning and getting practical experience. Otherwise, leave it out.
With this in mind, let’s talk about the correct way of putting a future job on your resume that will make it useful and valued by a hiring manager.
Top 3 tips on including a future job on a resume
As mentioned previously, unless you think it is absolutely necessary to add an upcoming position, it is best to leave it out entirely as it does not show anything of value yet to the hiring official.
If you do plan on including it, make sure that it is listed in the proper way by following these 3 guidelines.
Make it clear that your position is in the future
If you are currently unemployed, you can list the upcoming job first in the ‘Professional Experience’ section, then your past experiences.
If you are currently employed, you can put it after your present workplace, as recruiters would rather know where you are presently above all else.
The most important thing to keep in mind is to ensure that you highlighted the fact that it is an incoming position and that you have not started yet.
Do this by listing it like any other job but add ‘Incoming’ to the job’s title.
When listing work experiences, it is recommended to follow the format where the title comes first and then the company and duties underneath it.
This format also works best in a situation where you have a future job to list.
It should be obvious to the hiring official scanning your resume that this position is in the future.
Examples:
Professional Experience
Tech Support Associate
WeWork | New York, USA | August 2020 – Present
Incoming Software Engineer
Saratech Corporation| California, USA| Starting September 2021
Internships
Incoming MBA Intern, Digital & New Media
Paramount Network | California, USA | Starting Jul 2021 – Ending Sep 2021
Digital Media Intern
Lyfe Marketing | Atlanta, USA | Jan 2021 – May 2021
Include start and end date whenever possible
After adding ‘Incoming’ to your title, it is also important to indicate the start date.
If it is an internship, most of the time you will also have your end date to add.
If you do not know the exact dates, you can give a broad idea by writing ‘Summer 2021’ or ‘Winter 2021’.
This indicates when you will start and that your employment will end after 2 or 3 months by the end of the season.
Examples:
Internships
Incoming Bank Teller Intern
Bank of America | Fullerton, California | Winter 2021
Professional Experience
Incoming Legal Operations Consultant
Boundless Immigration | Washington State, DC, USA
Start date: June 2021 – End date: August 2021
Do not include too many details about the position – Keep it brief!
Due to the fact that you have yet to achieve or experience anything while working your future job, it is best to keep it brief by only giving a broad idea of what responsibilities it entails.
You should not devote too much space to this part of your ‘Work Experience’ section.
A future job, if mentioned, should be cited shortly and summarised as generally as possible.
You cannot make any in-depth claims as you have not started yet and it won’t do you any good anyway.
Note: Start your sentences with ‘Will’ when describing your future tasks.
Examples:
Professional Experience
Incoming Financial Analyst
Silicon Valley Bank | California, USA |Starting July 2021
- Will maintain and monitor the fund and equity investments.
- Will prepare weekly inflow and outflow reports.
- Will lead presentations for valuations and risk ratings.
Work Experience
Incoming Mechanical Engineering Apprentice
Rathbone Pacific | San Diego, California, USA | Summer 2021
- Will compile and distribute new raw material reports to the engineering team.
- Will update lightweight material accounts.
- Will collaborate with the design and production teams.
Internships
Incoming Marketing Intern
FineLife | San Diego, CA
Starting Sep 2021 – Ending Nov 2021
- Will collect and review the internal and external customer data.
- Will identify and analyze marketing gaps and new target audiences.
- Will plan and implement marketing campaign strategies to reach monthly sales targets.
To reinstate, the only time it is recommended to add an incoming job on your resume is if you have already been accepted and have signed a contract.
Also, if it is known that the position is competitive and that the hiring process is really tough, which makes it impressive that you were chosen over the other candidates.
Internships or apprenticeships make more sense to be included rather than any other job as they provide candidates with more broad transferrable skills.
Otherwise, it is best to leave it out.
You still have not accomplished anything and something could even change before you start working.
So, it may do more harm than good since you have nothing to show for it yet.
Always take into consideration whether the hiring official will regard this as something valuable and notable, and base your decision on that.
Hey fellow Linguaholics! It’s me, Marcel. I am the proud owner of linguaholic.com. Languages have always been my passion and I have studied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Sinology at the University of Zurich. It is my utmost pleasure to share with all of you guys what I know about languages and linguistics in general.