Writing About a Job That Was Both Paid & Unpaid

Hi everyone,

So, I wanted to ask for some advice on how I can write, on my resume, about a job I have that has, at times, paid me, and not paid me.

I took up an opportunity with one of my professors to work as a volunteer to help him with his research. After a while, I was offered to be paid for one semester, but after that semester I went back to being unpaid. Basically, there is only usually enough funding to pay me (and the other students) for about one semester out of the year. Basically, there were semesters when I received a salary (usually summers) and when I did not. That being said, the work I would do did not change during the periods I was getting paid or not getting paid (except I got to take on more responsibilities overtime, but that had nothing to do with the money).

I currently use the M&I resume template where there is a "Work & Leadership Experience" heading. This seems to work for me, because at times this was a paying job and at times it was not. I am currently thinking about switching to the WSO template which has both of these sections split. If I were to use this template, would I be able to classify this as "Work Experience" or would it be under "Leadership"? Does all work experience have to entail you collecting a salary?

Also, when a bank is doing a background check on my resume, how can I give evidence of this job? I never signed any paperwork when I started working with the professor (there was no need to as I was just volunteering), plus, when I started to get paid, all he asked for was my Social Insurance Number, and my bank details so I can have money deposited. Again, I never actually signed any official paperwork saying that I was working there.

Thanks for the advice and sorry for the long post!

6 Comments
 
Richmondkey

Why would you write in your resume if it is paid or not? It's about your experience, not how much you were compensated.

Sorry if I was not clear. I am basically asking if I can put this under "Work Experience" even though I was only paid part of the time. I was not sure if the things under that heading had to only be paid jobs. My dilemma is of course, it was both paid and unpaid. I was not going to write anything about my pay structure on my resume, haha. Again, apologies if I was not being clear!

 

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