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8 Do's and Don'ts to Landing a Temporary Job

3. Do Tone Down Your Resume

“Long, verbose resumes shout ‘overqualified,’” Taylor says. So tighten your resume and/or decrease your scribblings on application forms for survival jobs. While you shouldn’t lie outright about your work experience, “it’s OK to de-emphasize certain qualifications by taking high-level job titles, graduate degrees or other irrelevant work experience off your resume,” says Los Angeles-based career coach David Couper, author of Outsiders on the Inside: How to Create a Winning Career Even When You Don’t Fit In. Adds Garrett Miller, a New Jersey-based workplace productivity coach, trainer and author of Hire on a WHIM: The Four Qualities that Make for Great Employees: “Drop the corporate speak and power phrases, and instead highlight your strengths in relating to people and your work ethic.”

4. Do Stay Upbeat

A positive attitude is everything when searching for a survival job. Let’s say you were laid off from a high-level IT position and are interviewing for a job at a coffee shop. Your interviewers will sense your disdain if you can’t find any upside to making and serving fancy drinks to customers. “You have to look at it as an opportunity to grow and stretch,” Miller says. “It’s almost like a miniversion of ‘Undercover Boss.’ You’ll be gaining perspective, empathy and insight into experiences you had once not even considered.”

5. Don’t Come Across As a Know-It-All

Be confident during an interview, not cocky. You may be older and more educated than your interviewer, but that doesn’t mean you’d make a better cup of coffee. Bragging about your accomplishments won’t resonate with your interviewer, Miller notes, but what will impress are phrases such as: “I’m very teachable,” “I may not have chosen this career change, but I’m excited to learn new talents and skills from you” and “I will be here every day. You can depend on me”