How to Address All but Qualifier Status on a Resume?

[dkotschessaa]

Due to the somewhat complicated birth of my son (who is actually doing awesome), and the resulting unemployment of my wife, I will need to find some work before I can finish my Master's (pure math).

I am basically done course work, and have to finish my qualifier, which I was unable to study for while wife and child were in the hospital.

So how do I play this on a resume? I'm wondering if a local community college would consider hiring me for a teaching position. The requirements are at least a Master's, which of course I am but one test away from. (I will take and likely pass it it in August).

I have other skills and such that I can play up, but I can talk about those more in the thread. I'm more interested in the language of the resume here.

-Dave K

 

[MarneMath]

Keep in mind this was a decade or so ago but when I finished my Masters and was looking for a job until my little thesis defense. I simply wrote something like this:

Professional Master in Statistics
Pending thesis defense, anticipated completion date xxxx-xx-xx
Rice University

That's basically how I had it on my resume and it never caused any issues.

*I should note that I had to defend my thesis during the summer for various of reasons. So there was a brief 2 month period where I was working at a job that required a masters in stats whereas I didn't officially have mine at the time.

 

[Ben Espen]

I have seen things like "coursework completed as of [date], expected completion of qualifying exam in August" on resumes for folks in your situation. It isn't all that uncommon for a resume to contain information about when you think you will be done with your degree, even though your case may be a bit different in the reason why. You might reasonably expect a question about this from an interviewer.

Depending on the job, it may not be possible to start without the credential. Unfortunately, this may be more of a problem for you than the phrasing of your resume. However, it also may not matter much. Details abound here.

 

[Andy Resnick]

The requirements are at least a Master's, which of course I am but one test away from. (I will take and likely pass it it in August).

If I understand you, completion of the qualifier exam means you automatically successfully complete the Master's degree?

If so, this is fairly common- at least, for every search committee I have been on, at least one qualified candidate lists something like 'ABD' (all but degree). To be sure, it does raise a flag- what guarantee do we have that you will in fact complete your degree by the start date?- but if you are otherwise qualified, being ABD does not eliminate you from consideration.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Thanks all. I went with "Pending Qualifying Exam fall 2016" for now.

I will be applying both to jobs that require a Master's in math (i.e. teaching jobs) and jobs that I was qualified to do before even returning to school. (Technical jobs, etc.)

Just to give a quick version of the background: Right now I just need work - my wife had a difficult and premature birth and is now out of a job because of it, and my son is still in the NICU. He is in good shape and will come home soon enough, but our savings are draining and I will need to get back in the workforce pretty quickly, so I can't be too picky just yet.

-Dave K