With 1.57 billion freelancers worldwide and a growing freelance industry, your resume must stand out. In this article, we’ll discuss how to write a freelance resume for your dream remote job.
A common misconception is that freelancers don’t need resumes. While many freelancers don’t have resumes, they can be useful to help you stand apart and secure the job you want.
Your freelance resume should include relevant skills and job experiences, but how do you ensure it lands you the job, regardless of your competition? Let’s explore common freelancer resume questions and how you can write one that stands out.
Do freelancers need a resume?
Freelancers don’t need a resume, but having one can be beneficial in helping you secure jobs you want.
Many people who hire freelancers don’t request a resume and want to see work samples instead. However, it’s convenient to have one ready in case it’s required for specific opportunities that interest you, and you can update it as needed. Your resume can showcase your skills and experiences to help you stand out.
How to Write a Freelance Resume
To create a freelance resume that stands out and gets you the job, you need to:
- Choose the best resume format
- Use a template
- Make your skills stand out
- Share relevant experience
- Create your resume for the job
Choose the Best Resume Format
Two resume formats work well for freelancers: chronological and functional.
Chronological format resumes are typical for traditional employees. With chronological format, employment experiences are the primary focus of your resume. These experiences are listed chronologically, starting with your most recent job. This could work well for freelancers who have experience with long-term projects.
Functional format resumes are best for freelancers who have completed many short-term projects. Your resume starts with a skills section to showcase your specialities. Then, your experience section lists different projects instead of employers and details the achievements you made with those projects.
You can also do a combination of a chronological and functional format resume. This will include a list of your skills, a brief employment history section, and other experiences to outline related accomplishments.
Read More: What’s a Digital Nomad Coach? (& Do You Need One?)
Use a Template
The easiest way to create a resume that makes sense for your experience and skills is to use a template and insert your information. You can find templates on Google Docs and Canva.
When using a template, choose a design that best suits your niche and brand. For example, a creative resume makes sense if you’re a graphic designer. If you’re a freelance writer, your resume doesn’t need to be fancy but should fit your brand.
Canva has many templates that are pre-filled to also provide helpful freelance resume examples:
Make Your Skills Stand Out
Regardless of whether you have little or a lot of experience in your niche, make your skills stand out on your resume. Making your skills stand out for remote work positions is especially helpful.
To highlight your skills and stand apart from other applicants:
- List specialities relevant to remote work (i.e., reliability, time management, communication, etc.)
- Be specific with skills and software related to the role (i.e., Slack, Trello, editing tools if you’re a writer, designing tools if you’re a designer, etc.)
- Share specific results, including numbers, you’ve helped previous clients or employers achieve to highlight your impact
- Use action words to describe your accomplishments, like “planned,” “improved,” and “produced”
Share Relevant Experience
Your freelance resume should align with the job you’re applying to and include relevant experiences. If you’re a virtual assistant, you don’t need to have your retail store manager position unless you can relate it to the position you’re applying for.
If you don’t have much experience in your niche yet, get creative to make connections between previous jobs and those you’re applying for. For example, I taught writing classes as a teacher, which can relate to the copywriting positions I apply for now that I’m a freelance writer.
Create Your Resume for the Job
You likely need to tweak your resume for each job you apply to for the most relevancy to help the hiring manager, employer, or client feel like you’re applying to their job specifically.
To create your resume for your desired position:
- Use specific keywords and skills from the job description
- Highlight how you meet the job requirements from the listing
- Include your most relevant experiences and skills
Bonus Resume Tips
Along with writing details about your experience and skills, you can:
- Outline contact information and portfolio or website link
- Include education if it’s relevant to the role
- Make your resume readable with dark font, light background, headers, and lists
- Save your resume as a PDF with your name (i.e., First Name, Last Name, “Resume”)
- Make a connection to help you stand out as an applicant (i.e., reach out to someone higher up in the company via LinkedIn to introduce yourself and let them know you applied for the position)
Read more: 20 Best Online Jobs For Freelancers And Digital Nomads
Remote Work and Freelance Resume: FAQs
Explore common questions for guidance on creating a standout resume for freelance gigs.
How to put freelance work on a resume?
To put your freelance work and skills on your resume, share your position, start and end date, company name, and your accomplishments.
Here’s an example of how to include freelance experience on your resume:
Website Designer
Really Awesome Company
July 1st, 2022 – December 31st 2022
- Website design and development
- Developed visual style guides for 3 websites
- Created 3 WordPress websites from concept to completion
How do I write a freelance resume with no experience?
If you don’t have a freelancing background yet, pull from other experiences to create your resume. Consider other past jobs, volunteer opportunities, and education that helped you develop remote work skills related to the job you’re applying for.
No matter your background, you’ve likely had experiences that can help you in the role you’re applying for. Look at the job listing and description for desired skills and qualifications. Add the ones you meet to your resume, even if you developed them through non-freelance experiences.
For example, if you’re applying for a social media manager position, highlight personal social media experiences, accomplishments, and past roles where you communicated online.
Is it better to say freelance or self-employed on a resume?
It’s best to put freelance on a resume to demonstrate that you’ve worked independently for someone else before. However, you don’t need to put freelance before the position when listing your experiences. The role itself (i.e., Graphic Designer, Copywriter, or Virtual Assistant) is enough.
You can mention that you’re a freelancer in your title with your name (i.e., Polly Clover, Freelance Copywriter). You can also elaborate on your freelance experience in an interview or cover letter.
Do I need a cover letter with my resume?
You can include a cover letter with your resume as a bonus. Write a one-page cover letter that lets you show off your personality and connect with the business owner or hiring manager on a personal level.
In your cover letter, express why you’re interested in the specific role, why you’re a good fit, and when you’re available to begin the position.
Should you get someone to review your freelance resume?
While you don’t have to have someone review your resume, it can help secure the work you want.
While there are more opportunities than ever, the competition is at an all-time high. The freelancing industry continues growing and is expected to make up 50.9% of the US workforce alone by 2027.
Professional resume consultants can help ensure your resume best highlights your skills and experiences for the role(s) you’re applying for. They can also save you time when creating your resume and applying for freelance positions.
We hope this guide helped you feel confident about creating your freelance resume. For more information about getting clients and earning money as a freelancer, check out these articles: