Content
On the one hand, the resume has to clearly portray your contribution and accomplishments in your niche. On the other hand, it should be easy to understand for someone outside your line of career. To strike balance between the two, use plain professional language, no abbreviations and slang, and rely on strong action verbs. For example, with a job that became remote due to the pandemic, mention how you thrived under the challenging circumstances and how you adapted to the dynamic environment. Typically, in a resume, you mention what you did in your prior jobs, whereas in this case, specify the responsibilities you’ve taken off-site. Similarly, you can include your remote work experience as part of your work history.
- Many people have only begun to transition from office jobs to distributed workplaces in the past few years.
- But when it comes to interviews for remote roles, it’s even more important, as people who work from home need to be especially proactive, organized, and communicative.
When they aren’t required to be in an office during a set time frame, remote employees can focus on the things that matter to them outside of the office. Another scenario could be a remote employee who wants to attain further education in their field. Some remote workers take full advantage of the opportunities that a remote working lifestyle gives them. On top of being able to set their schedules so that they are able to work whenever they are most productive or creative, some remote employees decide to leave their traditional routines behind and hit the road. You probably noticed that these are all soft skills, which means they aren’t as easy to quantify as, say, whether you know JavaScript or can manage a Twitter account.
Let Your Job Description Do the Talking
Make sure it’s clear that remote work was more than just a pleasant perk; it was essential in your professional growth and career success. For example, on my team, we use Slack for communication and Trello to track progress. Zoom, Skype, Jira, and Microsoft Teams are other popular remote work tools to consider mentioning. While most pre-made resume templates available online lack a specific section for tools and software, you can simply add it yourself or include it in the “additional skills” section. Additionally, you’ll want to list plenty of soft skills as well.
If you have a lot of experience that you want to showcase in your resume, it will be best if you go with a reverse-chronological resume layout. On the other hand, if you want to focus on your skills and less on the experience a functional resume will work best for you. But be sure to include precise dates and locations to draw attention to your continuous career progression. A reverse-chronological resume format works best for most job positions where experience is crucial. Pick a modern resume layout and structure that reflect your professionalism.
Don’t Overdo It
Remote employees are more likely to put in extra effort in their jobs, going above and beyond to get their work done in comparison to in-office employees. According to the State and Work Productivity Report, 65% of full-time employees believe that working remotely would increase productivity – and their bosses agree. Two-thirds of managers who were surveyed reported an increase in overall productivity from their remote employees. And they’ll likely be asking you questions aimed at teasing these traits out.
It’s not time to throw up your arms frustrated about things you cannot control. “Employers are going to be evaluating you based on your behavior,” Leech says. Do you answer challenging questions clearly and forthrightly, and disclose your flaws? Do you help facilitate a successful interview through attention to the allotted time and by bringing prepared questions? This signals initiative.” Finding ways to demonstrate these traits throughout the interview process “will make you a significantly stronger candidate,” Leech says. So spend some time reflecting on how you’d like to answer these questions, then ask a friend to join you on a video chat to practice your responses.
Start your remote or work-from-home job search!
The number of off-site jobs worldwide is likely to increase further in the coming months. Keep your eyes peeled on job sites for new postings — you’ll never know when a great opportunity strikes. If you’re one of those people looking for employment opportunities in the middle of this pandemic, now may be a good time to take a good look at those virtual jobs.
If you don’t want the fact of telecommuting or freelancing to interfere with your responsibilities, consider mentioning it in a location. In a place where you would normally write the company’s city and state, put “Remote”. If, for whatever reason, you want to keep the company’s location, consider listing the fact of telecommuting in the very first bullet point. In this case, you list responsibilities and accomplishments as usual and mention that some of projects or assignments were done remotely.
FlexJobs Is SO Much More Than Just a Job Board
The dos and don’ts above will help you weave them into your resumes with ease. Generic statements tend to come in long walls of text with no impact whatsoever. Recruiters won’t read them due to their excessive length and uninspiring nature. When listing remote work how to list remote work on resume on a resume, avoid using a passive voice and add action words instead. Specific statements are more compelling to read and leave less room for confusion. By changing your locations, employers will see that your setting doesn’t get in the way of your performance.
And many companies are moving to a model where all meeting participants join on their own computer, even those in the same room together. This ensures a level playing field, and makes it much easier for remote participants to participate. If you already live in a high-pay, high-cost-of-living area like San Francisco or New York City, working remotely can grant you the freedom to move wherever you’d like. While not everyone can uproot their family and move, it’s still better to have the option than not.
How to write a brilliant work from home experience for your resume
Even if everyone works in the same space, there’s no guarantee that relationships will form equally! And I suspect it’s human nature to reach for external factors when trying to understand why we weren’t selected for a promotion. This member of the exec team went to an in-office IC for clarification about how remote folks were feeling, because that’s who they knew. Of the articles and Twitter threads I’ve read from people who have actually tried remote work, this is the most common issue. In an office, it’s easy to spend twenty minutes by the watercooler, just hanging out with your peers. Those serendipitous interactions don’t occur remotely, every communication is intentional.
- Also possesses knowledge in editing and social media marketing.
- Just be sure you don’t distract from your best qualifications by inadvertently hiding some relevant non-remote experience in a lower section.
- That’s the beauty of remote work – people can choose to work in a way that makes the most sense for their lives.
- At the very least, it gives you something to talk about during the interview.
It’s hard to objectively evaluate the quality of your resume if you’re not an HR professional. Send the resume to us, and we’ll point out its strengths and shortcomings, so that you knew for sure what to improve on a resume to land a remote job faster. Remote work has become a synonym for flexibility, autonomy, and often less time on the clock. The first step to securing a digital nomad work-from-home position is to tailor a stellar resume. Writing a resume is never easy, but an adequate one can make a difference and help you land that interview. Toss all worries aside, as nowadays, companies embrace remote-work policies and are open to inexperienced individuals.