Creating resumes for freelance work can be tricky. As a freelancer, you probally have done 100 different jobs over the past year. You definately don’t want to mention every single job that you worked on in the passed 7 years, that would be overkill. So to effectively create a great resume that grabs the potential employer’s attention, you want to focus on your qualities and qualifications.
If you’ve done it, mention it!
The Rule of thumb is, that if you’ve done it, then you mention it, no matter if you’ve used that skill 1 time or a million times. The employer does not know that. You just have to be assured of yourself that if you are called on to perform that skill, that you are confident enough to complete it. So if you feel “iffy” about not being able to accomplish the task if asked, then I would suggest that you don’t mention it. If you are a quick learner, and light on your feet, and don’t crack under pressure, then it’s worth the risk to mention skillsets that will land you the job.
Minimize Your Resume
Secondly, you want your resume to be 2 pages to 3 pages tops. That means you are not going to list every thing that you’ve done all year. What you want to do when focusing on your qualifications, is to focus on your top 5 skills, and then list another 5 skills that support your top 5 skills. This not only minimizing, but it shows the potential employer, that you’ve made the effort in devoloping your skillsets to work to your strengths. As far as building you resume goes, for a freelancer, the resume that will probally best fit the kind of resume you need is called a functional resume. There are plenty of resources on Google, on what one looks like. The order of your resume should look something like this:
Objective
What goal are you trying to accomplish?
Profile
Think of police profiling, this is where you highlight your qualities, qualifications, strengths and weaknesses.
Skills Summary
Give a bulleted list of all the skillsets you can possibly think of that will land you the job, make sure the skillsets are relevant to each other. eg. You wouldn’t mention that you are a gardener and a web designer in the same list.
Professional Experience
This is where you will highlight your 3 to 5 strengths and break them down elaborately why they are your strengths and what you can do with these strengths
Employment History
Give the three to 5 most relevant and recent jobs that you have held, and it looks even better if they’re stretched out over a long period of time, even if they’re unpaid interships or volunteer jobs.
Education
Self explanatory, list all education, high school, colleges, universities, trade schools.
References
This is a bonus, meaning it’s optional. If you don’t list 3 to 5 professional references. At least give the potential employer the option to ask for them, by putting “References Are Available Upon Request.”
Advertise Your Strengths
The potential employer is going to ask you about your strengths in the interview, so why don’t you develop them now. Know what those strengths are, and elaborate on them in your resume. When you elaborate on your strengths, pick the top 3, or you can use 5, and break them down in bullet form why they are your strengths, explaining each aspect of this strength as it were a product and you were trying to sell it. Sell it, and sell yourself! Ask yourself if you were willing to buy what you were selling, if you are not sure, then it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Also, with your strengths, one of them should be confidence, and with your confidence, you should be able to spew out a 20 second soundbyte or sales pitch, for when the potential employer, says, “So, tell me about yourself!” Be Ready!
Don’t Stray Away From Your Weaknesses
Also, when the potential employer is finished asking you about your strengths, you know what’s next, how about your weaknesses. If you’re able to spew these out as well, this shows the potential employer, 1. that you are not cocky, 2. that you understand that there’s always room for improvement. Once again, be prepared, you can be the best of the best, but never say that you don’t have any weaknesses. You are not the workforce God, or else you’d have a job by now, Correct? You don’t have to have as many weaknesses as strengths, and for your sake, you shouldn’t. You should have one or two tops, if you have any more than this, then you have some bigger issues then looking for a job, you’re struggling with some self-esteem issues as well. Keep it to a minimum.
Invest Some Revenue In Broadcasting Your Resume
This last thing is a very simple option. There are resume companies that you can pay a small fee to like $40.00, and they will take your resume, and broadcast your resume to 80 to 100 different other resume companies. It is your job to search for the one that you feel comfortable with and the one that you feel suits your needs. Be willing to invest in your future. If you’re not willing to invest in your future, who else will? Doing a simple task like this will put your resume in front of thousands of potential employers. *Little Secret* If you upload your resume yourself to companies like Monster, Career Builders, Hot Jobs, etc., do you know because it’s a free service, doesn’t mean it’s a good service, you are getting minimal exposure. The best way to maximize your exposure is by paying thier small fees, and let these companies do thier job to find you a job. It’s a small investment with a potential big return.
I hope this helps, God Bless!
