5 tips on how to optimize your resume to make it in the freelance world
Crafting a resume to land a 9-to-5 is pretty straightforward. But what do you do differently when you're trying to land your first jobs as a freelancer? You craft your personal brand!
Professional brand builder and resume expert Lucy Chen (who touts a resume herself that includes LinkedIn's freelancer marketplace ProFinder and more), provides these tips to help you market yourself and the skills you're able to provide. And find out more with Lightpost, the USA TODAY Network's resource for helping you become a better freelancer.
1. Focus on your skills.
"For most people, I would recommend a chronological resume format, but for freelancers with varied skills and employment histories, it may be more effective to organize experiences by a specific skill (functional resume format). This helps the potential employer or client to quickly scan your experiences versus trying to piece together a long history of projects."
Creating sections for each areas of your expertise and listing key projects and accomplishments makes far more sense for an employer than a long string of possibly unrelated jobs. Don't know where to start? If you're stuck, a private consultant or service like LiveCareer could be worth your time.
2. Build a portfolio or have a collection of work samples.
"Potential employers will want to see examples of your work. Link these portfolios directly in your resume and LinkedIn profile for easy access. Make sure you package it nicely and professionally."
Show, don't tell! Give your future employers a taste of the best that you can offer. Find out more here.
3. Focus on recommendations. Ultimately, as you build your business as a freelance, you will want to leverage your network and your brand to refer you clients.
"Clients will be looking for social proof. It’s much easier to hire someone who you know is vetted by someone in the network, or at least someone similar to you."
The easiest way to display your recommendations is on LinkedIn, where you can request recommendations from previous employers or gigs. Other similar online platforms allow clients to rate and review you, which is a much-used resource for prospective clients. If you have a website, gather and showcase testimonials from your freelance clients.
4. It's all about content! Invest in your professional brand.
"Investing in content helps you build your audience, brand, and thought leadership in a specific area. Publish blogs on your website, write industry pieces on Medium, record videos on Youtube, etc. People want to see that you are an expert in your area. Also, cross-link all of your online brands i.e. LinkedIn, website, blog, portfolio and more. Finally, participate in online freelancer platforms like Upwork, LinkedIn ProFinder, Thumbtack, Toptal, and more."
5. Have a clear branding pitch.
"What makes you unique versus everyone else who can code in the same language? I love the rule of three - it's easy to remember and also visually pleasing. Make sure you can boil down your elevator pitch into three points. Don’t be afraid of repetition. Use that tagline or pitch everywhere in your online brands. Brand comes from clarity and consistency!"
Lucy Chen was the former Growth Lead at LinkedIn for ProFinder, a new marketplace connecting top independent professionals, and most recently was a Product Manager at Toptal, a platform that connects companies to vetted experts. Today, she takes her experiences building these freelance platforms and working across various industries and functions to help people build their professional brand.