5 Tips To Write A Winning Resume For Remote Jobs

If you’re in the lookout for a remote job, then hey there’s some good news: remote work opportunities have snowballed like crazy in the past decade and signs of hindrance are nowhere in sight(Check out 7 reasons why remote work is the hiring trend for start-ups).

Approximately 99% respondents stated, if they had the choice they would work remotely for the rest of their careers. Now with that being said, more roles and high outlook follows an increasing amount of competition to join the virtual workforce. To stand out amongst the crowd, buttering your employer on the interview day might not quite work in a remote application process so your only way to stand out is to create an irresistible application fit for a remote job.

Remember you’re competing with thousands of people from across the globe, so say goodbye to that “vanilla” resume because 1 in 5 recruiters reject a resume before even reading it all.

Here are 5 tips on how you can tailor your resume to land the remote job of your dreams:

Tailor According To The Job Description And Incorporate Keywords

This might seem like an obvious one, but you might be shocked to know how many people ignore this step and apply anyway. It’s crucial that you read the specific requirements and responsibilities of the role and decide if that works for you and only then proceed to apply, if not you’re just wasting your and their time. Re-read, highlight and then proceed so you have a complete understanding of what your future remote employer is looking for. A tip: use the information of the description to craft your resume and CV accordingly to attract the recruiter and qualify the automatic parsing round.

Most companies use Applicant Tracking Systems(ATS) that scan your resume and if there’s absence of contextual keywords, your resume would end up in the reject pile. If the job posting does not assist with relevant keywords, hop onto their website or LinkedIn page to gain insight on their corporate culture and skills they desire. An AI resume writer can help you consolidate the keywords from different sources and tailor your resume with them.

Place Emphasis On Remote Experience

Unlike what people believe, working remotely is not always rainbows and unicorns all the time- it requires an extreme amount of discipline, motivation and commitment. For the same reasons, a recruiter’s eye first glances to the experience section to know if you’ve had prior experience working from home. Make it a point to convince your recruiter that you’re not new to this space and you’ve got what it takes by mentioning the years of experience and the exposure you’ve received from working with people across time zones.

Don’t stress if you haven't had remote experience before, brainstorm times when you’ve worked from home, worked with clients that live elsewhere. Based on your interactions with them, carve out and write down those skills that would allow you to show yourself as the perfect remote employee when creating your resume.

Showcase Your “Remote” Skills

Listing your experience or basic essential skills isn’t quite enough. Remote work calls for a special set of skills and highlighting those would help convince your employer that you’re the right fit for the job. Think of skills that are foundational to remote work, some are self motivated, discipline, time management, tech savvy and many others as listed below:

-Collaboration

-Adaptability

-Organisational

-Proactive

-Flexibility

-Reliable

-Independent problem solver

Make sure to self analyse if you have these skills and not just list since the job requires it, because that in the future can lead to real problems.

With that said, it isn’t always easy to analyze our own strengths and weaknesses. For this reason, you should use tools like Adzuna’s Resume Checker to see if your skills match with the type of job you’re looking for.

For this reason, you should use tools like Adzuna’s Resume Checker to see if your skills match with the type of job you’re looking for.

PS: if you’re someone that needs a boss to constantly nag you to finish the work before the deadline, maybe stick to traditional jobs instead.

Familiarity With The Right “Remote” Tools

Remote work has a spread of employees across the globe, so your communication game would have to be A1, and an advantage would be proficiency with collaborative and project management tools.

Here are some popular ones:

• Communication – Slack, Chanty
• Project management – Trello, Asana, Monday, Basecamp
• File sharing – Google Drive, Dropbox
• Video conferencing – Skype, Zoom, WebEx

It’s good to highlight those tools you’re well versed with, training remotely can be quite a task, so it’ll save them time and energy if you’re already familiar with them. Don’t worry if you’re not, but make it a point to highlight tech savvy, adaptability or ability to learn in your skills.

Attach An Online Portfolio Or Social Accounts

Regardless of the posting asking for a link to your portfolio, make it a point to include a link to it in your resume and your LinkedIn profile. Why? Because showing works better than stating, especially if it's a role emphasising creative space. Really invest in your digital presence, including your best works and even project details of your learnings and how you handled the situation when things went poorly. Visuals of your experience work better to draw the eyes of the recruiter to your profile. PS: you have nothing to lose here, if they don’t like your work, you can’t see the weird faces they make, perks of a remote application!

In a myriad of applications, the perfect candidate is one with an equilibrium of technical knowledge and the right skills and attitude to sustain in a remote environment. So make sure if you want to be that fanciful figure, market yourself and let your resume reflect that, focus on standing out because 50% recruiters reject the clichés. Remember all you’ve got is 7 seconds from that recruiter that could potentially swift your life!