A Guide to Listing Remote Work on a Resume

In this guest post, Moira Perez, a writer, traveler, and content specialist at ResumeGuy, discusses the importance of listing remote work on a resume and how to do it successfully.

Before you start your job search, you need to have a resume ready for your applications. They should reflect your skills and experiences clearly to hiring managers and recruiters. If you have a ton of remote work experience, why not include it? In this regard, listing remote work on a resume becomes integral to a successful job hunt.

Unfortunately, resumes can only contain so much information. Walls of text won’t do since they’ll just turn recruiters off. You’ll have to be smart about working around limited space. The question is: how?

Modern problems require modern solutions. Here’s how you can include your remote work experience in your resume without sacrificing content.

How To Show Off Your Remote Experience

You have several ways to show off remote work on a resume, but if you’ve never done it before, it may seem a bit tricky. Here are some ideas to give your resume a quick remote work makeover.

Display It in Your Job Title

If you’ve been a remote employee for your entire career, make that fact clear from the start. What better way to do that than by putting that on the title? You can write it like this:

Let Your Job Description Do the Talking

Some remote workers go to the job description section to place their experiences. Think of it as a teaser trailer: it gives recruiters a preview of your qualifications, responsibilities, skills, and achievements. Summarizing everything in one paragraph can be tricky, so make sure to get your point across by including relevant details only.

Here’s how you can weave your remote work history into your job description:

Set Remote Work as a Location

In the professional experience section, applicants typically place the addresses of their previous employers. In your case, you don’t or never had an office to report to for work. You can easily swap the address portion by replacing it with “remote.” You can follow the example below:

The above example can apply to people working from a home office. If you’re a digital nomad, you can write your location this way:

By changing your locations, employers will see that your setting doesn’t get in the way of your performance. This makes your resume more interesting and can lead to an interview.

Insert It Into Your Skills

The skills section isn’t just a place to show your technical competencies. Here’s a bit of trivia that may interest you: remote recruiters silently seek the necessary soft skills for efficient remote work. Pull this off by inserting keywords like “self-sufficient,” “flexible,” and “resourceful” to capture employers’ attention.

Show It in Your Professional History

The key to great resumes is showing rather than telling — details matter, especially in your professional background. While you don’t have to write a whole essay about a particular job, you should discuss it in greater detail. Present your job history by writing something similar to this example:

Add an Entirely New Section

If you don’t want your resume to look cluttered, you can always create a new section dedicated to your remote work background. Hiring managers will be pleased to know that you’ve got a list of companies that trust you to do your job at a distance.

What Not to Do When Listing Remote Work

For every must-do, there is a no-no you should steer clear of. Avoid these mistakes to ensure a less stressful experience.

Don’t Be Generic

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 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.

Don’t Overdo It

Contrary to popular belief, lengthy resumes aren’t all that great. Recruiters won’t waste their time reading them due to their hectic schedules. The best thing to do is to limit your resume to no more than two pages. Putting remote work on a resume is an important part of self-branding, but listing every job you’ve ever had is just a time-waster for both you and the recruiter. While a one-page resume is ideal, don’t be scared to extend the length if you have five years of experience or more.

Don’t Leave Out Examples

When you claim a skill or achievement, make sure to back that up with concrete proof or examples. You can even quantify them for added credibility. What good is a resume when you don’t have supporting statements for your strengths?

Don’t Lie

The smallest lie can have a huge repercussion on your job application. If you’ve added even a slight exaggeration in one of your remote opportunities, expect some questions from recruiters after they’ve reviewed your application.

The Future Of Remote Work

Remote work isn’t a new concept. People have been working away from offices for years, even in far-flung locations. Even with COVID vaccines, expect remote working to become even more popular than it currently is. 

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’re a seasoned remote worker looking for more gigs, there’s no better time than now to book some as well. 

Present your experiences as professionally as possible if you want to land an opportunity. The dos and don’ts above will help you weave them into your resumes with ease.

Author Bio

Moira Perez is a writer, traveler, and content specialist at ResumeGuy. She’s always looking for new ways for jobseekers to find their dream job. For her, resume writing is always the best place to start.