How to Use Work from Home Keywords on Your Remote Resume

If you are looking for a new remote job, it is important that you create a resume that includes work from home keywords. Whether you have prior experience or are looking for your first work from home position, incorporating the right keywords is one of the easiest and most effective ways to get noticed by remote employers.

Why are Remote Work Resume Keywords Important?

There are two main reasons why a resume optimized with work from home keywords is important. First, although COVID-19 showed the world that it is possible to operate a successful business remotely, there are a growing number of employers mandating workers’ return to the office. So, while new opportunities for remote work are available, you are also likely to encounter stiff competition.

The second reason is that both workers and employers realize that being an effective remote worker has its own associated skill set.  It takes a combination of focus, discipline, communication, and technical skills to be a happy and productive remote worker, and not everyone is cut out for it.

To increase chances of a successful hire, employers now utilize a variety of techniques to weed out unsuitable candidates. The most prevalent is the use of applicant tracking software (ATS). These software systems allow employers to search resumes for keywords that match the job’s required skill set. To give you an edge, below are strategies to update your resume and highlight your remote work skill set using work from home keywords.

Know the Lingo

If you don’t know the meaning of a word, working it into a conversation will be awkward at best. The same principle can be applied to incorporating remote terms into a resume. Clear up any confusion by getting familiar with the following terms that every remote worker should know:

Identify Remote Work Skills that are Important to Potential Employers

There are several general categories of both hard and soft skills that emerged during the pandemic as important to an employee’s success in a remote position.

Ability to Work Independently

Nearly every remote job advertisement will mention the “ability to work independently” as a hiring requirement. Highlight professional experience and qualifications that illustrate your trustworthiness, reliability, and experience working without close supervision.

Comfortable Working in Remote Teams

Another key area to address when applying for remote positions is the ability to work well in remote teams. While some remote positions will require minimal interaction with other employees, most involve some teamwork. Be sure to include any experience you have collaborating with virtual or hybrid teams to illustrate your skills in this area.

Virtual Leadership Skills

Particularly critical to an organization’s ability to operate remotely is strong team leadership. It turns out that leading a virtual or hybrid team requires a different skill set than in-person management. Including any experience that you have in this area will score big points with employers. Even if you don’t have team lead experience, highlight any remote mentoring, onboarding, or training you performed.

Technical Savvy

Obviously, the key to working remotely is the technical tools that make it all possible. Since the pandemic, these tools have multiplied, and remote workers are expected to be familiar, if not proficient, in their effective use to communicate and manage workflows.

Research Job Specific Keywords

In addition to addressing the major skill categories listed above, it’s important to identify any keywords that are specific to the position or group of similar positions you want to apply for. This is because some positions may require a certain type of experience or technical skills. The company or industry may also use language in their job ads that is slightly different than the words you would normally use. Make sure your keywords are in the same language.

To do this, simply examine each job ad before you apply. Try and identify the keywords by pulling a list of the hard and soft skills mentioned in the advertisement. Pay particular attention to those listed as required skills or experience. These keywords will be weighted more than others in the applicant tracking software. Also, be sure to highlight keywords that are mentioned multiple times. Then, take your list and search for matching keywords in your resume. You will want to try and incorporate at least 70% – 80% of your list to optimize your ranking.

How to Incorporate Remote Work Keywords in Your Resume

Now that you have identified your key remote work skills and work from home keywords, it’s time to add them into your resume.

Professional Summary

The first place to seed with work from home keywords is in your professional summary. This is a big-picture overview of your career, and its location at the beginning of your resume will let employers know up front that you can work remotely. For example:

Position Headers

An easy place to highlight your remote work experience is to identify it in the position header. Either next to the location in parenthesis or next to your title, add “remote position” or “hybrid position” to show readers immediately that the position had an alternative work model.

Work History Descriptions

In your job descriptions, highlight specific responsibilities and duties that involved remote communication or collaboration even if your position itself is not virtual. For example, if you provided customer service on the phone or using email or chat. Other examples include if you collaborated with colleagues in different locations or work in the field.

The most impactful aspect of your work experience is in listing your accomplishments. If you can describe an accomplishment that involved remote teamwork or collaboration or project management you will be ahead of the game, especially if you can also include success metrics.

Skills Section

The quickest, easiest way to make sure your resume has the most important keywords is to include skill sections. These can be divided into “Areas of Expertise” where you can list your nontechnical skills. Keywords here can include:

You can also add a “Technical Skills” section where you can highlight the information technology tools that you are familiar with being sure to include remote collaboration software tools. Double-check against your job advertisements to ensure you list any required tools. Keywords here may include:

When applying for a work from home position, incorporating keywords into your resume will help you communicate all of your valuable remote skills to increase your potential employer’s comfort level. You need to convince the reader of your resume that you can flourish in a work from home environment. By researching and adding important remote work resume keywords, you give yourself the edge over the competition.

Do you have additional ideas for adding keywords to a remote resume? Did these keywords spruce up your resume and land you the job? Connect with Virtual Vocations on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube to share your thoughts and tips. We’d love to hear from you!