Since the beginning of the 2020 pandemic, millions of workers have been forced to adapt to working remotely. As a result, many workers have decided to offer their services independently by taking on freelance jobs. In the past five years, the number of freelancers operating in the U.S. has grown by more than 12%. Freelancing professionals now account for more than a third of working Americans.
For most, freelancing is a new pursuit. Breaking away from the corporate structure to work on your own can be a liberating yet intimidating process. While working for an established company generally has outlined job references, you are in control of your career path when you work as a freelancer.
One of the most important steps toward building a freelancing client base is to create a Curriculum Vitae (CV) or working resume. If you are a new freelancer, you may need some guidance in creating a successful resume with very little experience. You can visit this page to find helpful CV templates. Let’s take a closer look at CV tips for freelancers.
If you are working a full-time nine to five style job along with freelancing on the side, you should add your freelancing work to your existing resume. If you have acquired additional skills and experience through your freelancing work, it is to your advantage to include it on your resume. Showing your freelance work on your professional resume could open doors for future work.
If you have left your previous work to pursue freelancing full-time, you need to include it on your professional CV to avoid an unattractive work gap. Your freelancing work is just as important as your corporate experience.
If your freelance work is in a different industry, you should consider creating individual resumes. For example, if your professional experience is in banking, but you have been pursuing freelance computer design, you will want to present your expertise on focused resumes.
Your freelancing CV aims to highlight your skills and draw in new clients. Part of creating a freelance CV is building a portfolio of samples of your work. Potential clients or employers will want to see the type of work you are doing and how your services can benefit them.
When building your portfolio, it’s crucial to include only the best samples of your work. For example, if you are a freelance writer, you should only have grammatically perfect samples and contain no errors. As a freelancer, you need to put your best foot forward so take the time to choose your portfolio pieces carefully to reflect your best work. Include online links to your portfolio on your CV.
Listing cold facts on your freelance CV isn’t going to grab the attention of potential clients. They want to see how your professional strengths have been put into action. You may want to consider including metrics in your CV to display how your talents have positively affected your clients. For example, you may want to include the percentage of the increased sales for a client due to your work.
Expanding on your general skills will help your potential clients to set expectations. It’s not enough to state on your CV that you “meet deadlines” or have “excellent communication skills.” You need to go a step further by saying that you consistently meet deadlines and are goal-oriented or have a policy of daily communication with all of your clients.
If you are just starting your freelancing business, you are likely ready to send out multiple proposals to various clients. It may be tempting to send out a standard CV to all of your potential clients, but this isn’t necessarily the best plan. Each job will be looking for specific services and skills. Customizing your CV to suit each proposal will give you better results.
Focus on the skills and services that each client is looking for and make changes and tweaks to your resume to suit the client's needs. It may take a bit of time to prep your resume for each client, but it will be worth customizing your CV for each application.
If you are ready to break away from your standard nine to five career, your first step will be creating a winning resume. Attracting new clients will depend on how well you prepare your proposals. Presenting your CV that includes a perfected portfolio, customizing your CV to suit individual proposals, and focusing on your applicable skills will help you peak potential clients' interest. Follow these tips to help you create a winning professional freelancing resume.
