Searching for a Remote Job? It’s Time to Rethink Your Resume
In recent years, working from home has become more prevalent. Companies have learned that many employees can do their jobs remotely, and they’re increasingly offering work-from-home positions. Employees are also ditching the office to save time on commuting and enjoy the flexibility remote work affords. You now have the option to work from home and be there for your family. You may even be more productive at home.
Changing jobs and embracing remote work may feel intimidating. Change is scary, and it’s hard to know precisely what your life will be like after it. However, there are advantages to working from home, such as spending more time with your family, avoiding the long commute, saving money, and traveling when you want. If all of this sounds perfect, it may be time to tailor your resume for remote jobs. If you’re looking for a remote job, ask a resume expert for help.
What you SHOULD NOT do with your resume
You could just go to job sites and apply for any position featuring “remote” in the description with a basic resume that contains all the “buzzwords” and common phrases. However, such a resume will never make it past an applicant tracking system (ATS), so you definitely shouldn’t take this route. Since nearly every large and medium-sized company uses an ATS to toss aside resumes deemed irrelevant before a human even sees them, not optimizing yours for these algorithmic judges is simply not an option.
When you type in “work from home” in the search engine on a job board, you will find many opportunities and may be tempted to apply for all of them. However, applying for every job won’t increase your chances unless you’re sending carefully tailored resumes each time—all it’s likely to do is lead to burnout and rejection fatigue.
Don’t stuff your resume with words that could fit any job and hope that someone will get back to you. If you use the same words when applying for a customer service position as for a digital media position, you won’t get an interview. Employers are looking for the best person for the job, and that’s certainly not going to be you if your resume is generic.
What you COULD do with your resume
You could update your resume for remote work yourself. As mentioned, your application for each job should have a tailored resume that highlights your skill set in that particular field. Now, this can be challenging when searching for a remote job. Your field may not allow for remote positions, but if you are determined to work from home, you may need to expand your job search and look for opportunities in fields where you don’t have much experience. Optimizing a resume for a career switch can be tricky, but don’t be discouraged—it can certainly be done successfully.
The issue with looking for a job that you don’t have experience in is that your resume will need a serious overhaul. This can be a huge challenge, especially if you’re not adept at resume writing. You should conduct thorough research to ensure you understand the right way to approach this.
What you SHOULD do with your resume
You could rewrite your resume yourself, or you could let a professional resume writer do it. This is the wisest choice because you get a resume expert’s stamp of approval, ensuring that your resume will soar above those of your competitors.
Hiring a professional is especially important if you’re trying to switch careers since you need a resume that highlights your skills and demonstrates your knowledge in the field, even if you don’t have much experience. A professional resume writer will get to know you and see how you can excel in this new field—you just need to find the job and leave the rest to the experts. Of course, hiring a resume writing service won’t guarantee you a job, but it’ll certainly make the search easier and boost your chances.
If you want to stop commuting to work every day and set up your office in your home, that may mean you have to find a new job altogether. To ensure a successful remote job search, you’ll need a resume that accurately reflects your qualifications. You could take on the challenge and spend many hours trying to put together a resume that may still fail to land you a job, or you could hire a professional resume writer to help you craft the perfect resume, thus greatly enhancing your chances of bagging a job you can do from the comfort of your home.
