The employment landscape has changed dramatically in the past several years. The gig economy and remote work have created opportunities for flexibility, convenience, and savings for businesses and employees. But if you’re not spending your days in a cubicle, you might wonder how to list remote work on your resume.
Boost Your Resume By Highlighting Remote Work
About half of the workforce operates remotely at least part-time. Therefore, hiring departments are getting used to working with applicants who have telecommuted in the past.
In fact, many are looking for applicants who have work-from-home experience. Showcasing your remote work properly on your resume highlights your focus, drive, communication skills, and independent work ethic. When you know how to list remote work on your resume, you can help yourself stand out among the other candidates.
Using keywords in your resume is essential for getting noticed by the right employers. Many businesses are using software to pre-scan resumes electronically. With this being the first step in the hiring process, if your resume doesn’t include the keywords that they’re looking for, you might not make it to the next step.
Some keywords you can use that are specific to remote work include:
- Remote
- Telecommute
- Virtual
- Distance work
- Off-site work
- At-home job
- Work from home
- Open location
- Digital workplace
- Mobile professional
- Satellite office
- Multi-site
- Virtual collaboration
The Easiest Way to List Remote Work on Your Resume
You can easily incorporate your remote work experience into the format of your existing resume, no matter what that is. Whether your header lists the name of the company you worked for or your job title, simply add (Remote) to the end of it. If you have included a location for in-person workplaces, replace that with (Remote) in the appropriate area.
But you’ll probably want to elaborate a bit more than simply listing remote as your location for various jobs. One efficient way to do this is to include a summary of your qualifications at the top of the resume. This will be one of the first things that hiring managers and recruiters see.
Include the number of years of experience that you have working remotely in this section. For example: 5 years experience working remotely full time.
Be sure to use other skills that reflect your ability to work remotely. Some examples include:
- Attended daily meetings using video conferencing
- Maintained regular communication using chat platforms
- Collaborated on shared documents
- Used specific software for daily check-ins to accomplish goals while working remotely
Adding Remote Work to Your Job Summary
Below the header, you may have a blurb or bullet points that further describe your responsibilities within the company. Here, you should include keywords that highlight the skills that make you an excellent remote worker.
Some skills and keywords that are important for any job but even more specific to remote work include:
- Self-motivated
- Time management
- Results-driven
- Flexible
- Adaptable
- Innovative
- Cross-functional
- Collaborative
- Strong work ethic
- Communication skills
- Relationship management
Showcase the successes that you’ve accomplished while working remotely. Try to include numbers and statistics when relevant. Indicate whether you have led, managed or collaborated with a remote team. How did you work to reach your goals?
List Remote Work in Its Own Section
Let’s say that you’ve held a job in an office but had some side hustles that involved remote work. Or maybe you have a balanced mix of remote work and in-person employment. In this case, you may want to create a separate section for on-site and virtual positions.
If you list remote work in its own section, you can title it “Remote Work Experience.” This can help your remote experience stand out to potential employers who are seeking a candidate just like you.
Make Note of Relevant Tech Skills
There are several digital resources that employers require remote workers to use. If you are proficient in any of these, list them on your resume. For example, having an understanding of remote drives, such as Google Drive, allows you to collaborate on documents with other employees.
Planning, project management, productivity tracking and time management are essential skills for remote workers. Being familiar with tools that build and reflect these skills may be crucial to your success with your remote job search.
Some important remote collaboration tools that organizations use include:
- Zoom
- Google Chat
- Hangout
- GoToMeeting
- SharePoint
- Dropbox
- GoToWebinar
- Slack
- HubSpot
- Loom
- Asana
- Salesforce
Should You Include Your Physical Address on a Remote Work Resume?
Most traditional resumes should include your general location. This helps companies make decisions about relocation or covering your travel expenses if they want you to fly in for an interview.
However, your physical address is less important if you’re seeking a completely remote job. Therefore, you should format your resume and cover letter for the job description in question.
If the job is listed as an in-person position, include at least the city and state of your home address. You can always negotiate remote work once you get your foot in the door. However, it may be important for you to show up at the office from time to time or be available in person for meetings and consultations. You can still highlight your remote work experience and skills in the job summaries and keywords, though. This may give the employer an impression of your flexibility and capability to work independently and offer you a better chance of negotiating remote work once you land the job.
If the job is listed as a fully remote position, you can choose whether or not to include your address. While it may not be relevant, it usually doesn’t hurt to list it. However, if you think your location might hurt your chances of getting a job offer, you can state “location independent” instead of listing your address.
Don’t Forget the Cover Letter
If you’re including a cover letter with your submission, you should include some information about your remote jobs. Using the term “remote work” in the cover letter boosts the keyword density for the term and makes you more likely to get noticed by employers who are seeking someone with your experience.
This is the ideal spot to expand on some of the bullet points and qualifications in your resume. Showcase your personality and explain how your experience makes you a good fit for the company.
What If You Don’t Have Remote Work Experience?
With 31% of U.S. companies exclusively hiring remote workers, you’ll probably come across some work-from-home positions even if you’re not looking for them. If a remote job seems perfect for you, you might wonder whether you’re qualified if you don’t have remote work experience.
In this case, you should reflect on the skills that lend themselves to remote work. Some questions to ask yourself include:
- Do you bring your work home with you? What tools do you use when you’re out of the office?
- Have you collaborated with other team members or clients who operate outside of the office while you worked in the office?
- How do you manage communication with coworkers and clients outside of face-to-face interactions?
- Have you managed a crisis that included clients or coworkers beyond the office space?
- What experiences highlight your ability to work independently and in an organized manner?
- Do you have any remote coworking experience?
You don’t have to have remote work experience to get a solid telecommuting job. But if you do, make sure you follow these guidelines for how to list remote work on your resume so that you can put your best foot forward and get the position that you deserve.
Jared has worked remotely for 15 years in various marketing capacities, and has managed hundreds of marketing campaigns along the way. He has held freelance, agency, and in-house positions for companies large and small.