How Do I List Self-Employment & Freelance Work on Resume?

There are struggles freelancers or self-employed people go through when listing their experience on a resume.

Reasons why this happens usually come with questions like; “how do I choose which professional project to list?”

Alternatively, those who take freelancing as a side hustle wonder whether they should include it on their resume at all.

Many who seek jobs try to make freelancing a full-time position on their resume, but there is no substantial merit to this.

Self-employment, freelancing and an office duty are necessarily not so different.

Its just that when adding these (i.e. self-employment & freelancing) on your resume, proper care should be taken so that it is formatted correctly to ensure it highlight to hiring managers what a great gig you’ve got.

How to list self-employment and freelance on your resume

Below are ways you can list self-employment and freelance work on your resume:

1. Showcase your portfolio

it’s good to bullet point your most notable skills and achievement from the time you became self-employed.

However, it’s better to back your success up with evidence. Give examples of relevant work on your resume by linking to it.

For example, if you are a graphic designer, link to designs you created.

If you are a surgeon, link to patients you have operated on, and if you are an artist link to your portfolio.

We advise referencing at least five examples that represent your skill set.

By focusing on your accomplishment this way, you provide solid, tangible metrics for a prospective employer to assess.

This carries more weight than mere words on the page.

2. Include your freelancing as a position of employment

Whether your recent role can be described as self-employed or your other source of income is freelancing, tailor this experience as a position of employment the same way as any other cooperate role.

The dates of your self-employment & your job title should be included.

Using contractor, consultant, or freelancer combined with your area of specialization or skill are the most accurate ways to structure your title.

For example, ‘freelance editor’ or ‘social media consultant’.

Then write a small piece of information under the dates and title that explains the type of work you did.

This pace out the scene for the hiring manager.

If already you have converted your self-employment into a limited business, name it in your resume.

3. Choose your impressive projects and clients

There are ways to do this and they include:

Method one
From your archive of work with a variety of clients, hand pick a few clients and the project you completed with them.

Subheadings should be used to introduce the name of client and the year(s) you worked with them.

Underneath, use bullet points to link your key projects and accomplishment per client.

Method two
Make use of subtitles to split your skills.

For example, if you are a freelance computer engineer, you may like to split your skill by the type of engineering you do, such as web development, software engineering etc.

Underneath your headings, bullet point your accomplishments (and clients) per skill.

If many clients have worked with you, be sure to list the clients and project that is in relation to the role you are applying for.

Other unrelated projects that dims the light of your expertise should be removed from your resume.

Conclusion

As a self-employed or a freelancer, you stand a great chance of being offered the job.

You only have to creatively tailor you resume in such a way that it highlights the number of projects accomplished and their respective clients.

With this, an employer might see how you can reciprocate the same effect when given the job.