Creating a Resume as a Freelance Writer

Here’s a riddle: What does a freelance writer have in common with a fish? The answer: They both have to keep moving. Just as a fish can never take a break from swimming, a freelance writer always needs to be looking for work. Even if you’re already working on a project, you need to know that there are other writing jobs on the way. Is there anything you can do to make it easier to find the right jobs? There are a number of things you can do, of course, but one of the most critical is putting together an effective resume as a freelance writer.

Resumes are an important part of any career, but the nature of freelancing makes them particularly indispensable. After all, freelance work isn’t guaranteed to anyone, and you’ll need to sell every potential employer on the idea of your talent and qualifications before you can work for them. A resume makes that process much easier—but how can you craft the perfect resume? Here are some tips to keep in mind:

Make sure to format your resume correctly.

If your resume doesn’t look and feel as professional as possible, it’s not going to send the right message to your potential employers. It’s important to make sure that your resume is as clean, readable, and well-designed as possible. You might want to run your resume by a sympathetic friend before putting it on your website or submitting it to an employer. Remember that there are a lot of other freelancers out there, so your job is to make your resume stand out as much as possible.

Include all of your relevant qualifications.

You should also make sure, of course, that your resume contains everything that a potential employer would need to know in order to make the decision to hire you. This means that you should emphasize the kind of qualities that would make you an appealing hire—in particular, your past writing experience. You can find examples of professional freelancers’ resumes online easily, but in general, most resumes should include these elements:

• Your name and title.
• Your areas of expertise.
• A short summary about yourself.
• Your education.
• Your employment history or previous writing experience.

Be smart and succinct in your summary.

Your summary may be the single most important element of your entire resume. Keep in mind that your self-summary is the first real piece of your writing that many people will encounter. Anyone who is reading your summary is doing it to find out why they should work with you, so write to impress. The summary doesn’t have to be flashy, but it should be engaging, well-written, and reflective of your personality as a writer. You can be creative, but remember that this isn’t an appropriate place to ramble—keep your summary brief and to the point.

Include your most important educational experience.

You may be wondering how much detail you should go into about your education. In general, it’s best to keep this section succinct and straightforward. List your degrees and the institutions you earned them at, as well as your year of graduation. If you have any honors—such as Phi Beta Kappa—this is a good place to list them as well. You may want to list seminars, conferences, and internships you participated in that might be relevant to your career. You may also want to adjust your resume based on the particular job you’re applying for: If it feels relevant to the type of work you’re pursuing, it’s a good idea to list it.

Be clear about your fields of expertise.

Every one of your potential employers will want to know what type of writing you’re most skilled at. Even if you don’t want to specialize in a particular subject, you should include a few of the subjects that you are well versed in, or that you are particularly interested in writing about. If you’re an avid tennis fan, for example, and you want to write about the sport for publication, be sure to note that in your resume.

While versatility may be valuable to demonstrate, it’s important to be completely honest about what you can write well about—don’t list astronomy as a field of expertise if you aren’t completely confident that you can write about it at the professional level. Here’s another tip: If you’re submitting a pitch to a publication in one of these fields, move the “areas of expertise” section to a more prominent place in the resume before sending it.

List your biggest publications first.

When it comes to writers’ resumes, not all publications’ names carry the same weight. Let’s imagine that you’ve written both for The Wall Street Journal and for your college newspaper. While you may want to list both, it’s safe to say that your experience at the larger, more widely read publication will be more helpful to you in impressing employers—so you should list it first. The more recognizable a publication is—and the more you have contributed to it—the more emphasis it should receive in your resume.

Make sure your resume doesn’t include any errors.

If there’s anything that’ll discourage someone from hiring you, it’s a glaring typo in the middle of your resume. The most reliable writers tend to be the ones who pay close attention to words and language in general. Even a minor error can be a red flag to anyone who works with writers. That’s why it’s imperative that you read and reread your resume, so you can catch and eliminate any errors before any potential employers get to see it. You should take as much time as you need to polish your resume; the more carefully you edit it, the more likely it is that the final version will shine.

If you’re ready to embark upon a career as a freelance writer, Writers Work can provide you with the tools you need to get started. From putting together a portfolio of your previous work to helping you find the writing gigs that are right for you, we’re here to make every step of the freelancing process as easy and accessible as possible.