Land a Remote Job with these Resume Do's and Don'ts

In today's rapidly changing economy, remote jobs are increasingly competitive. Landing a remote job requires a different approach in this job search climate requires a different approach. Your resume is your first impression on potential employers and it is essential to make it stand out from the crowd. In this blog, we put together the top tips from our coaches and resume writers with insights about what is working right now and the common mistakes that cost people their dream remote jobs. So let's get started!

Understanding the Remote Job Landscape

The remote work environment has seen significant growth in recent years, and it has become even more prevalent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While fully remote jobs are less common as some companies transition back to office work, the demand for remote work remains high. According to the Remote Work Stats & Trends Report for 2024, 51% of people prefer a fully remote job, while 46% prefer a hybrid job (a combination of remote and office work). A Forbes report predicts that the hybrid work model will account for 81% of the workforce by 2025.

Although the number of remote workers has declined since the height of the pandemic, an estimated 32.6 million Americans, or 22% of the workforce, are expected to work fully remotely by 2025. So, remote jobs will continue to be a part of our landscape, but they will stay highly competitive to land. With double the number of people wanting the remote jobs that exist, you can be sure that the competition will stay fierce for the future and employers will remain highly selective in evaluating the applications.

Remote Job Search Resume Do's

Crafting a resume for remote jobs requires a different approach compared to traditional job applications. Employers are selective in reviewing the applications and they are cautious about the distractions of working from home. To optimize your chances of success, consider the following remote job search resume do's:

Do: Craft a Remote-Focused Resume

When it comes to writing a resume for remote jobs, it's crucial to emphasize your remote work experience and skills. Here's how to craft a remote-focused resume:

• Create a dedicated section for remote work experience, highlighting your roles, responsibilities, and achievements in remote positions.

• Include your years of experience working remotely if it is relevant.

• Showcase your adaptability and self-motivation, as these traits are highly valued in remote work environments.

• Highlight your success in previous remote positions to demonstrate your suitability for new remote roles.

• Craft a narrative in your resume that provides the first thing to underscore your passion and proficiency for remote work.

Do: Tailor Your Resume for Remote Jobs

Getting past the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and standing out from your competition requires a customized resume. This makes tailoring your resume a big DO for applying to remote jobs. To tailor your resume for remote jobs, consider the following tips:

• Customize your resume to align with the requirements and preferences of remote job listings. Research the company and position to understand what skills and experiences they value in remote employees.

• Tailor your resume's language and content to resonate with the employer that you are applying to. This includes also providing clear details about how you are qualified for the specific remote job that you are applying for.

• Edit your summary of qualifications to include details that are relevant to the organization and roles that you are pursuing remotely.

• Highlight your remote work experience, remote collaboration skills, and your ability to thrive in a remote work environment.

• Adapt your resume to emphasize skills like time management, communication, and remote collaboration, as these skills are crucial for success in remote jobs.

Do: Choose the Right Resume Template

When writing a resume for remote jobs, choosing the right resume template is crucial to making a strong first impression. Here's what to consider when selecting a resume template for remote job applications:

• Select a clean and professional resume template that works with the ATS. A heavily designed or overly complex format will not be read by most of the computer systems scanning the applications.

• Pick a hybrid format so you can also convey the core messages to the people who will skim the resume after it gets through the computer screening. This will enable you to keep details under the particular roles (like a chronology-based resume), but it will also have skills forward on the resume (like a functional style resume).

• Pick a font that is professional and easy to read. The ATS and people skimming your resume will focus on the content of your resume rather than the distractions created by particular fonts.

• Show that you are an excellent communicator on the resume with clear headlines to organize the details on your resume including professional experience, remote work skills, and other relevant personal data.

Do: Write a Compelling Resume Summary

Your resume summary is the first section of your resume that potential employers and recruiters will see. This makes it essential to catch the attention of your audience at the top of your resume. A great summary focuses on why they should hire you for this particular remote job. Here is how to craft a compelling resume summary for remote jobs:

• Craft a captivating resume summary that encapsulates your remote work experience concisely. Convey your ability to work remotely, your motivations, your work style, and all of the other details that you want the hiring manager to know right away.

• Include the details, skills, and strengths that make you a top applicant in a way that is relevant to your audience.

• Use action verbs and specific examples to showcase your remote work expertise.

Do: Highlight Your Remote Working Skills

Another important do for any resume used to apply for remote jobs is to include a section with dedicated remote working skills. You can also incorporate these remote work skills throughout your resume if you do not have room on the resume for a separate section. Here are some of the top remote working skills to include:

• Showcase your adaptability to different time zones and remote work environments. Highlight your experience working in diverse time zones and your ability to manage your schedule effectively.

• Demonstrate your proficiency in using remote collaboration tools such as project management software, video conferencing, and instant messaging platforms. Mention specific tools you are familiar with, such as Asana, Google Hangouts, or Slack.

• Highlight your experience in managing projects remotely, showcasing your ability to coordinate tasks, set deadlines, and communicate effectively with remote team members.

• Emphasize your ability to communicate effectively in a remote setting. Showcase your experience in remote team communication, whether it's through email, video conferencing, or other remote communication channels.

• Illustrate your expertise in leveraging global teams and time zones to achieve results under tight timelines.

• Reference a dedicated home office as part of your responsibilities to show that you have remote experience. Tie this information to the job descriptions and you will also improve the performance of your resume with their ATS.

Do: Quantify Your Remote Achievements

Numbers create an impact on your achievement statements. These are particularly important for your remote work resume because of the competition that is applying for the same jobs. You can go one step further and articulate how your remote working skills kicked in to help you achieve those big achievements. Here's how to quantify your remote achievements on your resume:

• Quantify the impact of your remote work on business outcomes. Use specific metrics to show how your remote contributions led to increased efficiency, cost savings, or revenue growth.

• Detail how your remote work achievements improved team or company performance. Highlight specific projects, initiatives, or processes where your remote work made a significant impact.

• Highlight specific metrics showing your remote achievements, such as the percentage of project completion, sales targets met, or customer satisfaction ratings.

• Describe your successful remote project management experiences, including the number of team members you managed, the project size, and any notable outcomes or results achieved.

• Showcase your ability to meet deadlines and deliver results while working remotely, demonstrating your time management skills and commitment to professional excellence.

Do: Include Your Proficiency with Remote Work Tools

Knowledge of particular technologies can matter a lot to some organizations in selecting their candidates for a particular role. Employers can also see your knowledge of their technologies as a strength. Include your technical skills on your resume to stand out to those potential employers and recruiters who will be looking for it. Here's how to include remote work tools proficiency on your resume:

• List the remote tools you are proficient in, such as project management software, video conferencing platforms, instant messaging tools, or collaboration software.

• Mention your experience with instant messaging platforms for remote team communication, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Chat.

• Highlight your proficiency in using project management tools for remote collaboration, such as Asana, Trello, or Basecamp.

• Showcase your skills in leveraging video conferencing software for remote meetings, presentations, and team collaboration, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet.

• Illustrate your familiarity with different remote collaboration tools commonly used in your industry, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or Monday.com.

Don'ts to Avoid on Your Remote Job Resume

There are several mistakes that people make on their resume for remote jobs right now that cost them the opportunity. Our team put together the most common mistakes in this ever-changing market to help you avoid the biggest mistakes on your remote job resume. Here are the biggest Don'ts that job seekers need to know:

Don't: Forget Remote Specific Skills

When writing your resume for remote jobs, it's crucial not to overlook the remote-specific skills that hiring managers value. Here are some remote-specific skills to include on your resume:

• Time management and prioritization

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

• Familiarity with remote collaboration tools commonly used in your industry, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or Monday.com.

• Ability to work with people across timezones

• Cross-functional collaboration

• Self-motivation to achieve results independently or as part of a team

• Continuous improvement and desire to keep innovating the way things are done

Don't: Fail to Articulate Your Achievements as a Remote Employee

Highlighting your achievements as a remote employee demonstrates your expertise and suitability for remote roles. You can build a compelling remote work resume with clear bullets outlining your achievements with remote skills. Things to think about to craft strong achievement bullets for your remote work resume:

• Bullets. Use bullets in your work experience section to outline the achievements for each role. Make sure that you keep the responsibilities or functional things you did in the job separate from your achievements so that your results don't get lost.

• Quantify your impact with initiatives you completed while working remotely or with people across multiple locations. Include numbers and data to show the results of your remote work. For example, you can mention how many projects you completed successfully while working remotely, or the percentage increase in sales as a result of your remote sales strategies.

• Think about the results. An achievement statement requires some kind of an outcome for the skills and strengths that you applied. Make sure that you include these results for the business, clients, or colleagues in clear bullets on your resume.

• Performance to Metrics or Goals. Including how you did compared to how others did or what was expected is a great way to showcase your achievements. Bonus points if you achieved these results while working in a remote environment!

Don't: Use a Generic Resume

Using a generic resume for remote job applications can diminish your chances of standing out from the competition. To avoid this, consider these tips to customize your resume for remote job applications:

• Use the keywords from the job description. In many cases, there are a variety of words that can communicate the same thing. Using the employer’s version from the job description is key to getting through the ATS and to show that you have a similar mindset.

• Focus on the type of job that you are pursuing. Keep the details on your resume relevant to the types of jobs that you are pursuing. This will help you to prepare for the interviews and improve the performance of the remote work resume.

• Remember your audience. You need to remove jargon and abbreviations that not everyone understands. This is key to connecting with your audience and to ensure that everyone reads your resume in the same way.

Don't: Fail to Include Soft Skills

Soft skills play a crucial role in remote work success, as they contribute to effective communication, collaboration, and adaptability. Here's how to include soft skills on your resume for remote jobs:

• Include a Skills Section. Making room on your resume for skills is key to ensuring that people looking for it can find it.

• Pick the Right Soft Skills for Your Level. Keep the soft skills focused on the right types of abilities for the types of roles that you are applying for. For example, someone who wants to manage people will need to include soft skills in their leadership of people. Alternatively, someone who wants to serve as an individual contributor will need to focus on their time management, organization, and collaboration.

• Look at the Company's Careers & Mission pages. These have important details about the values of the organization and its culture for your interview. But, you can also use these pages to incorporate details that help you land that interview if you include soft skills found on those pages on your resume.

Don't: Be Overly Selective in Applying

The remote job search market is competitive and will stay that way for a long time. The biggest Don't in any remote job search is the failure to aggressively pursue the roles that you want. Here's how to make the most of your remote job resume:

• Be QUICK. The high number of people pursuing remote jobs means that many jobs are practically and in all reality closing to applications in 24 - 48 hours. Set up alerts and be ready to apply for the jobs as they go live or you will miss out.

• Be Smart. Build keyword strategies and have your resume ready to go. Putting those basics in place will make it easier for you to find the right types of roles for your remote job search so that your perfectly crafted resume has a chance to land you an interview.

• Go for it. You need to apply for a lot of jobs to get through right now. This means you need to put yourself out there in a high volume with consistency if you want to land a remote job.

• Prepare for Rejection. You will get rejected from a lot of jobs before you land the right one. Prepare yourself for this part of the process and don't let that fear of rejection hold you back from applying for remote jobs.

Final Thoughts on Remote Job Resumes

Crafting a compelling remote job resume is crucial for landing your dream remote job. Keep in mind these final thoughts to make sure that you put your best foot forward when applying for remote jobs.

Review Your Resume

Thoroughly reviewing your resume is essential to ensure it effectively represents your qualifications for remote jobs. Take the time to edit and proofread your resume thoroughly before submitting it. You don't want spelling or grammar errors to hold you back from landing that perfect remote job. Download and use the free editing and grammar tools to catch all typos or mistakes.

Build and Leverage Your Network

Building and leveraging your professional network can significantly enhance your remote job search. The people you know and the people they know are the most valuable asset in any job search. The easiest place to find and mine this information is on LinkedIn.

This part of the job search is as important (if not more) for any remote job search. This is because employers often look to those candidates referred by their existing employees first. This is particularly true when there are extreme numbers of applicants because it helps to save time in the process, ensures good employees like their future coworkers, and reduces the risks of a bad hire. Thus, take the time to ask for employee referrals or insights whenever you apply to an organization as this is often the most impactful anyone can do in their remote job search. However, you will still need a resume that works for the HR processes and technology when you have an employee referral.

Work with Professionals

For some people, the only way to build a resume that gets them a remote job is to work with professional resume writers and coaches. Engaging professionals who are experts in resume writing and remote job searches like The Contingent Plan can make the biggest difference in a job search. This is because they know the technology, the current market, and what works best. A professional can also help you to overcome the obstacles that you don't even realize are there because they can see the situation from an objective perspective. And, in doing that, you can save a ton of time and frustration by landing the jobs you really want faster.

Conclusion

In conclusion, crafting a compelling remote job resume requires attention to detail and a strategic approach. Tailoring your resume to highlight remote-specific skills and achievements is crucial for standing out in the competitive job market. Avoiding common pitfalls such as using generic templates and failing to quantify your remote accomplishments can make a significant difference in securing your dream remote job. By reviewing and optimizing your resume, leveraging your network, and exploring diverse job opportunities, you can enhance your chances of landing a remote job that aligns with your skills and career goals. Subscribe for more insightful tips on advancing your remote career.