Looking For Remote Jobs? 5 Skills To Help Boost Your CV

Ready to transition from office work to working from home? Here’s how to get your CV ready for remote jobs.

In the age of startups, laptops and Wi-Fi on every corner, it’s more possible than ever before to switch from the traditional nine-to-five grind for a remote working solution.

Professionals across a broad range of industries are leveraging their unique skill sets to accommodate a work-from-anywhere lifestyle. Whether you’re a freelance writer, designer, coach, executive assistant, consultant or bookkeeper, you may already be thinking about making the switch.

But before you start setting up your home working station, you need to ensure your CV is in the right shape.

Which skills are employers looking for in a remote employee?

Time management

Employers will be looking for a candidate who adheres to deadlines and has proven time-management skills. Showcase your ability to juggle multiple priorities and meet deadlines by including an example of this in your work history. Highlight a specific project or task that required you to stick to a tight deadline and then emphasize the results of that project.

Flexibility

Working remotely involves a great deal of flexibility, for better or worse. You may be required to work unusual hours or participate in teleconferences or offsite meetings, or you may be assigned tasks that require you to think outside the box. Therefore, employers will be looking to see how you’ve been flexible in past roles on your CV.

Good communication skills

When you work remotely, it eradicates face-to-face communication in most circumstances. Therefore, communication streams will be reliant on email, phone and other digital channels. An HR manager will be looking for a candidate who can communicate clearly and effectively and who responds to emails or requests in a timely manner. Be sure to include this on your CV.

Ability to work independently

In order to successfully work remotely, you need to be self-motivated. You won’t have colleagues or a manager sitting next to you to keep you in check ‒ it’s all on you. Therefore, use your CV to demonstrate situations or projects in previous roles where you’ve had to self-manage and work autonomously.

Tech-savviness

If you’re working remotely, you’ll most likely be using a range of systems and software to help manage your workflow. On top of this, you won’t have an IT department to run to when your laptop stops working. If you don’t feel confident in your technical skills, sign up for an online course or a short course designed to improve your technical abilities and include it on your CV. It will show an HR manager that you’re technically adept to do the job remotely.

How do you highlight all these skills to ensure you land the job?

There are three main sections on your CV where an employer will be looking for these remote-relevant skills: your professional summary, your skills/qualifications section and your work history. Your professional summary (also known as a personal statement on your CV) is where you select your absolute best and most relevant skills and qualifications and show them off. Think of it as your elevator pitch: What do you want your potential future employer to know about you? Put it here first.

The next section is for your skills and qualifications. This is where you list all the (relevant) abilities in your arsenal, keeping it tailored to the job at hand.  The last section is your work history.

Final thoughts; don’t feel discouraged thinking that you will need to completely rewrite your CV to suit remote work. You just need a few strategic tweaks and you are good to go.

Not sure if your CV paints you as remote-ready? Feedback from a free CV critique will tell you where you stand. Book a consultation here.