With all of the applicant tracking software algorithms, ghost jobs, and AI-enabled job scammers out there, it’s never been more important to ensure you’ve got a strong resume on deck. Not sure what to put on a job resume to make it stand out? Keep reading; we have the secret sauce.
As someone who has been writing and reworking professional resumes for decades, I’ve learned what does and does not work to help folks get hired. And as a girls’ girl, I’m always happy to share that knowledge with other women in search of work from home jobs.
This strategy works whether you’re looking to reframe your work experience, de-emphasize employment gaps spent balancing your household’s mental load, or just finally get past those frustrating applicant screening algorithms.
Grab your favorite coffee mug and settle in for a full-blown remote work sesh as I walk you through everything you need (and don’t need) to put on your resume and finally land the job you deserve.
1. A Simple Resume Template
As a card-carrying member of the Lisa Frank generation, I can totally relate to the urge to glam up the old resume. And if you spend any amount of time on Pinterest, you’ve no doubt seen the rainbow of whimsical resume flavors floating around the internet.
But in the algorithmic cyberscape we all live in, there’s really no point in rolling up with an Elle Woods-inspired resume since your first audience is most likely going to be applicant tracking software that scans for specific keywords.
Since you want to do everything you can to ensure nothing comes between those job-landing keywords and the job you want, your best bet for landing most remote jobs is to use a stripped-down, straightforward resume template that prioritizes content, clarity, and readability over fancy schmancy form.
Beyond that, any application that saves in .docx or PDF format is perfect for resume formatting. Personally, I prefer Google Docs since you don’t need a subscription to use the full version, and it can be easily shared with a second reader to ensure you’re on the right track.
2. Updated Contact Information
Far too many candidates include all the wrong information in their contact information at the top of their resumes. For example, sample resume templates often include the candidate’s home mailing address. Your full address is unnecessary. All you need is your city and state, since many companies have location-based requirements and program ATS to exclude your resume if it doesn’t include one of the states or cities they hire in.
Always include your full professional name and email address. If you’ve been using a less-than-professional email address (you know who you are) or you’re using an account that might inadvertently date you (Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo domain names, for example), set aside five minutes to create a new, more work-appropriate Gmail account. By the same token, it’s probably best not to use an email address that includes your birth year or graduation year.
Finally, include your phone number, LinkedIn profile URL, and any other relevant websites such as a writing portfolio or personal website that houses your information, like a Linktree page. If you don’t have an updated LinkedIn account, I strongly recommend creating one since many employers will take the time to check potential candidates out on the platform.
Side note: there’s a good chance employers are checking out your other socials too, so if you’re job hunting, make sure there’s nothing on your Facebook that could get you into trouble.
3. An Incisive Narrative
I’ve worked with resumes across just about every field imaginable in my time as a freelance resume writer. Whether I’m working with a nurse practitioner, a mechanical engineer, or a librarian, most underperforming resumes are loaded with information that doesn’t necessarily help the candidate.
The key to crafting a killer resume begins with a shift in perspective. The goal? Elevating the content from a thesaurus-aided list of qualifications plugged into the same old cookie-cutter template into a powerful narrative that outlines the unique tapestry of transferable skills and professional experience you and you alone have to offer.
With every resume you submit, start by deciding what story you want to tell about yourself and your candidacy, ideally turning perceived weaknesses or work-history gaps into strengths. Every detail you include moving forward should support and tie into that story.
Here are a few examples from real folks I’ve worked with:
- A professional tech industry writer with numerous years of experience as a mechanic and a strong customer service background from years in restaurant management
- An RN with an extensive acting and speaking resume seeking work as a nurse presenter
- A holistic therapist looking to leverage office and health record experience into a mainstream healthcare administration career
It also pays to treat that narrative as malleable depending on the job you’re going for. If you’re uploading a one-size-fits-all resume for every job you apply for, you’re most likely limiting your potential opportunities. Instead, you’ll have better luck tailoring and tweaking your resume for each individual job listing you apply for.
4. A Professional Headline
Once you’ve decided which type of jobs you’re going for and what sort of story you’re hoping to sell about your professional work history, distill everything down to a keyword-infused headline to list underneath your name at the top of the resume. And once again, make sure it ties into the narrative you’re hoping to create.
You can check out countless examples of these by scrolling through LinkedIn pages. Here are a few examples of real headlines I’ve used for clients in the past:
- Tech Retail & Support | Digital Design
- SEO Content Writer | Commercial & Affiliate Content Specialist
- Customer Experience | Retail Management | Teambuilding
- Learning Experience | Content Development
Notice how each taps into both the specific professional discipline and the vocational strengths of each candidate, leveraging keyword language taken directly from the job description each candidate is interested in. Don’t be afraid to tweak these headings for each new job you’re applying for.
5. A Keyword-Infused Professional Summary
After you’ve wowed potential employers with that dazzling headline, it’s time to hit them with the most impressive professional highlight summary they’ve seen all fiscal quarter.
It’s far too common for job-seekers to fill the little section at the top of their resume with a half-hearted “Objective” section, something like “Professional goldfish expert seeking job in goldfish marketing management.” But your potential employer already knows that you’re trying to land a job in goldfish marketing management, otherwise why would you be applying?
Instead, let’s use this space more efficiently to reach both of your audiences, the applicant screening tech and the human you hope will one day see your resume, with a powerful professional summary outlining a punchy breakdown of why you’re the best candidate for this job.
Once again, you want to start by mining the job description you’re going for to look for important keywords, particularly relevant skills, specific job requirements, and action verbs that the algorithm will no doubt be crawling job applications for. Keep it succinct and focused: A short paragraph that gets to the heart of what you have to offer is all you need here.
Here’s my professional summary from my most recent YouTube scriptwriting resume as an example:
Versatile and award-winning writer and editor with a deep background in literature and a graduate-level mastery of genre mechanics, narrative structure, and tropes. Brings proven expertise in genre fiction—specifically horror and science fiction—coupled with a sharp eye for pacing, character development, and complex worldbuilding. A passionate advocate for intersectional inclusivity in storytelling, skilled at analyzing narrative trends and evaluating manuscripts for commercial and literary viability.
6. Relevant Skills
Always emphasize what you can do and what you offer over where you’ve worked in the past, especially since specific skills can get buried in the granular text of your work history. That’s why I also list a breakdown of relevant soft, hard, and technical skills just below the professional summary.
Use a section header that feels right for your line of work. I use “Skills and Competencies” for this section on my resume, but I’ve broken this down into subsections for clients in highly technical lines of work like welding or medicine in the past.
Underneath this section, choose somewhere between five and 12 subcategories to break down into more specific details. For example, my scriptwriting resume includes “Narrative Craft,” “Genre Experience,” “Workflow Efficiency & Autonomy,” “Technical & Collaboration Tools,” and “Languages.” Under each subcategory, I outline what that experience looks like in more specific terms.
For example:
TECHNICAL & COLLABORATION TOOLS | Project & Client Management: Salesforce, Trello, Slack, G-Suite (Docs, Sheets, Slides), Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel) | Digital Content & Marketing: WordPress CMS, Mailchimp, and Canva.
Similarly, under “Genre Experience,” I break down my specific work experience writing about horror, science fiction, and supernatural fantasy for a publication with millions of monthly viewers, while under “Workflow Efficiency & Autonomy” I discuss the size and makeup of the teams I have worked with and the types of deadlines I typically work under.
Don’t skimp on the time invested in this section. Sit down with a pencil and paper to really brainstorm the types of specific skills you’ve picked up in your long and storied career, and you may be surprised at how much you come up with. Don’t overlook those boring professional development sessions your past employers subjected you to or even self-taught skills. Nobody needs to know you learned Search Engine Optimization watching 20 hours of YouTube. They just need to know you can do the job.
As you’re adding them to your resume, don’t forget to ensure each one connects to the job you’re going for. Include hard skills (technical skills you can learn, like online research skills), soft skills (more intuitive skills, like teamwork, creativity, and leadership), and specific technology platforms.
When listing the platforms and applications you’re familiar with, don’t feel limited to more obscure, complex, or proprietary platforms. Instead, consider all the apps you’ve used professionally and personally, then focus on including software and platforms that are relevant to the role you’re seeking.
If you’re applying for a remote job that uses a lot of collaborative tools, for example, you might include applications like Trello, Slack, and Asana. For a creative role, you might include apps like Canva, Blender, or Adobe Suite. Or if the role involves social media management, include the platforms you’ve worked with (for example, Twitter and Instagram).
7. Relevant Work History
One of the most common challenges I encounter when reworking resumes is what I consider the “work history overshare.” Candidates tend to go for a comprehensive work history listing their past jobs in chronological order, and they tend not to want to exclude anything either to avoid the appearance of a work history gap or because they perceive a job that seems irrelevant as adding value to their experience.
If you have a pretty traditional work history, listing each job out in the standard reverse chronological order is fine. But if you’ve got a more complicated work history, like the client I recently worked with who returned to her original field after a 20-year break, consider breaking your work history down into specific areas of focus.
Instead of listing “Professional Experience,” break your experience down into separate professional disciplines, listing the most relevant discipline first. Here are some examples:
- “Writing and Editorial Experience” and “Academic Experience” for a writing job in the education field
- “Marketing Experience” and “Social Media Management Experience” for a marketing professional who worked part-time jobs managing social media accounts for a few years while raising a family
I prefer to place the job title at the top of each listing rather than emphasizing the employer since this makes it easier for a human eye to identify what you were doing at each job. Don’t overlook internships and part-time jobs if they’re relevant to the job you’re trying to get.
Occasionally, I like to add a section titled “Additional Relevant Work Experience” for folks with a very limited work history that tends to fall outside the area they’re applying for. Just be sure to focus these listings on skills and experience that serve your overarching narrative.
Don’t forget to include your work dates. But if you have a job or two in your work history that doesn’t span the year, I prefer to de-emphasize the longevity issue by simply listing the year rather than drawing attention to the shorter job time.
Finally, use bullet points to outline each role’s primary job duties, emphasizing specific numbers wherever possible. For example, how much money were you responsible for taking in each day? How many employees reported to you? Or in my case, I might list how many monthly viewers clicked on the websites I write for, how many articles I produce in a given month, or how many press trips I’ve done.
8. Volunteer Work
Don’t undersell any volunteer work you’ve got under your belt, particularly if it adds something meaningful to your work history narrative. Unpaid labor is still labor, any way you slice it, and there’s a good chance you picked up some transferable skills doing it.
Most employees tend to separate their work history from their volunteer work history, but there is plenty of room for exception, especially when you’re dealing with an ongoing volunteer role like involvement in student organizations or community councils. My college-age son, for example, has a limited professional work history but has been a founding member of several community councils over the past few years, so we incorporate those into his primary work history.
If you’re looking for ways to expand your resume, particularly if there are work history gaps, don’t be afraid to dig deep into your volunteer work experience. If you’ve been volunteering in your child’s school, that’s a valid labor contribution. Taking the little old lady across the street to her doctor’s appointments or helping out with your church’s food pantry? Mission trips, scout volunteer, crossing guard? That’s community work, valid labor that shows your teamwork, empathy, and organization.
9. Education and Professional Development
Even if you didn’t blow a whole mortgage on student loans like yours truly, you’ve got no reason to sweat the education section. I’ve seen far too many otherwise qualified candidates experience insecurity over a skinny education section, folks who picked up their GEDs via an alternative route only to immediately become an absolute legend in their given fields. Once we started looking a little more closely into the details of their education, we realized there’s more to the story.
If you have a traditional education to list, be sure to include any honors, special achievements, or publications, especially if these are relevant to your chosen field. If you’re still in school, you can list your “expected graduation date.” However, once you’ve got school firmly in the rearview, go ahead and remove the dates since all this is going to do is date you and, truly, nobody really needs to know if you were in Freshman Comp during the Clinton administration.
But there’s a good chance your education goes beyond all of that, which is why I like to label this section “Education and Professional Development.” Every professional certificate, every seminar or training course, all those weekend teambuilding workshops you’ve sat through added to the tapestry of your knowledge and experience, so why not include them? And, as mentioned above, I also include self-driven professional development.
Final Thoughts on What to Put on a Job Resume
I’ve had more than one resume client tell me they never realized how bad their imposter syndrome had been until I got my hands on their resume. But after seeing a breakdown of their skills and experience, they were left with a renewed sense of confidence in their own abilities.
Don’t rush your resume process.
Instead, take your time, breaking down all of your skills into the most granular detail possible before removing anything you don’t feel you really need in the final edit. Use the final product to inspire a streamlined, straightforward cover letter that highlights exactly what makes you the best gal for the job.
And don’t forget to save this page as a resource for future resumes.
Do you have any tricky resume issues you need help with? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll try to help you out. Good luck with your job hunt, ladies!
