Yes, Freelancers, You Still Need a Resume

As a freelancer/internet marketer/work at home whatever you may think that keeping your resume up-to-date isn’t that important. The truth is, it’s very important. Even if you don’t need your resume for five years, when you do need it, you want to have a relatively recent document to update.

Consider this: you have been freelancing for five years and have never been asked to submit a resume. Because of this, you haven’t bothered to update your resume with the huge and awesome list of projects you have completed and skills you have learned in that time. Now, let’s say you are offered this great six-month contract position at a large corporation. Just like a regular employee, they require their contractors to fill out applications and send resumes. Now you have to try to remember as much as you can – or sift through half a decade’s worth of files – to get your resume updated or you have to pass on a great opportunity.

I’m not saying that every week you need to pull up your resume and update it. I recommend a two-step approach to making sure your resume is never far from current.

Step One: Keep Track of Projects

Most likely you keep files for various clients and projects, but you don’t have one file that encompasses all of them. In order to save yourself from having to go back through files to add skills to your resume, I recommend creating a spreadsheet like the one shown below:



The columns are fairly self-explanatory. Basically all you are doing is recording what you did, how you did it and what you learned during each project. If you do this as soon as the project is completed, it will be fresh in your mind and you’ll easily remember what it took to get the work done.

Step Two: Keep Two Resumes

Not only do I recommend you update your resume about every three to six months, I recommend you update two resumes. One should be a traditional chronological resume and the other should be a broad skills-based resume. For more information on Skills-Based resumes, Alina Dizik offers up some great advice in the Wall Street Journal article Getting Ahead with a Skills-Based Resume.

For most freelancers, the skills-based resume allows us to show off our skills right off the bat rather than forcing the employer to slog through miles of projects or other employers. However, some companies will require the traditional resume so I recommend you have that on hand as well. Keep in mind that with the skills-based resume you may want to alter it to highlight skills specific to the job or project for which you are applying.

So there you have it. A relatively painless and time-efficient way of having a current resume on hand just in case you need it. If anyone has other methods of keeping resumes updated or would like to offer any other advice on the subject, please leave a comment.