I have a confession to make: until recently I was using the same version of my resume every time someone requested a copy. And it hadn’t been updated in a long time. As someone who often covers career topics, I really ought to know better. Truth be told, I was kind of enjoying the whole “I’m a freelancer, I have no need for resumes, bosses, or other trappings of the corporate world” mindset.
Most freelance writers do just fine with a well-crafted cover letter and writing samples, because, let’s face it, you can inject more personality and humor into a cover letter than you can a resume. A bulleted list of publishing credits and job titles doesn’t exactly lend itself to clever prose. But sometimes that is what the prospective client wants.
When I was college student applying for jobs, I had a few different versions of my resume depending on where I was applying: administrative jobs, PR agency jobs, writing jobs, non-profit jobs, etc. So, I applied that strategy and created versions of my resume for copywriting, journalism, and blogging.
Each version includes much of the same information, but it’s packaged a little differently. For copywriting, for instance, I include descriptions of a few different projects at the top and make my publishing credits secondary. For the blogging version, I play up a few of the places I’ve guest blogged, blogging awards I’ve won, and my social media experience.
To help myself stay sane without sending the wrong version to the wrong person, I included the title at the top in big bold font (“Susan Johnston, Freelance Copywriter” or “Susan Johnston, Freelance Blogger”) and used a C, B, or J in the file name. How do you handle your freelance writing resume? Do you even use one? Let us know!