resume writing jobs for beginners

Resume Writing Jobs: Top 10 Sites (+ How to Get Started)

by Stephen Connors

on Aug 19, 2022

Which sites are the best to find resume writing jobs?

This post covers 10 of the best places to find work as a resume writer, what is required to get those jobs, and how to get started in this exciting niche.

According to Glassdoor , a professional resume writer can make up to $79,000 a year, with an average earnings of $58,000.

Not bad, huh?

If you would enjoy a flexible writing job that stretches your creativity and helps people with their job search, a resume writing job might be great fit for you.

Ready to begin?

Where to Find Resume Writing Jobs

1. top stack resume.

Top Stack Resume serves four markets: the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK, and works with nearly every industry.

As a member of their team, you’ll write resumes, CVs, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, and other career-related documents in a 100% remote position with a flexible schedule.

You’ll also have the opportunity to provide personalized application assistance, interview preparation, and other career consulting services.

If you’re thinking about growing professionally, Top Stack Resume is looking for talented resume writers to join their team .

2. Resume Writers

Resume Writers is a service that’s specialized in only one thing since 1999: resumes .

Every resume writer in their network is certified by the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Directors International , in addition to their own in-house and apprenticeship training.

If you have these certifications, send an email to [email protected] .

3. Let’s Eat, Grandma

Despite the unusual name, Let’s Eat, Grandma is an award-winning resume writing service that has equipped thousands of professionals with resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles.

Prospective writers complete a rigorous technical resume writing test during their application process. And, if hired, you will receive training and ongoing support.

Their career page lists open positions and instructions on how to apply.

And if you’re curious about the name, it stems from a grammar joke about the importance of commas .

4. iHirePublishing

iHire Publishing is a combination job board/professional resume writing service. As such, it is one-stop shopping for both job seekers and employers.

The integration of both sides of the employment aisle means their professional resume writers are up-to-date with the latest trends in the job market.

In addition to resumes and cover letters, iHire has a career advisory service that offers training for salary negotiation, interviewing, and networking.

iHire has a full range of employee benefits, and opportunities to grow beyond resume writing. If this sounds like a good fit for you, check out their work at iHire page.

5. Resume Pundits

For many years, Resume Pundits helped companies find employees. Eventually, they felt their experience would be more valuable helping job seekers instead.

One of Resme Pundits’ biggest selling points is free lifetime updates on all resume purchases.  So no matter how your career progresses after the initial purchase, all resume updates are free. Not surprisngly, this creates a constant need for new writers.

To apply for a position on their expanding team, upload your resume on their career page .

6. Resume Professional Writers

Resume Professional Writers has crafted resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles for more than 65,000 clients (with a 96% client satisfaction rate) since 2000.

Available services include:

• federal resumes
• cover letter
• resume posting
• professional biographies
• statement of purpose for college admissions
• creating logos to make their client’s resumes stand out

Resume Professional Writers is hiring experts who can write powerful resumes for their clients. So if you feel up to the challenge, drop them a line .

7. Flexjobs

Flexjobs is the #1 job site to find the best remote, work from home, flexible, and freelance writing jobs. They offer an affordable membership to job seekers, who can search available jobs and apply for them.

Flexjobs also offers career advice , including career coaching and resume review & update services.

Search the platform for “resume writing jobs” or if you want to directly for Flexjobs, check out their career page for open positions.

8. WriterBay

WriterBay is a forum for writers to find freelance writing jobs .

Although the site is mainly focused on academic writing, other types of assignments are also available.

After registering for free and passing their acceptance procedures, you get to bid on various job postings.

A staff member reviews your qualifications and the client’s requirements. If it’s a good match and you can do the job within the allotted time frame, the assignment is yours.

9. Truelancer

Truelancer is an online platform for freelancers all over the world, including writers.

Similar to forums like Fiverr  and Upwork , you submit proposals for posted jobs. It’s a great place for a freelance resume writer to find work.

Using the search feature, I found jobs for translating an existing resume into English, as well as updating and creating resumes from scratch.

If you need a project or two to tide you over between jobs or want to supplement your income with a side project, Truelancer is a place you can make that happen.

10. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the go-to forum for all things involving finding employment and networking.

In addition, there are also classes on writing a resume and cover letter, acing your interview, and addressing problem areas like gaps in employment history.

You’ll also find groups for resume writers to share tips and job leads.

If you are serious about your career, LinkedIn is the place to be for rubbing elbows with the movers and shakers in your industry.

Is a Resume Writing Job a Good Fit for You?

Hiring managers look at the average resume for six seconds or less .

That’s not much time to make your case.

An effective resume is not something a job seeker can whip up on their lunch hour.

A winning resume that gets noticed by HR departments takes more time and skill.

That’s where you come in.

You can learn to create that killer resume!

One that creates the strongest impression possible , as quickly as possible.

If you develop a few key skills, becoming a professional resume writer could be a good fit for you.

You probably already have some of them:

• Succinctly communicate a person’s qualifications, work history, and career aspirations in a way that makes potential employers want to know more — in six seconds or less.
• Interview clients to find the credentials and accomplishments that are most valued by employers and present them in a way that will make the applicant stand out from the crowd.
• Be well-organized with strong research skills and a critical eye for grammar, punctuation, and logical flow.
• Be part career coach, part detective, and part content writer.

If mastering these skills challenges and excites you, a career as a resume writer will be a great fit for you.

If you’re ready to embark on your resume writing journey, check out our tips that’ll help you get started.

Tips on How to Get Started with Resume Writing Jobs

1. build a portfolio of sample resumes.

No matter what part of the writing field you enter, you’ll need writing samples . Find a local charity, job fair, or unemployment office and do a few resumes for free.

Or create a fictional job seeker and do ap a real resume for an imaginary person.

Or find great resume examples and rewrite them several times to burn the feel and flow of good resume writing into your muscle memory.

Not only will you get practice putting words to paper, you’ll get to refine your interviewing skills.

2. Upgrade Your Skills by Taking a Course

Nothing tells the world you’re committed to being a professional writer more clearly than taking courses from industry leaders .

The resume writing profession is no different.

While you can learn how to write resumes by reading books, the best way to master the necessary skills is to get professional feedback on how to improve your writing.

3. Earn a Recognized Certification

Getting certified shows that you’ve been trained up to a certain standard. And you get to add “certified professional resume writer” to your resume.

There is usually an annual certification exam you must pass to remain in good standing.

Being in good standing includes pledging to adhere to the highest standards of professional ethics.

The resume writing profession has many certification bodies .

4. Join a Freelance Site

By joining a freelancing site, you’ll have the opportunity to perfect your skills and expand your parameters as a freelance writer.

If you’re not familiar with the food service industry (for example), finding a gig or two on a freelancing site would be a great way to add a relevant sample to your portfolio.

Some of the most popular freelancing sites are:

5. Start a Blog or Website

Now that you have been trained and certified, you need a way to show the world your stuff, right?

Start a website.

A website allows you to present examples of your work and communicate your value proposition to prospective clients and employers alike.

With a blog, you can position yourself as an expert and demonstrate your knowledge of the job market, trends in resume writing, and other things that enhance your credibility.

Think of starting a blog or website as YOUR writing resume.

Resume Writing Jobs: Next Steps

Whether you want to be an employee of a resume writing service or an independent freelancer, there are always plenty of resume writing jobs in this always-in-demand field.

Regardless of which path you choose, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Start writing some resumes.

You’ll get better with practice. And you’ll also start building your portfolio.

Also consider taking a course or getting a certification.

If you take the time to master some basic skills, you can earn a good living and help people in the process.

Sounds like a win-win situation.

Stephen Connors

The ultimate toolkit for becoming one of the highest-paid writers online. Premium training. Yours for free.

Written by Stephen Connors

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• Resume and Cover Letter
• How to Make a Resume:...

How to Make a Resume: Beginner's Writing Guide with Examples

30 min read · Updated on August 06, 2024

Your dream job is one resume away!

Your resume is arguably the most important financial document you'll ever own. And before you think, “Yeah – right” let's consider for a moment. Without a resume, you don't get the job, so you can't pay bills, support a family, go to the big game, have that weekend trip, or plan for retirement. Your resume is the doorway to your future, so let's make sure it's perfect.

Part of making it perfect is remembering that it's a targeted career marketing document – not a chronicle of your life. So, how do you write a resume? In this beginner's writing guide, we'll show you how to make a resume and provide examples of what each section should look like. 

Grab a cup of coffee and strap in, because you're about to learn everything you need to know about how to make a new resume!

Table of contents:

The purpose of a resume

Avoid rejection by the ATS

What is your career target?

Build your personal brand, what should your resume look like, how to make a resume – the layout.

How long does it take to put together a resume?

A major resume no-no: typos

How to make your resume more professional

Theory in practice – resume examples

The most basic purpose of a resume is to sell your skills , achievements , and qualifications to prospective employers. This one document can financially make or break you. Let's take a quick look at what being unemployed costs you per day (assuming a five-day workweek):

If you make $40,000 per year, you lose about $155 every day that you're out of work

If you make $50,000 per year, you lose about $190 every day that you're out of work

If you make $75,000 per year, you lose about $288 every day that you're out of work

If you make $100,000 per year, you lose about $385 every day that you're out of work

Clearly, finding out how to make a resume for a job is critical so that you can properly sell your skills, qualifications, experiences, and achievements to prospective employers. 

The job market is tough and highly competitive; you have to stand out in a sea of qualified candidates by creating a compelling narrative that tells a story of value, keeping in mind that your resume is supposed to do a few things for you:

Introduce you to a new company

Underscore how your experiences and education are relevant

Showcase how your skills and competencies will benefit the new company's team

Win interviews

Avoid rejection by the ATS 

What do you know about applicant tracking systems? Job seeking can be compared to throwing your resume into a black hole. You can go through 100 listings on any job search website and complete the online application with zero results. 

Ever had that happen? It's okay, it happens to everyone at some point or another! 

The problem is that you're probably not putting the correct keywords into your resume. When you hit “Submit” on an online application, it isn't magically emailed to the hiring manager. 

Oh, no! 

It goes through a computer system that scans your resume for specific keywords that can be found in the job description posted by the company. And, just so you know, approximately 90% of companies use ATS scans , including everything from mom-and-pop shops to Fortune 500 companies. 

The companies use these programs because they just don't have time for a human to go through all the resumes they receive. Depending on the job opening, a company can get between  250 and 500 applicants . Can you imagine being the person who has to sift through all those resumes? 

Here is where the ATS steps in. It's designed to weed through candidates to narrow the applicant pool, so that the human hiring manager has a more reasonable resume load to go through. It ranks the remaining candidates in order based on how much of a match they are for the position that's open. 

Being overlooked by the ATS is one of the number one reasons job seekers get ghosted by companies.

Once your resume makes it through the ATS and gets into the hands of a hiring manager, don't think they're going to sit down and read each one. Who has that kind of time? You should expect that the first round of resume sorting will consist of them flipping through the stack to pick the ones that stand out within about 6 seconds of glancing at them. 

PRO TIP: Put your resume on a table, stand up, and look at it from a little distance. Is it eye-catching? Can you tell the position you're seeking just by glancing at it? Set a timer if you have to, but no more than 10 seconds.

Speaking of eye-catching, don't make the same mistake as a lot of your rival job seekers by being too generic with your resume. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that being non-specific will open doors to more opportunities. The problem is that the hiring manager won't be able to tell exactly where you'll fit within their organization. 

The first step in winning an interview is being sure that your resume actually makes it into the hands of a human being at the company you apply to. Start by defining what you want to do.

So the first, and most important, step in crafting the perfect resume is to narrow down your target career path. The more specific you are with this first step, the more response you'll receive from hiring managers because they'll be able to tell exactly how you fit within their organization. There are four areas to focus on as you begin to chart your career path:

Industry: Do you want to work in private sector, nonprofit, government, or public roles?

Geography: This one is more in-depth than choosing rural vs urban. It also includes whether you want to work in a dynamic or static environment.

Company size: You may not think it, but having an idea about whether you want to work in a small company or one with thousands of employees is important. 

Role: Saving the best for last, you have to know what position you want.

On the surface, it may seem like these things are only important for the job search aspect of landing a new position, but you have to know what voice to write your resume in, too. Part of that is knowing your audience. When you understand your audience, you can build a personal brand that resonates with what they're looking for in a new staff member.

Now that you've gotten your target career path nailed down, the next step is to brand you. Think of yourself as a product and your resume is the packaging. Companies spend a lot of time on their branding and packaging - you have to do the same thing.

The best place to start is with a  career assessment . Taking one of these tests can help you to identify your strengths, what sets you apart from others, and key themes of your professional identity. Just like Nike and Coca-Cola have timeless taglines and catchphrases that succinctly define what they have to offer to consumers, your personal brand has to tell a concise, yet compelling, story. This is where your resume comes in.

Your resume isn't just a piece of paper you give to a hiring manager or upload to a website that says, “I'm interested in this job.” Your resume is a personal marketing tool. You shape that tool with words that describe your experiences and achievements, to impress and grab the attention of the hiring manager. 

Unlike Nike's “Just Do It” phrase, your personal brand isn't something you build and forget. It is fluid and should be revisited and refined as you gain new skills, experiences, and achievements. Weave the elements of your brand into every section of your resume.

There is a common misconception that entry-level resumes look different than executive resumes. The reality is that the only difference is how much content is available to write about. 

Obviously, someone who has little to no experience will have a  short resume  – generally one page. 

When you start to get up to 10 years of experience, then you've earned the second page, so go ahead and use it. 

It's not incremental though

Just because you have 20 years of experience doesn't mean you can have a three-page resume. As you work through how to make a resume, remember that a three-page resume should be avoided, unless you have a lot of career extras like publications, research, patents, publications, or public speaking engagements to talk about. 

Other than the number of pages, your resume should use the same format and layout no matter if you're applying to a job as someone fresh out of college or seeking to be the CEO of a company. 

Chronological resume 

The  reverse-chronological  is the most popular, traditional, and well-known resume format. Its focus is placed on achievements from your career history and is defined by listing your work history starting with your current or most recent job and working backward 10-15 years. 

Employers like this type of resume because it tells them what, when, and where you worked. It's best to use this if your work history is steady and shows growth and development. If you're looking to make a career change, have had frequent job changes, or if you're seeking your first job, this may not be the best format to use.

Pro Tip: You could also get lost in the ATS if your  resume is over-designed . Many resume writers will tell you that you need to stand out in the sea of sameness by adding some personality to your resume through design. While that's true, you need to avoid heavily formatted resumes which are often rejected by computer scanners as being illegible.

Functional resume 

This resume type focuses more on skills and experiences rather than on your work history. It's more of a “what you know and how you apply that knowledge” than a simple list of where you got the knowledge. It plays down gaps in work history and makes frequent job changes less noticeable. If it isn't done properly, though, it can be confusing for the hiring manager to read and understand. There's also a bit of a stigma behind it, because employers know that job seekers use this style to downplay job-hopping. So, the first thing they do when they get a functional resume is check employment dates. If you can avoid using this style, it's best to do so.

Combination resume 

There is another resume format that focuses on skills first and then experience last. It's the combination resume, which is sometimes called a hybrid resume. This is the most complex resume type and the best resume for mid-career professionals who are transitioning into another career or for people who have special skills and a strong track record of accomplishments. These types of resumes do take a long time to read and some hiring managers won't take the time unless they're looking to fill a hard-to-fill position.

Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae (CV) is Latin and means “course of life.” It's a little different from a resume, but some positions require a CV over a resume. The first thing you would notice is that a CV is significantly longer than a resume.  A resume is a self-branding document meant to portray your experience and achievements in a concise and easy-to-read format. A CV goes much further into the depth of your education and accomplishments (think publications, awards, and honors) and even has a section for you to include "Areas of Interest."

The best way to describe a CV is that it's a career biography. The biggest significant difference is that a CV is arranged chronologically in a way that gives a complete overview of your full working career. It also doesn't change based on the career or position for which you're applying.

Layout 

To make things easier for the hiring manager to digest the content of your resume, it should be laid out in a specific way to ensure that the right information is in the right place. 

Hiring managers don't  READ  resumes. They skim through until they find something that piques their interest and then they stop to read

Contact information

Title 

Professional summary , core competencies, experience , education and credentials , awards, certificates, and volunteer work .

Since the reverse-chronological resume is the one that the majority of people will use to apply for jobs, and because it's the format that hiring managers want to see, we'll focus this article on showing you how to make a resume using that style. 

Current contact information 

Location | Phone | Email | LinkedIn | Portfolio (if applicable)

You can be creative and use bold font in your  contact information  and even put a border under it to separate it from the body of your resume. 

• Name: Be sure to list your name the same across all professional documents (e.g., resume, cover letter, thank you note, LinkedIn profile). Don't get hung up with whether to use your legal name (i.e. the name on your birth certificate or driver's license). Write your name in the manner you want people to address you. Also, if you use any abbreviated credentials after your name (e.g. Jane Smith, MD), remember to include them on all professional documents.  You can also include any shortened versions of your name in quotations (e.g. Christopher "Chris" Smith). Just make sure to list it the same way everywhere you put your name.
• Address: It is no longer customary to include your full address on your resume. There have been instances of discrimination against job seekers based on their address. As far as your address is concerned, all you need is the City, State, and Zip Code. A lot of people leave off the Zip Code; however, hiring managers can query the ATS for all resumes within a radius of a Zip Code. If you exclude the Zip Code or put something like, "Greater New York Metro Area," your resume won't be included in the query.
• Phone and email: Put the telephone number and email address where you can easily be reached. Also, be sure that your email address is professional. Using something like [email protected] just won't cut it. The best idea is to use some form of your name. If you're paranoid about having your name in your email address, then you can use some form of the type of position you seek, like [email protected].
• LinkedIn URL: You don't have to spell out the entire URL on the contact line. You can put the words “LinkedIn URL” and hyperlink those words. Before you include your LinkedIn URL, be sure that your LinkedIn profile is optimized for the career you want - because you can bet if they have access to it, the hiring manager will look at it. 
• Portfolio: If you're applying for a position like Graphic Designer or Software Designer, you may have a portfolio of work that you want to make available to someone reviewing your application for employment. Include a hyperlink to the portfolio in your contact information. 
• Headshot / photo: There is no reason to include a  headshot on your resume . Actually, it's seen as taboo and could be the thing that gets your resume rejected, because the hiring manager might assume you think you can get the job based on your looks. However, there are some exceptions, like if you're applying to be a model or actor. 

Do you want a hiring manager to be able to tell immediately what type of candidate you are? Put a title at the top of your resume. Center the text on the line, put it in bold font, and put a blank space above and below. The white space and the small amount of words will help it to jump off the page and immediately be noticed. It will also be the first step in helping you stand out in the sea of sameness.

Also, be sure the title on your resume mirrors the title on the job description that you're applying to, but add a bit of panache to it so that it's not too boring. For example, instead of writing “Financial Services Associate,” write “Client-Centric Financial Services Associate Dedicated to Customer Engagement and Revenue Growth.” Just remember to keep it on one line. 

The very next thing on the page should always be your Professional Summary. But how do you write a summary for a resume?

It's a three to five-sentence statement about you. Where you've been in your career, where you're going, and how you'll use your experience to get there. 

While the professional summary is sometimes referred to as the resume objective , you must remember that the days of writing a  resume objective are dead . Never, ever include an objective on your resume. They are a waste of space and don't relay any information that markets you as the best candidate for an open position. 

Let's take a look at an example of each:

Sales Representative seeking a challenging position that will use my skills and provide opportunities for growth in a dynamic and rewarding company. 

As you can see, the objective is very inward-facing and only talks about what you want out of your career. It provides no value to the hiring manager and eliminates any possibility for them to be able to tell what you bring to the table for them. 

Professional Summary:

Ambitious sales professional offering 10+ years' experience in customer retention and aggressive revenue growth. Conquers goals and quotas through a keen awareness of the human buying motive that allows for quickly overcoming objections. Used historical data and consumer trends to reach new customers and grow territory by 24%. Innate ability to work independently or as a member of a cross-functional team.

The best use of resume space is to write a summary of your career. The effectiveness of this summary comes from the fusing of three things:

Relevant keywords – customer retention, revenue growth, and quotas 

Hard and soft skills – overcoming objections and working independently

An achievement – 24% territory growth

With this professional summary, the hiring manager will be able to tell in an instant what you have to offer their team. 

Even though the skills section of your resume is small, it packs a powerful punch! The skills you list in this section highlight your key abilities and show potential employers what you bring to the table. 

It should contain approximately 12 ATS-friendly keywords and phrases that align with the keywords in the job description. Meaning, this is a fluid section that will need to be  tailored to every job  that you apply to. Technically speaking, your entire resume should be customized to align with each job description. That's one thing that will help you get past the ATS. 

Be sure to include a good mix of  hard and soft skills  because prospective employers not only want to know that you can perform the tasks related to your job (hard skills), but they also want to gain a clear understanding of how you'll fit within the culture of the company (soft skills). 

Tips for building your Core Competencies section:

Include skills that are relevant to the job that you're applying to

Avoid creating a laundry list of everything you know how to do – be selective so that the section is more impactful

Group similar competencies together using categories – technical skills, soft skills, and languages

Prioritize your top skills based on their relevance to the job you want

Update frequently

Be consistent with the formatting

Here is a sample Core Competencies list that contains both hard and soft skills:

Core Competencies

Project Management | Data Analysis | Cross-Functional Collaboration | Digital Marketing Strategy | Python Programming | Customer Relationship Management (CRM) | Negotiation | Team Leadership | Business Development | Financial Modeling | Articulate Communication

This section is meant to show how your career history lends itself to the skills you have that make you the perfect candidate for a given job. There are some general rules of thumb on how to make a resume with a great professional experience section:

Don't go further back than 10 to 15 years

Use no more than 3 to 5 bullets per work listing

Incorporate at least 5 measurable achievements per 10 years of experience (the more the better)

Use stacking for companies where you held more than one role

10-15 Years

The 10-15 years of experience is the most relevant – you can list more than that, but avoid using bullet points for roles over 10 years old. Begin by listing your most recent position first and work your way backward to your oldest position, within that 10-15-year range. If you have 30 years of experience, you can use achievements or skills you learned during that time as talking points during the interview. Listing those older experiences on your resume will only dilute the content.

As you write out your bullet points, keep two words in mind: “so what?” The hiring manager is going to be thinking it, you might as well be thinking it, too. Every time you write something on your resume, think, “So what? Why am I writing this? What value will it bring to my new employer? Will this be THE THING that lands me an interview?"

Achievements

Remove “Responsible for…” from your resume-writing vocabulary. That's because it's crucial that you talk about what you achieved, instead of just what your responsibilities were. Let's face it, there are a lot of things that people are “responsible for” that never get done. So, be sure to talk about things you actually accomplished, as that will be the proof the hiring manager needs to take the next step and call you for an interview.

1. Use numbers whenever possible

The best way to call attention to your career accomplishments is to use numbers. Numbers add credibility to your claims and provide a clear picture of what you bring to the table. 

Don't write this:

• Conducted cold calls to expand client base

Write this instead:

• Increased sales by 15% by making approximately 20 cold calls per day to expand the client base

The latter makes an unmistakable assertion that you had a positive impact, not only in your role but on the company as a whole. You can take it a step further and talk about things like problem-solving skills and how you addressed challenges to lead to team success. These types of  soft skills are highly valued by employers  and could be the thing that lands you an interview.

PRO TIP: Use the  CAR method  for building achievement statements into your resume.

2. Use action words to convey accomplishment

A lot of people make the mistake of copying bullet points from the job descriptions of the roles they've held. This practice makes you sound detached from achievements and focuses more on responsibilities. Using passive language is too generic and doesn't allow a hiring manager to see what you'll be able to accomplish in the new role. 

It's better to use action language to show that you're an achiever rather than a doer. Here are some examples of action words you can use on your resume: 

Worked with others: Advised, Aided, Assisted, Chaired, Coached, Collaborated with, Consulted with, Helped, Instructed, Interacted with, Mentored, Motivated, Supported

Communicated: Addressed, Advertised, Answered, Briefed, Corresponded with, Debated, Explained, Facilitated, Informed, Interpreted, Interviewed, Persuaded, Responded to

Analyzed data: Assessed, Appraised, Audited, Calculated, Computed, Estimated, Evaluated, Forecast, Inspected, Measured, Researched, Surveyed, Tested

Operated equipment: Installed, Maintained, Programmed, Ran, Serviced, Used

Worked with money or contracts: Administered, Appropriated, Authorized, Balanced, Controlled, Directed, Enforced, Financed, Funded, Governed, Invested, Monitored, Oversaw, Purchased

Organized something: Arranged, Assembled, Catalogued, Compiled, Coordinated, Itemized, Routed, Scheduled, Stocked, Tracked

Created: Composed, Customized, Designed, Directed, Established, Founded, Illustrated, Originated, Shaped

Researched: Analyzed, Collected, Criticized, Detected, Diagnosed, Evaluated, Tested

How to make your professional experience section: The formula

There's a formula for writing your professional experience section in a way that focuses on achievements. You'll start by asking yourself these questions about every job you've had:

What was the name of the company?

What was the title of your role?

What dates were you employed? (*Hint: use the MM/YYYY format for your dates)

What did you do every day? (*Example: Leveraged management skills to direct operations of 5 separate but concurrent projects by delegating tasks to staff based on employee acumen and monitoring / controlling budgets)

What is one thing you did at the company that you're really proud of?

What is another thing you're really proud of?

What is one more thing you did that you're really proud of?

When you put all of that together, it should look like this:

Company Name | MM/YYYY to Present

Position Title

Balanced competing priorities on multiple and concurrent projects and program management initiatives using data-driven strategies in Agile environments. Managed key accounts, onboarded new accounts, and oversaw organizational process adoption for nursing facilities, emergency departments, and pharmacies.

Developed $2M Provider Incentive Program that increased community provider partnerships

Saved $800K by using Six Sigma skills to implement DMAIC approach

Coached and mentored 2 direct reports, creating an open environment of communication that facilitated future-facing decision-making

Many people will create separate sections for education history and certifications. That's not necessary. You can include all of it in one section. You can also include extras like  relevant coursework , projects, and achievements. These extras can be truly beneficial for your application if you have little to no work experience. 

There are some general rules of thumb for the education section: 

Spell out acronyms (BS, MS, PhD) and school abbreviations

It is no longer customary to include graduation dates unless you're still in school or graduated within the last year

Never include high school, unless you're still in high school - listing high school doesn't say “ I finished high school, ” it says, “ I didn't go to college .” 

List your degree first and then your school, unless you've obtained multiple degrees at the same institution. 

Here's what a regular education section looks like:

EDUCATION AND CREDENTIALS

Master of Business Administration (MBA) | ABC University

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) | XYZ University

Six Sigma Black Belt | Council for Six Sigma Certification

If you don't have a lot of experience and need to include some relevant coursework or major projects to inject relevant keywords into your resume, then this is what that would look like:

Relevant coursework:  Marketing, Operations Management, Accounting, Corporate Finance

Capstone project:  Let a team of 4 to execute a market analysis project to expand the Brooms and Handles company into new regions. Used market and consumer analysis data to identify gaps and achieve a 15% projected revenue increase and a 20% increase in customer satisfaction within the pilot program. 

You can include educational information about a degree program even if it's still in progress. Here's what that would look like:

Expected completion:  05/2024

Capstone project:  Let a team of 4 to execute a market analysis project to expand the Brooms and Handles company into new regions. Used market and consumer analysis data to identify gaps and achieve a 15% projected revenue increase and a 20% increase in customer satisfaction within the pilot program.

It is important to list what you do outside of work and school. It helps to demonstrate that you're a well-rounded person. 

Were you the president of a fraternity or sorority? 

Did you get involved with showing new students around campus? 

Have you headed a sales team that produced top awards? 

Were you an employee of the month? 

Do you speak multiple languages?

Did you volunteer for an organization?

Did you perform some major research that ended up being published?

All of these extras allow prospective employers a sneak peek into your life outside of work. They can also go a long way to breaking the ice during an interview, especially if something you do outside work is important or interesting to the hiring manager. 

Keep in mind to list only those volunteer positions, projects, or affiliations that are related to your career goals. 

How long does it take to make a resume?

If you're going to use the resume wizard that MS Word has, you can slap your information together in a day or two. It will get to employers. The bad thing is that it probably won't get a whole lot of attention. 

The "just right resume" can take weeks, because of how much background work goes into it. You'll write it, rewrite it, and write it again, and may even have multiple versions. Ultimately, the exact amount of time that goes into putting your resume together depends on your level of experience, how complex your history is, and the specificity of the job you're applying to. 

Entry-level resumes take the least amount of time, simply because there's less information to include

Mid-level resumes take a few days because of the amount of detail in your work history

Executive resumes, or those for specialized positions, can take weeks - especially if you have to do some digging to come up with accomplishments from your previous positions

Updating an existing resume that's well-maintained can be done in just a few hours

While the time spent can seem like a lot, if you're truly marketing yourself for that “just right” position, do you want your resume to say “This was thrown together in a couple of hours using a template” OR do you want it to say “I know this document is important and a significant amount of time was spent on it to make it perfect?”

The first and foremost thing that will get your resume tossed in the garbage can are typos. The number of resumes with errors that are turned in every day to employers across the globe is so astounding that it bears discussing. 

You must proofread your resume!

The major problem with typos and grammatical boo-boos is that your eyes will read what you intended to type. So, after you've read through your resume a few times and think it's perfect, get a friend to read it. Make sure the friend is one of those brutally honest types. It's better to get it back marked all over with bright red ink so you can fix it before you send it out, than to send it out and then realize there's a mistake in it.

How to make your resume seem more professional

Lazy words: Do you see words like "etc" or “other duties as required” on your resume? Delete them immediately. If you take shortcuts in the language of your resume, hiring managers will wonder if you'll be taking shortcuts at work. 

Cookie cutter resumes: Your resume has to stand out. Because of that, you should avoid throwing something together that you find a sample of online. Make it yours, make it represent you. Many people rely on the resume wizard that comes loaded with MS Word and, while that is a good tool to use to help you remember the sections to include, it shouldn't be the end-all-and-be-all of your resume design. 

Specificity: You've had three jobs in the last 10 years and you've listed every detail of everything you've done during your tenure at those jobs. That makes you a Jack (or Jackie) of all trades, but a master of nothing. You have to be specific to the job for which you're applying. What value do you bring to that employer for that job? What achievements can you highlight?

Tailoring: Considering the rampant use of ATS by companies big and small, you have to take the time to customize your resume so that it gets past those scanners. Remember to use relevant keywords from the job descriptions throughout your resume. 

PRO TIP: You can check to see how to make your resume better! Have it checked against an ATS and get a free, personalized, and  professional resume review . 

Theory in practice – 10 resume examples

It's one thing to have someone tell you how to make a resume, it's another thing to see an example – proof that all of this information can come together in a practical way that makes sense. 

1. Software Engineer resume example

Click here for an example of a Software Engineer resume.

2. Data Scientist resume example

Click here for an example of a Data Scientist resume.

3. Cybersecurity resume example

Click here for an example of a cybersecurity resume.

4. Digital Marketing Manager resume example

Click here for an example of a Digital Marketing Manager resume.

5. Nurse Practitioner resume example

Click here for an example of a Nurse Practitioner resume. 

6. Finance Director resume example

Click here for an example of a Finance Director resume. 

7. Attorney resume example

Click here for an example of a Attorney resume.

8. Administrative Office Assistant resume example

Click here for an example of an Administrative Office Assistant resume. 

9. Information Technology Expert resume example

Click here for an example of an Information Technology Expert resume. 

10. Chief Executive Officer resume example

Click here for an example of a CEO resume. 

Now you know how to make a resume for your next job!

It may seem like it takes a lot of work to make a good resume, but if you've followed along this far there are a few things that should be ingrained in you that will help you write a professional resume:

Know what you want to do – be specific

Make your resume with the right format 

Use a standard layout, whether you are writing your first resume or 50th

Use action words to make your resume stand out

Quantify your achievements to prove that you have what it takes to succeed in a new role

Tailor your new resume to each job

Double and triple-check for errors, typos, and grammar mistakes

If you're still unsure how to make a perfect resume, TopResume has you covered. Our team of  professional resume writers  has the know-how and experience to write a resume for you that will win interviews.

Recommended reading: 

Resume Tricks That Don't Work

What Does Your Resume Really Say About You?

Bad Resume Advice You Should Completely Ignore

Related Articles:

Do Hiring Managers Actually Read Cover Letters?

How to Create a Resume With No Education

Why You Lose When You Lie on Your Resume: Learning From Mina Chang

See how your resume stacks up.

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40 Places To Find Freelance Writing Jobs For Beginners

Alana Chase

With over 10 years’ experience in editing and editorial team management, Alana serves as Eleven's Head of Editing, aiding editors in creating top-quality content and overseeing recruitment to ensure only the best of the best join Eleven’s ranks. A seasoned digital journalist and writer, Alana holds an MA in Creative Writing and is accomplished in spearheading content strategy at high-growth media startups.

Deciding to become a freelance writer is exciting, but it can also feel a bit overwhelming and confusing at first.

You’ve explored your passion for writing, dabbled in creating content, and maybe even shared some pieces on a personal blog or self-publishing platform.

But what comes next? How do you bridge the gap between aspiring to work as a freelance writer and landing your first paid gig?

We’re here to answer exactly that question with our guide on where to find freelance writing jobs as a beginner. 

Below, you’ll find 40+ websites, job boards, communities, and newsletters to help you find plenty of new freelance writing gigs. You’ll also find platforms we’ve used to hire freelancers in the past.

Let’s jump in!

Traditional job boards: LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor

(🏅We’ve hired from here)

LinkedIn , Indeed , and Glassdoor are some of the most reliable places to find freelance writing jobs, even for beginners.

Simply sign up for an account (you can use your existing Google account to sign up on LinkedIn, Indeed, or Glassdoor or your Facebook account to sign up on Glassdoor), and then use their job search features to find writing jobs. 

Try search terms like “writing,” “writer,” “blog writer,” “freelance writer,” “entry-level freelance writer,” or “entry-level writer.”

On LinkedIn, you can narrow down your search by setting the “​​​​Experience level” filter to “Entry level” and “Job type” to “Contract” for beginner-friendly freelance gigs. On Indeed, filter by Job type > Contract for freelance work.

Pro tip: Make the most of LinkedIn by creating a compelling profile that showcases your writing skills. Highlight your relevant experience, include links to samples of your work, and add a professional headshot. 

Also, follow companies and individuals related to your niche (such as publishers or content marketing agencies) for networking opportunities. Engage with their posts and consider reaching out with personalized connection requests to build a strong professional network. 

Upwork is a freelancing platform that connects individuals with clients looking for various services, including writing. Writers of all levels can find gigs on Upwork, but it’s especially useful for those just starting out.

First, sign up for an Upwork account and create a profile detailing your skills and experience.

Next, use the search function to find jobs. Filter results by job category (e.g., Content Writing or Sales & Marketing Copywriting), type (hourly or fixed-price), client history (i.e., how many hires they’ve made), project length, and hours per week. 

When you find a job you’d like to apply to, submit a proposal and wait for it to be approved. 

Pro tip: Personalize your proposals by emphasizing your unique strengths — such as your knowledge of SEO, ability to meet tight deadlines, or expertise in a certain industry (e.g., technology or finance).

Freelance Writing Jobs

Freelance Writing Jobs features job posts for freelance writers from all over the internet. Listings are updated regularly, and you can narrow your search by job location, category, and date posted. 

You don’t need an account to browse the site. However, since it collects job listings from across the web, you won’t actually apply through Freelance Writing Jobs itself. As a result, you may need to sign up for an account on a different platform to apply for the gigs that interest you.

Contently is a creative marketing platform that helps freelancers connect with brands seeking top-notch writing services. It regularly posts opportunities from a wide range of industries — from tech to biopharma to medicine and more.

All you need to get started is a Contently account. It’s free to sign up, and you can begin creating your portfolio immediately. Add your best samples, outline your experience and skills, and upload a profile picture. 

Make sure to turn on the “Available to work” setting and set “View as” to “Everyone.” You’ll then be ready to start landing clients. 

​​Guru is a freelancing platform where you can find various writing jobs. 

To get started, register for a free Guru account and create a comprehensive profile outlining your rates, experience, and skills. 

You can then search for jobs, filtering by payment terms (hourly or fixed rate), employer spend (i.e., how much the client has budgeted for the project), location, category, and number of quotes received.

Once you find an opportunity that interests you, tap the “Send Quote” button to bid on the project with your custom rate.

Behance , owned by Adobe, is a platform where creative professionals can showcase their portfolios and find new work. While it’s most popular with graphic designers, illustrators, and other artists, Behance is also great for freelance writers.

The platform shares many job opportunities, including ones in writing that you can find using keywords like “writer” and “content creator.” Behance lets you filter jobs by “Freelance” or “Full-Time” — but we’ve found that some gigs listed as full-time accept applications from freelancers, too.

Simply sign up for a free account and start browsing gigs.

A job board specializing in remote and flexible opportunities, FlexJobs is fantastic for freelance writers of all experience levels.

The site requires a subscription ($9.95/week, $24.95/month, $39.95/three months, or $59.95/year). With it, you can access tens of thousands of job opportunities and search for the ones that fit your exact preferences. 

Filter by job category, work schedule, experience level, location, job type, and more. You can even view opportunities from companies with accolades, such as Great Place to Work Award recipients and those who’ve made the Fortune 500 list.

FlexJobs can also automatically notify you when it posts new listings that meet your criteria.

JournalismJobs.com

JournalismJobs.com is a site that posts jobs in journalism and media — including freelance writing opportunities at digital publications, newspapers, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations. 

It’s free to create an account, and you can sign up to receive daily freelance job alerts in your preferred industry and location. 

Robert Half

Robert Half is a recruitment agency that helps professionals find their next opportunity. 

It posts new jobs to its board daily, and we’ve found that the best search terms to find freelance writing gigs are “freelance content writer” and “freelance copywriter.” Robert Half advertises both remote and in-person (within the United States) opportunities, which you can filter by state. 

You won’t need an account to browse jobs, but it’s a good idea to sign up for one (it’s free) before applying. You can also upload your resume, and a Robert Half team member will contact you if you’re a good match for open positions.

ProBlogger is a platform dedicated to blogging and freelance writing. It has a job board featuring writing opportunities from various niches, with new listings added regularly. 

With the Advanced Job Search function , you can filter listings by keyword, location, type (e.g., freelance), category (such as blog writing or ghostwriting), company type (from studios to large organizations), and date posted. 

You can search for gigs without an account, but you’ll need to sign up for a free Candidate account to start applying.

Creative Circle

Creative Circle provides staffing and consulting services to those in creative industries. It also has a job board and various resources for job-seekers, including freelance writers. 

Search for jobs by title, skill, or keyword, and filter by type (e.g., freelance), location (remote or a physical location in the US or Canada), and date posted. 

Creative Circle refreshes its job board daily, and the recruitment process is straightforward:

• Apply for an open role, and Creative Circle will set up an interview if your experience is a match.
• Creative Circle shares your resume and writing work with the client to see if you’re a good fit.
• You await the client’s decision, and if you land the gig, Creative Circle will handle all the necessary paperwork.

Hubstaff Talent

Hubstaff Talent connects freelancers with clients looking for remote talent around the world. The platform has a client network in the thousands, and new opportunities are added to its job board nearly every day.

Start by setting up your Hubstaff Talent freelancer profile — adding your personal details, experience, skills, writing samples, hourly rate, and how many hours per week you can dedicate to freelance work. You can also add your social media links, resume, and profile picture. 

Then, browse the job board for freelance writing opportunities. There are various filters to narrow your search, including experience level, location, and project budget.

Mediabistro

Mediabistro posts career opportunities for professionals in the creative and media industries — e.g., graphic designers, digital marketing managers, reporters, photographers, editors, writers, and others.

Its job board boasts hundreds of listings — including ones from major organizations like Dotdash Meredith and Hearst Communications, two of the largest digital and print publishers in the US. You can sort jobs by type, experience level, duration (e.g., freelance, part-time, full-time, etc.), and location. 

To find freelance writing jobs, you needn’t enter any keywords. Simply click “Writing & Editing” in the “Job Type” dropdown and set “Duration” to “Freelance.” 

Pro tip: Once you’ve set these filters, tap the navy-blue “Create Job Alerts” button to receive an email when Mediabistro adds new jobs that fit the criteria.

You might be familiar with Medium as a publishing platform writers use to share their work. But did you know it’s also a place to earn money for your writing?

You can do this by applying for Medium’s Partner Program , which requires some investment upfront. 

To be eligible, you’ll need to be a Medium member. Membership costs $5-15/month or $50-150/year, depending on your tier preference. You’ll also need to have posted to Medium within the last six months, be at least 18 years old, and be located and file taxes in an eligible country.

Medium will pay you for your articles based on “​​​​member read and listen time” and engagement signals such as “claps, highlights, replies, and new follows.”

You might not earn thousands of dollars per month (though some writers do ), but this is a decent way to make money while building up your writing portfolio as a beginner.

Check out the complete guide to Medium’s Partner Program here .

ClearVoice is a content creation and marketing platform that connects freelancers with clients. Sign up to freelance with ClearVoice, and the company will match you with the perfect job opportunity. 

Getting started is easy and relatively quick. Follow these steps:

• Enter your name and email address and create a password.
• Add basic personal details and a professional bio. 
• Set your per-word rate. 
• Select the content types (e.g., newsletters, blog articles, website copy, etc.) and categories (e.g., Advertising & Marketing, Family & Parenting, and others) you’d like to focus on.
• Add up to six samples of your work. 
• Wait for ClearVoice to approve your profile.

Companies can then contact you for work. A ClearVoice team member might also reach out to you directly about completing writing assignments.

Freelance Writers Den

Freelance Writers Den is a membership-based site designed exclusively for freelance writers.

Membership is a bit pricey, at $40/month, but it gives you access to a supportive community, resources to help you navigate your freelance writing career, and, of course, various job listings.

We Work Remotely

Catering to those seeking work-from-anywhere opportunities, We Work Remotely shares hundreds of jobs in various fields, with new gigs posted daily. 

Searching the job board is easy. Enter a job title, such as “content writer” or “technical writer,” and use filters to narrow the results. Advanced filters include job category, time zone, company size, industry, and more. 

You can also sign up for daily email updates on new job listings in your preferred category, such as Sales and Marketing.

Where to Pitch

Where to Pitch provides freelance writers with a curated list of publications accepting article pitches. 

Just type in a vertical — such as personal finance, beauty, or politics — or use the Categories dropdown to search for places to submit your writing. Click on opportunities that interest you to read the publication’s unique content requirements and pitching guidelines.

Who Pays Writers?

Who Pays Writers? is a crowdsourced list of publications that pay freelance writers. It includes publications’ rates, how quickly they pay, and reports on writing projects from specific outlets.

You can search reports by publication or date posted. New reports are posted regularly, and publications get added to the Who Pays Writers? list as soon as they have a report. 

Newsletters

Subscribing to newsletters is an excellent way to discover freelance writing opportunities. Many share curated lists of writing gigs — sent straight to your email inbox. 

Here are some free ones you can sign up for:

• Best Writing’s Newsletter
• The Write Life Newsletter
• Coffee & Go Newsletter
• The Writer’s Job Newsletter
• Kat Boogaard’s Newsletter
• Freedom with Writing Newsletter
• Peak Freelance Newsletter

Eleven has its own newsletter, too: the Freelance Writing Roundup. Every two weeks, we share tips to improve your writing, the latest job openings at our agency, and more. Sign up here .

Online communities

Joining online communities related to freelance writing can help you discover potential job leads. Many digital forums and social media groups have community job boards and regularly share announcements for freelance opportunities. 

Here’s a list of some you can join:

• r/freelancewriters on Reddit
• Upwork’s Community forums
• The Writing & Blogging topic on Quora
• The Freelance Writers’ Connection LinkedIn group
• #FreelanceWriting , # FreelanceWritingJobs , and # WritingCommunity on X
• Freelance Copywriter Collective
• Writers Helping Writers
• The Write Life Community
• ProBlogger Community
• Digital Copywriters
• No-Fluff Freelance Writing Group
• Absolute Write Water Cooler
• The Copywriter Club

Beginning your freelance writing journey can be thrilling, but you’ll need to know where to look for jobs to get your career off the ground. 

We’ve shared 40+ great places to find freelance writing jobs as a beginner — from established platforms like Upwork to writer-specific sites like Freelance Writers Den and plenty more.

You now have a range of options at your fingertips. All that’s left to do is start applying!

‍ Hungry for insights on improving as a writer? Dive into Eleven’s writing and editing guides , and consider signing up for our upcoming Freelance Writing Mastery course .

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10 Tips for Writing an Entry-Level Resume That’ll Get Your Career Started Right (Plus an Example)

Getting an “entry-level job” sounds like it should be easy, but when you pull up job descriptions and see the lists of skills and experiences companies are looking for, the prospect can be overwhelming. You know you’re ready to start a great career, but how do you convince someone to give you an entry-level job? That’s where an entry-level resume comes in. You may already have a resume you created to get a job while in high school or college , or to land an internship , but making a resume for an entry-level job can be a little different.

A resume is a document that showcases to potential employers why they should hire you. Generally, past work experience makes up the bulk of it. So what do you do when you’re just getting started and don’t have much (or any) past work experience to put on a resume? Or what if you do have past jobs, but you’re not sure if they apply to the entry-level job you’re looking at?

Read on to find out what recruiters are looking for in an entry-level resume and get tips for making your own—and skip to the end to get an example.

What Are Recruiters Looking for in an Entry-Level Resume?

Despite any horror stories you may have heard about entry-level jobs that require five or more years experience, most companies consider people with zero to three years of work experience to be candidates for entry-level jobs. And recruiters looking at these resumes adjust their expectations accordingly.

With “entry-level resumes, you go in with the assumption that someone isn’t going to have a lot of experience,” says Muse career coach Yolanda Owens , founder of Career Sensei and college corporate recruiter for over twenty years. So what are they looking for in an entry-level resume? How are they making judgements about entry-level candidates? 

When recruiters look at an entry-level (or any) resume, they want to know why you’re applying for the job. If you majored in accounting and everything on your resume focuses on that, but you applied for a job in marketing, recruiters aren’t going to understand why and they’ll probably move you to the rejection pile. But if you show that you had a marketing internship you excelled in or took a lot of communications and marketing classes, that makes your motivations a whole lot clearer.

Your resume is a single page that is supposed to convince the person who reads it to call you for an interview. So it has to be relevant to the job they’re hiring for. That’s why you shouldn’t send out the exact same resume to every company with an entry-level opening. You’re unlikely to ever get a response that way. Instead, make sure you know why you’re applying for each role and tailor every section on your resume accordingly.

Personality

There are two major components to every single hiring decision: qualifications and personality. When you join a company, you’re joining a team, and hiring managers want to know that you’ll be a great addition. So where you can, you want to make sure your resume shows who you are as a person and how you’re unique among all the other applicants in the pile.

As a recruiter, Owens would often reject resumes where she could tell that the candidate “sprinkled in a bunch of buzzwords” and didn’t attempt to show the individual beyond the piece of paper. That’s because she couldn’t picture who they’d be as an employee and as a colleague. And don’t think that there’s a “correct” personality for every workplace. Every company (or even team within a company) has its own environment and group dynamics, and there’s definitely somewhere where you’ll be at home, just as you are.

Your resume summary (more on that below) is a great place to show your personality, as are your accomplishments and choices of activities.

Transferable Skills

When you’re first joining the workforce, you’re going to be lighter on skills that come directly from a past job in your field. That’s inevitable, and recruiters know it. Instead, they’re looking for your transferable skills . These are skills that you’ve used and developed through past experiences—including part-time jobs, internships, classes, and extracurricular activities—that can be applied to a number of different career paths. These might be things like communication, organization, time management, customer service, teamwork, and general office skills. For example, if you’ve worked in a fast food position, you likely have customer service experience that will translate to a sales position.

As you look back on all of your experiences, think about what you learned that could serve you well in the workplace. Did you have to figure out how to communicate with a group that disagreed? Did you have to plan a lot of small pieces of a large project in order to get everything done by a deadline? Did you have to work within a budget or convince local businesses to donate something or a charity event? These types of things are transferable skills. Just make sure they’re related to the description of the job you’re applying for before you put them on your resume, says Muse career coach Jennifer Smith , founder of Flourish Careers and former college recruiter.

Leadership Experience

Recruiters love to see leadership experience on a resume. Not because they expect you to fill a management role (obviously!), but because it signals to recruiters that you have some teamwork skills, know how to make decisions, and may have experience working with budget among other things—all in a somewhat professional capacity, Owens says.

“College provides a lot of opportunities for folks to be leaders,” Smith says, whether that’s through clubs and professional groups, fraternities and sororities, volunteer organizations, or sports teams, and leaders of these groups are often required to do things that often come up in a professional work environment. So look for opportunities to call attention to leadership experience on your resume. Even if you didn’t hold an official position, if you took the lead on organizing something that still counts.

If you held a leadership role in a past job, whether that’s as a store manager, assistant manager, shift lead, new employee trainer, or even a senior team member with additional responsibilities, definitely highlight that as well. Even if it’s not exactly on your current career path, it’s very valuable experience that proves you have a number of transferable skills.

So now that you know what recruiters are looking for on an entry-level resume, how do you go about putting one together?

1. Put Your Contact Information Front and Center

Your name and contact information should always be at the top of your resume. This includes your phone number, your email address (make sure it’s a professional-sounding one), and your LinkedIn URL (you do have a LinkedIn profile , right?). If it’s applicable to the field you’re trying to enter, you might also consider a link to your personal website or online portfolio .

As an entry-level candidate, you might be wondering whether or not to include a location—especially if you just finished school and intend to move somewhere new. The answer depends. If you’re applying to jobs where you currently live, go ahead and include your city and state—full mailing address not needed. If you’re applying to jobs in an area where you’re definitely planning to move, you can leave off your current location and write “Relocating to [City, State]” at the top of your resume or mention your plans to move in your cover letter.

If you’re not sure where you’re headed, Smith recommends leaving your location off your resume. If you list an out-of-area location, you risk getting disqualified by a recruiter who has no relocation budget. But if you leave it off entirely, you could land an interview and allow the company to learn more about you before discussing location. This isn’t likely to create a relocation budget where none exists, but it will get you considered for a role if you’re able to move without financial support from the company.

2. Use a Resume Summary to Help You Stand Out (Optional)

Below your name and contact info, consider adding a resume summary (not an outdated resume objective ). A resume summary consists of a few short sentences describing who you are as a candidate and as a person. For later-career candidates, a summary often talks about past full-time roles and key career achievements, but as an entry-level candidate you can use this space to get a bit more in-depth about who you are. Resume summaries are completely optional, but this is a place where you can really make a connection with a recruiter and have them think of you as a person, and not just words on a page.

In a resume summary you can (briefly) describe your key skills, what you’re passionate about, and what you have to offer this organization that’s going to set you apart. Candidates just entering a field often have fresh ideas and a lot of energy and enthusiasm, Smith says. And a resume summary is a great place to show that off.

Perhaps most importantly, your summary should also look to the future. After you describe who you are, spend a sentence or two talking about where you want to go and what you hope to bring to this specific job.

Here’s one example of what a resume summary might look like for an entry-level candidate:

Enthusiastic and creative recent grad with passion for communications, design, and the environment. Created graphics and written copy as part of social media strategies to grow personal, business, student group, and cute dog social media accounts by a combined 2 million followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Active in Rutgers’ chapter of the Sierra Club for 4 years and dedicated to helping educate people about climate change.

3. Emphasize Your Education

If you’ve ever looked at the resume of someone several years into their career, you may have noticed that their “Education” section was at the bottom of the page. But this isn’t the case for entry-level resumes. Putting your education right below your contact information or summary (along with your graduation date or expected graduation date) immediately lets the reader know that you’re in the very early stages of your career, Owens says. This adjusts their expectations of what sort of experience you’re likely to have, so they won’t go in looking for several past jobs in your field when you’re about to showcase mostly internships, coursework, extracurricular activities, part-time or temporary jobs, and unrelated jobs.

Beyond your graduation date, you should list the name of each school you’ve attended after high school, its location, your degree (bachelor’s, associates, master’s, etc.), your major, and any minors or concentrations. If you don’t have a college degree, you should list the name of your high school, its location, and your graduation date. If you did any study abroad programs, list those as their own schools, but make it explicit that they were study abroad programs. This is also the section to list any relevant certificate, training programs, or online classes that you’ve completed along with the school or organization you completed them through and the date (or anticipated date) of completion.

Under the applicable school, you should also list any honors, scholarships, and awards you received along with a short description of what each accolade is or why you were given it. You should list your GPA if the job description asks for it. Otherwise it’s optional, but only list it if it’s above a 3.5.

From there, you want to consider the job you’re applying to when deciding what else to share. If you completed a capstone project, thesis, or another major project, you should list that, but tailor your description to the specific job. For example, let’s say you did a capstone project that involved coming up with a business plan. If you’re applying for software development positions, emphasize the part of the project where you coded a website from scratch. But if you’re pursuing a marketing role, you might want to call attention to the way you planned to advertise your business to potential customers.

You can also list relevant coursework, but make sure it’s obvious  why it’s relevant. For example, say you have a business degree and took five finance classes without a formal concentration. When you apply to finance roles, listing those courses will show that you have background knowledge. If you have a general biology degree and are applying to work in a neuroscience lab, you can list the neuroscience and anatomy courses you took. A “relevant coursework” bullet point can also show how you obtained a key skill for the job you want. But don’t just list classes you think sound impressive unless they’re directly relevant to the job you’re applying to.

4. Show That You Have the Right Experience for the Job

On a resume for somebody further along in their career, “experience” almost always focuses primarily on current and past paid jobs. For an entry-level candidate, experience can come from many places:

• Relevant internships, apprenticeships, or co-ops are the first thing that many recruiters will look for on an entry-level resume. But they’re far from the only thing that counts as experience. Most recruiters and hiring managers recognize that not everyone can afford to do an internship—particularly in fields where they often pay little or nothing.
• Part-time or full-time jobs are still professional experience even when they’re not directly related to your future career path. They’re a great place to look for those transferable skills, and they show hiring managers that as a baseline, you have experience showing up, completing tasks, and getting along in a workplace environment. Further, “if someone worked and went to college they’re obviously juggling a lot,” Smith says, and that speaks to a candidate’s work ethic and time management skills.
• Volunteer work also counts as experience especially if you led the effort or played a big part in it, Smith says. Volunteer work can show a wealth of transferable skills whether or not it’s directly relevant to your field—but definitely emphasize it if it is.
• Activities, organizations, and affiliations show your interests and personality, but they can also show transferable skills and leadership experience. If you were in a leadership or officer position, you likely had to organize well, communicate effectively, manage your time, and motivate other members of your group. You may have also had to deal with money or show good customer service. Even if you didn’t lead the group but consistently participated, you likely showed these skills and can list what you did as part of the organization.
• Relevant projects can be things that you did on your own or as part of your coursework. If you took classes in school that were not part of your major, but are relevant to the jobs you want to pursue, highlighting a project is a great way to showcase your interests and skills outside of your major. The same goes for if you pursued something non-academic like starting an online business. Even if the project doesn’t directly map onto the job you want, you can still demonstrate transferable skills.

Once you know what experience you want to talk about, you should decide how you’ll split it up into sections. You can use the bullets above that apply to you and make each its own section—labeled “Internship Experience,” “Volunteer Work,” “Activities,” and more—or you might want to have “Related Experience” and “Other Experience” sections if the experiences that are most directly relevant to your job search span across several of the above categories. You can also do things like combine internships and paid jobs into a single section called “Professional Experience” or list relevant projects in the education section. What’s most important is presenting your story in a way that’s easy to read and makes it clear why you’re the right person for the job.

5. Craft Strong Bullet Points

When it comes to listing your experience, just stating your past positions or the activities you were part of isn’t enough. Under every entry, you need to include bullet points describing what you did and what you achieved. These bullet points might be the most important part of your resume with the most real estate devoted to them, so they deserve time and attention.

“Don’t focus on the mundane daily duties, talk about your accomplishments,” Owens says. If you were a salesperson in a retail store, recruiters know the basic job duties that entails. But they won’t know that you made more sales than anyone else in the month of December—unless you tell them. If you had an internship with a major company in your field, it’s likely that you assisted the staff with daily tasks, but it’s unique to you that you were part of a team that conceived of a new marketing campaign that boosted sales by 50% in a month and wrote the copy for the campaign’s social media posts. In your bullet points, write about “what you did that made the project, company, or job better and what you did that moved the needle,” Owens says.

Whenever possible, you want to quantify your bullet points in order to be more specific and memorable and to call attention to the results you got. Which sounds better? “Led tutoring sessions,” or, “Led tutoring sessions for up to 30 students twice a week, leading to an average 10% test score increase”?

These bullet points are also where you can work in your transferable skills. If these skills are things like software or techniques, be sure to name them. If they’re softer skills like organization, communication, or collaboration, you can use action verbs to insert them into your bullet points seamlessly. Anyone can list out skills in a skills section (and you should), but putting them into context shows the person reading your resume how you’ve actually used your skills in real-life situations and how you’ll use them to help their company.

6. Show Off Your Skills (Again)

Your resume should also have a skills section where you list out all of the skills you have that match what a job description asks for. Don’t list skills you don’t have just because you think they sound good. If someone asks (and they will), you should be able to explain how you obtained this skill or how you’ve used it.

This section is often the place to focus on software and technical skills, Smith says. Technology changes so rapidly that new grads and other entry-level folks are often more up to date in this area than later-career professionals, so you definitely want to use that to your advantage.

Make sure to be specific, Owens says. Don’t list “coding” in your skills section, list out the programming languages you know. Don’t say “project management software,” say “Asana” or “Trello.” You also want to keep it modern. Unless the job description specifies it, “typing” doesn’t need to go in your skills section. The same goes for general “Microsoft Office,” though listing specific programs or skills like “Excel” or “pivot tables” is still fair game.

7. Include Relevant Keywords

As you’re preparing your resume for a specific job, take a close look at the job description and note the language they use. You want to match this language as closely as possible when it comes to the specific keywords. For example, if they’re looking for someone who has experience with Final Cut Pro, don’t just put “video editing” on your resume—make sure to include “Final Cut Pro” in your skills section (assuming you actually know how to use it!).

Why? Many companies use applicant tracking systems (or ATSs) —programs that scan your resume looking for keywords found in the job description and forward the resumes with the most matches to a hiring manager or recruiter. While this software is getting more advanced and adept at recognizing synonyms and different phrasing, it’s always best to be cautious and list keywords exactly as they appear in the job description.

8. Format Your Resume So It’s Easy to Read (by Computers and Humans!)

You may have seen those fancy, flashy resumes with graphics and tables to show your skills. You may even be tempted to shell out some money for a heavily designed template. Don’t.

If you’re applying online, you should assume your resume will have to pass through an ATS. The software parses text only, so not only will much of your formatting be lost, your text could even get left out or jumbled if the ATS can’t “read” it.

ATS aside, actual human recruiters often only have a few seconds to take a first look at a resume, and you want to make sure they can find what they’re looking for quickly. This means your resume should be highly skimmable with easy-to-read formatting, clear section headings, and lots of white space. Smith looks for resumes that are “smart, succinct, and professional looking” and, to be clear, “professional looking” doesn’t mean highly stylized.

So keep your formatting consistent and use bold, italics, and underlining when you want text to stand out. You can also make headings and your name a larger font size and use color in a way that emphasizes but doesn't distract. Stick to the classic fonts as well—no Comic Sans, handwriting fonts, or anything that doesn’t come preinstalled on most word processors.

As an entry-level candidate, your resume should never be more than one page, but don’t feel the need to add fluff to stretch it. Recruiters understand that you’re just starting out and they’d rather see strong, relevant experience than filler.

9. Tailor Your Resume for Every Job Posting

Throughout this article, you’ve seen that the content of a section or bullet point depends on what the job description says. That means that you should be changing your resume for every job posting. Yes, it’s more work than just submitting the same doc every time. But recruiters want to look at your resume and quickly see why you’re the right person for this job, and if you don’t take the time to make your case for this job, you’re likely to be overlooked.

If you want to make a base resume to pass to people in your network who aren’t hiring for specific jobs or for you to start with to get your formatting right, you should do this by pulling up several job descriptions in your field to get a feel for what companies are generally looking for. You can also create a resume outline that lists all of your experiences and skills in one place so you have a document to draw from to make tailoring easier.

10. Proofread!

Proofread your resume to check for any typos or grammar mistakes—then step away for a few hours or days and come back to proofread it again. You can even start reading from the bottom section to help you see the text a bit differently and make it less likely you’ll skim absentmindedly.

Once you’re sure your resume is completely error-free, ask someone else to read it, too. A new set of eyes will often catch things you overlooked.

An Example Entry-Level Resume

So what does all this advice look like in action? Take a look at this example entry-level resume for a recent college grad applying to a social media job with an environmental nonprofit. You’ll see the emphasis on experience that directly relates to a role like this.

Download sample entry-level resume here

As you begin your first big job search, you might feel overwhelmed or like you’ll never get a job. And yes, some companies do post listings with unrealistic standards for entry-level hires, but that doesn’t mean there are no companies out there looking for true entry-level candidates .

Believing in yourself is a big part of job hunting when you first start out, Smith says. Know that you do have something to offer companies and be confident in your capabilities. And if trying to fit a job description has you feeling like you can't be yourself on your resume or in your interview, it might be a sign that this role or company isn’t right for you, Owens says. But don’t worry, there’s another position out there that is.

Top Resume Writing Jobs (That are Lucrative & Legit)

Is Fiverr and Upwork the only places to find resume writing jobs? I’m here to tell you no!

There are many other places to check if you want to make money writing resumes.

I’ll share with you the best job sites and give you help on getting started with resume writing – like the exact types of resumes to write to land a job!

Nobody spends money getting other people to write their resumes – or do they?

Well, apparently, in the United States, the market size for resume writing and improvement is around $268 million dollars with almost 3000 professionals writing resumes!

That’s got to tell you something right there.

But resumes are just simple pieces of paper detailing your work history, right? They should be easy to write, right?

The truth is, many companies decide whether or not they want to hire you based on your resume alone.

And, in reality, many hiring hiring managers spend less than 30 seconds looking at your resume .

That means if a resume is cluttered, poorly formatting and written, candidates who could very well be perfect for the position don’t even stand a chance.

Cue the resume writer!

This is why people all over the world are willing to pay skilled and experienced writers to create a clear, concise and well-written resume that will increase their chances of getting an interview.

Do you think you have what it takes? Keep reading to learn more about, what resume writing entails as well as where to find resume writing jobs for beginners and so much more!

What Exactly Are Resume Writing Jobs?

Resume writing jobs involve creating professional resumes for paying clients.

Here’s an example of a resume (mock-up):

People are hiring your services to present their qualifications, expertise and experience in a why that will satisfy the hiring company and get them the job.

This involves not only writing the words but determining what to put on it, how to format it and what type of resume design to use.

You don’t have to worry, you don’t have to be a technical writer to write a professional resume.

For example, you may have to use industry-specific terms, depending on where the client is applying. Therefore, you need to be able to research the company and understand what they are looking for before tailoring the client’s history and skills to the position.

Also, you need to know how to format resumes. Some companies may request word documents while others prefer PDFs.

The advantage of getting into resume writing is that you can expand your services to include writing cover letters, preparing candidates for job interviews and providing career coaching!

Plus, starting a resume writing service requires very little in start-up costs and can be done from home on a full-time or part-time basis.

Where to Find Resume Writing Jobs for Beginners

Now that you know what is resume writing, it’s time to look at where to find these resume writing jobs!

Keep in mind that, as you gain more experience as a content writer, you can start applying for sites that specialize in resume writing services.

For now, check out these places to find professional resume writers jobs when you’re just starting out.

1. PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour is an online platform that gives a job seeker access to freelance workers. As a resume writer, you simply sign up, create your profile, and send bids and proposals to potential clients.

Like Fiverr, PeoplePerHour allows you to receieve reviews for your work.

This way, you can develop and grow your skills while collecting feedback and testimonials.

2. WriteZillas

WriteZillas is a site for freelance writers that allows you to browse available gigs and choose the jobs you want to apply to – which includes plenty of resume writing jobs.

Their only requirements are that you have excellent writing skills, access to a computer and the ability to meet deadlines.

When you are just starting out as a resume writer, I would suggest getting your feet wet on Fiverr ! No, you’re not going to make lots of money on Fiverr, but it’s a great way to get your foot in the door and gain some experience.

On Fiverr, you simply list your resume writing service, or “gig”, and price and wait for clients to place orders.

Plus, the more positive reviews you get, the more your services will be promoted by Fiverr and the more exposure you’ll get – along with amazing testimonials!

4. WriterBay

If you have a Bachelor’s degree in any field, you can find resume writing jobs on WriterBay . They offer a flexible work schedule with full-time and part-time hours.

Other than having a Bachelor’s degree, all you need is to do is pass their grammar and formatting styles tests and write a sample essay for your application.

By the end of it you’ll be a professional resume writer!

Another low-pay “foot-in-the-door” option is finding freelance resume writing jobs on Upwork . Upwork does a great job matching writers with clients but, like Fiverr, you can’t expect to make a whole lot of money with your job search.

As a means of getting some experience behind your resume writing service, you can easily find jobs on Upwork.

6. Talent Inc.

Talent Inc. specializes in offering resume writing, along with cover letters, to working professionals. They offer flexible schedules, writing tools and direct access to clients.

They do prefer that writers have at least three years of experience writing resumes but this isn’t a hard and fast requirement.

As long as you have the skills, you should send in an application.

Pro Tip: Experience in job recruitment or career counseling is a definite plus – no matter where you apply!

7. Resume Writing Lab

Resume Writing Lab is a resume writing and editing company that also offers cover letters and LinkedIn profiles to their clients. They facilitate contact between their writers and the clients.

While they have very high standards when it comes to their writers, the requirements simply involve having excellent writing, customer service and organizational skills.

8. StandOut CV

StandOut CV is another online resume writing service that is always on the lookout for resume writers. If you don’t have resume writing experience, they also value recruitment or HR experience as well.

According to their site, they offer good rates and flexible working hours as well as training for all new writers.

How Much Can You Make Writing Resumes?

Just like with freelance jobs, the rate of pay can vary, depending on work experience.

When it comes to writing resumes for money, it all depends on the complexity of the resume.

For instance, someone who is looking to land a retail job may pay $50-$70 for a well-written resume while someone else may pay hundreds of dollars if they’re trying to get into a Fortune 500 company.

Resumes for entry-level positions tend to fall on the lower end of the payscale but executives resumes can put a lot more in your pocket.

However, according to Glassdoor , a resume writer can earn around  $57,000/year.

How much you make will also depend upon your experience and skills.

As a beginner, you may want to stick to those entry-level resumes – writing them will help you build up some experience as well as earn some positive testimonials from clients who experienced success because of your service.

As you gain experience and proof that you have what it takes to help people land jobs, you can start moving up in price and complexity of the resume.

However, even as you are starting out, you can leverage your resume writing service and increase your rates by offering a quick turnaround on your service. Some clients may be willing to pay top dollar to have their resume written that same day!

How to Get Into Resume Writing

After seeing the potential to make a living as a freelance resume writer, maybe you want to start a side job with this service so you can work from home for good.

While you can certainly browse online job boards looking for resume writing jobs, cross your fingers and send along a pitch, you can also increase your chances by establishing yourself as a professional service provider.

This – hands down – has been the method I teach and have taught over 3,000 freelancers to use as a way to make a living writing. And to help you out, here are the beginner steps to take.

1. Start a Service-Based Blog

Starting a blog in your niche (resume writing in this case) establishes you as an expert and also gives you platform to build a portfolio and showcase your abilities.

It’s also a great place to display those glowing testimonials!

So when you are pitching for resume writing jobs, you can use your site as a sort of, well, resume.

It’s a great way to give your clients a good overview of what you can do and what you’ve accomplished.

To get started, give this article about starting a business website a read. You can also check out this post about creating a website specifically for writing services .

And, as an example, here is what my freelance writing website looks like:

2. Consider Taking a Course to Make the Process Quicker

If you are really serious about becoming a resume writer, you can look at taking courses to add some credentials to your portfolio.

A freelance writing course will give you the knowledge to effectively market your clients and learn proven online writing for small businesses.

One of the biggest challenges for a beginner when it comes to resume writing is proving to your clients that your services will work. Having some training will help establish trust and confidence in your abilities.

3. Consider Getting Certified

Should you want to take resume writing one step further, you can actually get certified! Most certification entities suggest you have at least two years of experience before going through the process.

To be certified, you typically pay to apply and submit a resume sample as a requirement for certification.

So if you find yourself achieving some success with resume writing, but want to expand your business, you can look at becoming certified and adding that to your credentials.

Types of Resumes You Can Write (And Offer)

Depending on the position your client is applying for, a resume can be designed to appeal to specific jobs .

With that in mind, here are the different type of resumes you should learn how to create in order to snag up some resume writing jobs.

1. Chronological Resume

A chronological resume focuses on work history with the most recent position listed at the top. This is the most common type of resume and pretty standard across most industries.

These are often used if there are no major gaps in your client’s work history and shows a career progression.

2. Functional Resume

A functional resume, on the other hand, is best suited for those with significant gaps in work history and those who have changed industries over time.

It focuses on skills rather than work history, using skill categories instead of job titles to highlight the client’s skills and experience.

3. Combination Resume

You guessed it! A combination resume combines both the chronological and functional resume to focus on both skills and work history.

This resume is perfect for clients wanting to showcase technical and transferable skills developed throughout their careers.

4. Targeted Resume

If you know anything about pitching as a freelance writer , you know how important it is to address the specific needs of the client you are pitching to. The same goes when applying to companies.

A targed resume takes every detail of the job posting into consideration and connects the client’s skills and experiences to noted skills, keywords, job duties and requirements.

5. Infographic Resume

An infographic resume has to be used carefully but can very effective depending on the job your client is applying for. This style of resume uses graphics and visual elements to showcase your client’s professional details in a way that is unique.

Infographic resumes are best suited for those seeking work in industries such as graphic design.

Be warned, however, that many companies that accept resumes online use special software to sift through resumes and infographic ones may automatically be discarded due to their format.

6. Other Non-Traditional Resumes

Resumes don’t necessarily have to be limited to the standard format!

Videos, portfolios and personal websites can also be used as resumes when applying for resume writing jobs.

You can extend the scope of your resume writing services by helping clients set up their websites, build their portfolios and produce video resumes.

However, while these types of resumes are certainly attention-grabbing, they may fall through the cracks when submitted to job postings on job boards.

Is Writing Resumes for You?

Resume writing is just one of the many ways that freelancers can make money .

But, if you have a passion for helping people or a background in employment counseling/HR then this is the perfect writing job for you!

Are you interested in getting into resume writing?

To help you with figuring this out, check out these other freelance writing jobs :

• Technical Writing Jobs
• Travel Writing Jobs
• Grant Writing Jobs
• Fashion Writing Jobs
• Sports Writing Jobs
• Medical Writing Jobs
• Business Writing Jobs

Tell us why in the comments – I’d love to hear your story!

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23 Freelance Writing Jobs for Beginners (Land a Writing Job)

This page may contain links from our sponsors. Here’s how we make money .

If you like the idea of having a flexible work schedule or even working from home around your other commitments, then you may have considered becoming a freelance writer .

Freelance writing can be an ideal side gig or even develop into a full-time career, but how do you get started? Here we’ll explore freelance writing jobs for beginners and how you can start your new writing career even if you have no experience.

Want to learn more about how to get started? Freelance Writing 101: Build a Successful Writing Career is a course by Brad Merrill that’s an excellent guide for beginners. The course is available on Skillshare and you can get a free trial to check out the course.

Table of Contents

What You Need to Start Freelance Writing

Many people assume that you need lots of qualifications to be able to become a freelance writer, but that’s not the case. While a writing or journalism degree may be helpful for some clients, most freelance writers have few academic qualifications. What you actually need is an interest in writing, but you also need to be prepared to do some reading.

Fortunately, you can focus on areas of interest to you, so you’re learning more about things you enjoy as you earn.

To be a successful freelance writer, you also need to have solid grammar skills . While most clients look for a conversational tone of writing rather than a formal style, you still need to make sure that your spelling and grammar are correct.

How to Find Online Writing Gigs for Beginners

Although it can be daunting to start a new job, particularly if you have no experience, there are some simple steps that can help you to bridge the gap and start working as a freelance writer.

Step 1: Choose Your Writing Topics:

The first step for getting started is to choose your topics. No one can be an expert in everything, so it is a good idea to focus on two or three areas for your writing.

Ideally, you should choose topics that are of interest to you or where you have real-world experience. This will help you to feel more comfortable with the subject matter and provide your clients with a fresh perspective.

Step 2: Start Your Own Blog (for writing samples)

One of the first things a potential client will ask for is writing samples. Although you can create a portfolio on many of the platforms, it is a good idea to start your own blog to showcase your writing style.

Your blog will allow you to supply potential clients with a URL, so they can see published writing and assess the quality of your content. Therefore, it is worth taking some time to craft the best possible content. This work will be a reflection of your talent, so it should be your best possible work.

Please see this article: How to Start a Blog

Step 3 (Optional): Write Guest Posts for Other Blogs

Another way to showcase your writing and attract new clients is to write guest posts for other blogs. While many of these posts will be unpaid, they will allow you to get some writing experience and provide another way to promote your work as writing samples.

Step 4: Start Applying to Freelance Writing Jobs

Once you’ve decided on your topics and have some samples in place, you should start applying to freelance writing jobs for beginners. We’ll explore this in more detail below, so you’ll know where you can find work as a complete beginner.

Related reading: 30 Websites to Write and Get Paid Instantly

Step 5: Continue Building Your Portfolio and Looking for Writing Jobs

After you land your first writing gig, continue working to gain more experience and build your portfolio. As you gain experience, you’ll be able to land higher-paying freelance writing jobs and clients may even come directly to you.

Websites to Find Freelance Writing Jobs for Beginners

Generally, freelance writing jobs for beginners don’t offer the highest-paying rewards, but they are a good opportunity to gain experience. While the work may be lower-paying, if you live in an area with a low cost of living, the pay may be sufficient to cover your costs. If this isn’t possible, you may need to explore working as a freelance writer around your current job until you can develop the experience to score higher-paying writing work.

Regardless of how much you’re getting paid for your writing, it’s important to focus on providing excellent quality of work. Your work on these beginner-level online freelance writing jobs can open up better opportunities for you.

Formerly Elance and Odesk, Upwork was established in 2015. This is one of the largest freelance marketplaces allowing members to find clients in a variety of fields, including freelance writing. You can browse the job boards for projects or create a custom search to narrow down the choices to your particular preferences. Each project has a budget set by the client, but you can specify your rate in your proposal.

To apply for a job, you’ll need to submit a proposal letter detailing why you’re a good choice for the opportunity, and once you win a job, Upwork provides a workroom where you can communicate with your client securely.

The Upwork fee structure is based on the length of your client relationship. It varies from 5 to 20%, and the longer you work with your client, the lower the fees charged. However, for this fee, you’ll enjoy payment protection, with payments typically processed in 5 to 7 days.

Fiverr is another massive platform that allows users to advertise their services, including freelance writing jobs. As the name suggests, you can charge $5 for your writing, but the platform does allow you to charge more, or you can use add ons to increase your price.

You’ll need to set up your Fiverr profile to showcase your writing and attract potential clients. Fiverr will alert you on your dashboard when you have a new client, so you can complete the work within your stated timeframe.

3. Freelancer

Freelancer is another freelance website where you can bid for jobs, including freelance writing jobs for beginners. Freelancer was launched in 2009, and it has offices around the world. To start working on Freelancer, you’ll need to create a profile and search for jobs. Like Upwork, you’ll need to place bids for any projects that appeal to you, and you’ll be paid based on your bid.

As a beginner, you can opt for a free basic profile, but once you start earning, it is worth considering upgrading to a professional profile that costs $29.95 a month. This package allows you to specify up to 100 skills on your Freelancer profile, make daily withdrawals, apply for 300 jobs each month and invoice externally.

Guru is another freelancer platform that has been around for years. There are a number of membership tiers that determine your job fee and how many bids you can place each year. These tiers range from a free basic membership that attracts an 8.95% job fee and allows 120 bids a year up to the Executive membership that reduces the job fee to 4.95% and allows 600 bids a year. However, this package costs $49.95 a month or $479 a year when paid annually.

Like Freelancer, it’s a good idea for beginners to start with a basic free membership, as you can upgrade once you start to earn money. You can then gauge which membership package is best suited to your requirements while you’re looking for freelance writing jobs.

Twine is a freelancing platform similar to Freelancer or Guru. Clients can create job listings and as a freelancer, you can pitch your services to land the work. Clients can also hire you directly through your profile by clicking the “hire me” button. Like the other platforms, Twine makes it easy to communicate and share files, and Twine also handles the payments.

6. PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour stands apart from many of the other freelance sites, as it has a location-based targeting feature. This allows clients to search for freelancers in their local area and vice versa. This platform was established in 2007 and allows access to clients worldwide in addition to your local area. Your payments for freelance writing jobs are secured through the PeoplePerHour Wallet with the use of Escrow.

To join PeoplePerHour, you need to complete an online application that is reviewed by the moderation team. Once approved, you can start working. Like the other freelancer platforms, PeoplePerHour requires clients to post job opportunities or projects so you can bid for the work with a cover letter. You’ll be charged a service fee for each project you complete. The commission fee for transactions varies from 3.5 to 5%.

7. FreelanceWriting.com Morning Coffee Newsletter

The FreelanceWriting.com Morning Coffee eNewsletter has been published since 1998 and features new freelance writing jobs. This weekly digest features eight of the current, best new jobs, and this includes jobs that are exclusively submitted to FreelanceWriting.com.

The eNewsletter team also researches and handpicks jobs from popular sites. You can sign up for the newsletter as a free subscription service, and you can receive free alerts for jobs each morning.

8. Freelance Writing Gigs

Freelance Writing Gigs is a great resource, particularly for beginner freelance writers. It features writing tips, advice, and a freelance writing job board. This board is updated each day, and the jobs range from internships to online writing jobs.

Each posting details the job and the client requirements, so you can explore whether you have the skillset to apply. If you decide that you want to apply for a post, you just need to click on the link and follow the instructions.

Since each job is posted by different potential clients, there is no set formula for applying for a job. Some require a resume while others have a dedicated application form, so you will need to follow the specific instructions carefully to stand a chance of scoring the gig.

9. Scripted.com

Scripted is a higher-paying gig, but beginners can still apply to work on the platform. Scripted aims to pair the best clients with great writers, and freelancers can earn an average of $0.10 per word, which is more than many of the averages on the other platforms.

The Scripted process is a little more involved, as you need to set up an account and pass tests before you can start to propose jobs. However, you’re guaranteed automatic payment for your writing, 15 days after jobs are accepted, and you can even qualify for partial payment if the content is rejected.

Additionally, while you can set your own prices, there is minimum pricing for each job to ensure a fair wage for all writers.

Related reading: How to Land High-Paying Freelance Writing Clients

10. Writing for Constant Content

Constant Content has been around for years and allows you to create a steady writing workload around your schedule. The application process is more rigorous than many other platforms. You’ll need to not only submit your application form but also pass a quiz and provide a writing sample that is approved by the Constant Content editorial team.

Once approved, you can set up your profile and start browsing and claiming jobs that match your interests and expertise.

Constant Content also provides a blog packed with writing tips and a support team to answer any of your questions.

11. Writing for DotWriter

DotWriter is an online community of content specialists, providing opportunities for freelance writers to promote their writing online. You can create and sell articles to buyers and enjoy timely payments.

When you submit content, the Editorial team will review your article before it is released on the open content marketplace. You can also provide tailor-made content that is requested by clients, and you can be privately hired by clients who like your writer profile.

Payments are securely made through PayPal, but it is not clear what fees DotWriter applies to writing projects and transactions.

12. Writers Domain

Writers Domain was founded in 2011 and provides a platform to connect with small businesses requiring your writing services. Unlike many platforms, the clients pay Writers Domain, and then you’re paid as the writer to produce high-quality content. You will be required to write content for a variety of projects. Content is reviewed to ensure it meets the project guidelines, and on approval, you get paid at a rate of between $0.02 to $0.05 a word.

There are currently no submission volume requirements, so you can earn as much as you like. You’ll be paid for your writing on the 5th of each month via PayPal.

To begin writing for Writers Domain, you’ll need to submit a writing sample, take a grammar test, and complete an application form. The editorial team will review your application, and you’ll hear back in a couple of days.

13. WriterAccess

WriterAccess is another marketplace that allows freelance writers to connect with clients. The writing pay ranges from 2.8 cents a word through to $2 a word. Your earnings are determined by the star rating assigned to you during the application process. Additionally, WriterAccess takes 30% commission for all orders.

Like some of the other platforms, the application process is a little more in-depth and requires that you to complete an application form, tests, and a writing sample. This application is how WriterAccess determines your star rating. However, after every order, customer reviews are tracked by a performance algorithm that determines if you should be awarded a higher star rating.

14. Writing for Textbroker

Textbroker has projects for beginners and more experienced writers. Once you’ve applied and submitted a sample article, Textbroker will assess your application and assign a rating. You can then set up your profile and start writing. As you browse the boards, you will see thousands of open orders, but you can also receive direct orders where you can set your preferred rate.

If you prefer to adopt a flexible work schedule, you can choose open orders as and when you’re ready to work. Your rate will be determined by your quality rating, and you’ll get paid via PayPal each week.

15. Hire Writers

Hire Writers is a platform that allows freelance writers to complete large or small writing tasks. The platform has thousands of native English speakers from different backgrounds and with different experience levels. You can earn money ghostwriting, creating product descriptions, crafting autoresponders, and blog posting.

Writers on Hire Writers earn money based on a ratings system. There are four basic skill levels; beginner, average, skilled, and expert, and as you increase in levels, you can earn more money per article. For example, a beginner can earn $2.25 for a 300-500 word article, but this increases to $10.66 for an expert writer. You’ll be paid every Friday automatically through PayPal, providing your account has a balance of at least $10.

16. Writing for Content Authority

Content Authority is open to writers of all skill levels providing you can use proper English at a high school level. You will be required to work to deadlines and accept critiques about your content, but you’ll receive payments through PayPal.

Upon sign-up, writers are rated at the lowest bracket, tier one. At this stage, you will be classed as a probationary member and only able to access tier one articles. At the end of the probationary period, your activity and content will be reviewed, and at this stage, you can increase tiers.

17. Remote Co

The Remote Co platform offers freelance opportunities in various niches, including writing. The writing board displays freelance job postings, but there are occasionally full-time positions offered. Each posting details the job and the client details; if you choose to apply, you’ll be redirected to the client’s website, which will explain the recruitment process and how you can apply for the position.

Each posting will have different requirements, so you may need to fill in an application form, send a resume, or send links to your writing portfolio.

18. Working Nomads

Working Nomads is another remote job board containing a curated list of remote positions from around the world. Job postings are updated every day, and you’ll find opportunities in a variety of areas, including sales, design, and marketing.

Like Remote Co, each job posting is different, but it will detail the project and client information. If the project appeals to you, you can click the link to apply. The pay varies for each project, but Working Nomads advertise that all postings are reliable, so you don’t need to worry about scams.

19. Beginner Jobs at Flexjobs

This is another job board, but Flexjobs allows you to tailor the search results to suit your specific job requirements. While there are in-person jobs advertised, the vast majority are online or remote positions, from beginners to expert skill levels.

Unlike some of the boards, Flexjobs requires that you sign up for an account to view the details of how to apply for any of the jobs advertised. The signup process is simple, but you need to commit to a monthly subscription of $14.95 a month.

Flexjobs does advertise that all jobs are hand-screened to ensure they are ad-free and scam-free. While this may not be your first choice, if you’ve already started to make money writing on some of the free platforms, it may be worth considering Flexjobs.

20. Blogging Pro Job Board

Blogging Pro has a job board that is updated daily with fresh blogging jobs and other freelance writing jobs. The main aim of the platform is to assist those who are trying to build a blog or are struggling to meet their blog content requirements. You can browse the boards to find areas that you’re interested in, so you can produce quality content that will help bring visitor traffic to your client’s blogs.

Each writing project has specific requirements, so as a beginner, you may not be able to apply for all of them, but there is enough variety to find projects to work on.

21. ProBlogger Job Board

Similar to Blogging Pro, ProBlogger offers freelancers an opportunity to find blogging clients in their area of expertise. The rates for freelance writing jobs vary according to the project specifics, but you can search for jobs based on keywords, making it easier to find the ideal writing project for your skillset. Many of the job listings are beginner freelance writing opportunities.

22. Media Bistro

Media Bistro has an impressive job board where you can find writing jobs in specialist areas. While many of the positions are location-based, there are plenty of online freelance opportunities. You do need to sign up as a member to apply to any jobs on the board on a monthly or annual basis. Membership also provides access to online courses, freelance tools, and other perks for the membership cost of $14.99 a month. However, you can benefit from a free 14-day trial.

23. LinkedIn Jobs

LinkedIn is a crucial social media platform for any freelancer or business owner. You can set your profile to attract potential clients or act as a virtual resume. However, LinkedIn also has a job board where you can search according to keywords. LinkedIn will also compile suggested job opportunities based on your profile and send you an email alert when your profile has been featured in a search result. While it’s not specifically for freelance writing jobs, you can find plenty of writing gigs at LinkedIn.

Frequently Asked Questions for New Freelance Writers

To start freelance writing, you’ll need some writing samples. You can easily create your own blog for free at a site like WordPress.com and publish a few articles that represent your best writing abilities. Next, you’ll start applying for entry-level freelance writing jobs for beginners. There are many sites that post writing jobs online, including the 20+ sites listed on this page.

The rates for freelance writers vary significantly. The lowest rates of writing jobs for beginners usually start at $0.02 per word, but even beginners can often find gigs that pay much better than that. At first, you’re looking to gain experience, but you also want to earn a fair rate for your work. Many beginners aim to make somewhere between $0.05 – $0.10 per word.

In general, no, you don’t need a degree for freelance writer jobs. Some clients may require a degree or specific qualifications. This is more common in highly-technical industries like medical or legal. However, a degree is generally not required.

Final Thoughts About Beginner Freelance Writing Jobs

As you can see, there are lots of places where you can find freelance writing jobs for beginners. It’s worth checking out the job boards and establishing a profile. Although many of these platforms offer lower-paying work, once you’ve accrued some experience and developed your skillset, you can start to explore the higher-paying opportunities to expand your client base and your income.

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How To Start a Resume in 10 Easy Steps [Beginner’s Guide]

Sometimes, there’s nothing scarier than a blank page waiting to be filled - especially when it comes to figuring out how to start a resume. 

For every position that you apply for, you will need to stand out in a pile of applications through your professional experience, achievements, and education, to impress recruiters. 

Just thinking about all this may make starting your resume seem like a Herculean task. 

This is exactly why we’ve compiled this article.

• #1. Create Your Resume Outline
• #2. Fix Up The Formatting
• #3. Pick The Right Resume Format
• #4. Start Your Resume Contents With a Contact Information Section
• #5. Pick Between Resume Objective or Summary
• #6. List Your Past Work Experience
• #7. Move On To The Education Section
• #8. Spice Up Your Resume With Your Skills
• #9. Add These Optional Sections 
• #10. Start Applying 

Step #1. Create Your Resume Outline

So, how to start a resume? 

Deciding what to include and what to leave out when you start to write a resume can be tough, whether you’re a professional or a beginner. 

As a professional, you might struggle to choose among achievements and skills to include in your resume. Whereas as a beginner you might have issues filling up the gaps due to lack of work experience. 

Either way, figuring out what exactly to include when you start your resume isn’t easy.

That’s why we recommend starting your resume by creating a job-winning resume outline . A resume outline will help you by providing a clearly defined structure you can follow when you start to write your resume. 

The resume outline makes the process a lot easier by helping you decide on: 

• What resume format to use
• Which resume sections to include
• What information to select

Each of these elements will help you start your resume exactly according to your profile. For example, a professional with years of work experience would go for the reverse-chronological format, while a recent college graduate could opt for the skills-based resume format. 

Once you have decided on the format, knowing which sections to use and what information to select becomes considerably easier. 

A typical resume’s sections include:

• A contact information section 
• A resume summary or objective 
• Work, and relevant experience 
• Skill and certifications
• And additional sections - if you have space.

We will be going through all the main resume formats, sections, and other relevant information in detail below but first, rejoice - your resume skeleton is ready and you can now start writing your resume! 

Step #2. Fix Up The Formatting 

Before we jump into the technicalities, let’s talk style and appearance! 

Yes, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, but when it comes to resumes, sloppy-looking formatting can put you into a make-it-or-break-it kind of situation. The recruiter won’t be too at fault to think you won’t be suitable for the job if you haven’t taken the effort to adjust the margins or choose the best font for your resume. 

Not gonna lie - using a basic text editor to format your resume can be a hassle. One minor slip-up can make all the hours of hard work you invested in perfectly formatting your resume disappear in the blink of an eye.  

Well, there’s a solution for that too - using resume builders, such as Novorésumé. An online resume builder will completely take care of formatting your resume, thus making the process of starting a resume crazy fast. 

Step #3: Pick The Right Resume Format

There are three types of resume formats to choose from, and your choice will heavily depend on your level of experience and the type of industry you are applying for. 

That’s exactly why this step is particularly important when you start writing the resume. 

The three resume formats are: 

• Reverse Chronological resume format ; this is the most popular format among recruiters and the best fit for those who have a great deal of work experience - especially when it fits the job description you are applying for.
• Functional/skill-based resume format ; you should start writing your resume following this format if you are a student or recent graduate lacking any work experience , or if you are going through a career change and your previous working experiences are not relevant to the position.
• Combination resume format ; Do you have diverse skills or are you applying for a job that requires multi-expertise? The combination resume format is your chance to show that! A position as a Communications Expert, for example, might require you to be skilled in writing, social media, and public relations.

Out of the three, we suggest you choose the reverse-chronological resume format as the most common one among recruiters and HR managers. Nonetheless, what format you choose will eventually come down to your profile and experience. 

Due to its popularity, this article focuses on the reverse-chronological resume format. If you wish to go more in-depth into all three resume formats , follow the link! 

Step #4. Start Your Resume Contents With a Contact Information Section

This section may sound like a no-brainer, but you must get it right. Imagine being one of the HR manager’s top choices and missing out on your chance due to a spelling mistake in your email. 

For this reason, you must double-check that all the contact information you provide is correct and up-to-date. 

Now, the contact information section contains mandatory elements and optional ones. Here’s a snapshot: 

• First name/Last name
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• Professional Title (it can be either your current or desired professional title/position)
• Date of birth (unless it is specifically required)
• Unprofessional email address (you know what we mean...any nicknames, wordplay, or variants that don’t include your first and last name are considered unprofessional and will cost you points in the eyes of the recruiter) 
• Headshot (in USA, UK & Ireland)

Optional elements:  

• LinkedIn Link/ Social Media (if these are up-to-date and add value to your application, there is no harm in including them in your contact information) 

Step #5. Pick Between Resume Objective or Summary

It’s science-backed: your CV has about 7 seconds to get a recruiter’s attention. This means that you better make a good first impression, and you better make it fast. 

This is where the resume summary, or objective, comes in handy. Placed at the top of your resume, close to the contact information section, a well-crafted resume objective/summary can work miracles in grabbing the HR agent’s attention for more than 7 seconds. 

The picture below is a good example:

But where does a resume summary differ from an objective, and when to use each? 

A resume summary is a short (2-3 sentences) overview of your career so far. The summary is used in 90% of resumes, except for students, recent graduates, or those switching careers. Here’s what you would need to mention: 

• Job and years of experience.
• One or two achievements. 
• Goal or passion for choosing this specific position.

And here’s an example of what this would look like on your resume: 

• Sports journalist with +10 years of experience in covering international tournaments. Successfully covered the 2004 Athens Olympics and the UEFA Euro 2016. Looking to expand my knowledge as a sports correspondent by reporting on a wider range of athletic activities.  

A resume objective , on the other hand, represents the goal of your resume. Through the objective, you can explain what motivates you to get into the field, as well as what you can offer. As mentioned above, the resume objective is perfect for those with little work experience or those who are changing careers. To compile it, we suggest using the following formula when you start writing your resume:

• Skill, education, or certification that is relevant to the position.
• Years/months of relevant experience for the position at the company.
• Types of responsibilities you will be able to help with.  

Here’s a concrete example for a recent graduate’s resume: 

• Motivated graduate with a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Greenwich seeking an opportunity to engage in academic political research. 1-year internship at the UK Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Public Diplomacy Department. Looking to expand my knowledge of international relations and practically assist with research, at the Centre for Defense and International Security Studies think-tank.

Step #6. List Your Past Work Experience

Listing your work experience is practically the most important part of a resume and mastering this section means you will be able to ‘sell’ yourself - your experiences, responsibilities, and achievements - in the most HR-friendly manner. 

Not sure how to do that? Several practices will help your resume stand out, but first, let’s go over the basics of the work experience section. 

The typical work experience section format goes like this:

• Job Title/Position - it serves the purpose of showing the recruiter evaluating your resume that you have previous experience.
• Company/Location/Description - give information about your previous/current employer, the place where you worked, and potentially a brief description of the company (if it is not well-known).  
• Achievements and Responsibilities - this is your chance to shine by showcasing your strengths and skills. As a rule of thumb, it is better to list achievements over responsibilities.
• Dates Employed - this is the time you spent working for each company. The Applicant Tracking System recognizes the mm/yyyy format, so we advise that you follow it.  

And here’s how that would look like in your resume: 

And remember: work experiences should always be listed in reverse-chronological order; start with the most recent one and go all the way back to the past - well, depending on your level of experience. 

Now that you know the basics, here are some tips on how to take your work experience to the next level in the eyes of the HR manager. 

List Achievements Over Responsibilities

Focus on showing the recruiter your achievements over your responsibilities, whenever you can. Here’s what that means. 

HR managers will probably have a general idea of the responsibilities you had in your past positions. If you were a sales manager, for example, some of your responsibilities probably were: 

• Reach out to potential clients and maintain relations with existing ones
• Track and report on leads on Customer Relationship Manager. 

Thing is, you don’t want your work experience section to look like any other ex-sale manager’s resume, but the fact is the majority of work responsibilities are similar, if not the same. 

So, instead, what you do to impress is list your achievements, which in this case would be to show how you helped the company grow, among others. 

• Generated $25,000 in sales for the company during my first month. 
• Exceeded company sales KPIs by 40% for six consecutive months. 
• Reached out to potential clients by email
• Tracked leads on CRM 

Of course, some jobs don’t provide many ways to distinguish yourself, and so there might not be that many achievements for you to mention. If, say, you worked in a supermarket, your day to day responsibilities probably involved: 

• Categorizing and packing products into shelves 
• Helping customers find products 
• Attaching price tags and description tags 

In cases like this, sticking to your responsibilities is fine. 

Tailor Your Resume to the Job 

So, there’s another thing standing between you and the recruiter - the Applicant Tracking System. The ATS helps companies scan through all the resumes they receive daily. So this is another thing to consider getting out of the way right as you start writing your resume. 

If you’re now thinking there’s no point in perfecting your resume if a software is going to evaluate it, we do have some good news: there are ways to pass the ATS if you tailor your work experience section to the job requirements. 

Let’s cover an example from a job ad as an Operations Assistant at the UN Women Organization, with the following requirements: 

• At least 3 years of experience in administration, finance, procurement, etc. 
• Experience in (MS Word, Excel, etc.)
• Fluency in English 
• Strong IT and web management skills 

If you have the required skills and experience, mention them in your resume and consider your resume tailored for the job. 

How Much Work Experience is Necessary? 

We mentioned this before - knowing what information to keep and what to leave out might be tricky. And considering the work experience section is the most important, getting this right matters. 

Well, the amount of information you mention will go hand in hand with your level of experience. So: 

Entry-level candidates should list all the work experiences up to the point of application. 

Mid-level professionals should only list work experience relevant to the position. 

Senior professionals should list a MAXIMUM of 15 years of relevant work experience. 

Step #7. Move On to the Education Section

Your resume's education section comes second per its importance. 

As with the other steps, let’s go over the basics of formatting and then some tips on how to make the best out of your academic skills. 

• Program Name: E.g. “B.A. in Computer Science”
• University Name: E.g. “University of Colorado”
• Period Attended: E.g. “08/1212 - 05/2016”
• (Optional) GPA: E.g. “3.8 GPA”
• (Optional) Honors: E.g. “Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, Summa Cum Laude
• (Optional) Academic Achievements: E.g. Any publications you may have, or courses you have excelled in. 
• (Optional) Minor: E.g. “Minor in Information Systems” 

Here is an example: 

Step #8. Spice Up Your Resume With Your Skills

The ‘skills’ section is your chance to spice things up by showing the HR manager any additional advantage you may have that makes you perfect for the job. 

There are two types of skills you can list on your resume: 

Hard skills , or measurable abilities. These can range from coding in C++ to being an excellent Italian cuisine chef. 

Soft skills , or personal skills. These can be personality traits and social traits, career attributes, or communication skills. 

How to List Skills in Your Resume 

These are the top three steps to follow when listing skills in your resume : 

Step #1: Hard skills are measured with experience levels, meaning you want to mention your proficiency level for every hard skill you list. They are usually categorized into Beginner , Intermediate , Advanced and Expert levels . 

Step #2: Tailor your skills to your job. As with the work experience, try to tailor your skills in relevance to the position. A way to do this is by checking some of the must-have skills listed in the job ad and make sure to mention each and every skill for which you are qualified, with its relevant proficiency level. 

Step #3: Don’t forget to include some “universal” skills - namely, skills relevant to any kind of job out there. These can include both soft skills (leadership, teamwork, attention to detail) and hard skills (MS Office, Adobe Pack, etc). 

Take a look at how hard and soft skills are listed through the Novoresume online resume builder: 

Step #9. Add These Optional Sections

So far, we have basically covered all resume must-haves. 

The following optional sections won’t be a priority when you start to write your resume, however, they can turn out to be the cherry on top if you have them and if you have the space to list them. 

Here are some of them: 

Languages: The more, the merrier. If you speak two or more languages, don’t fail to put that in your resume. To list them, simply categorize your proficiency level into native , fluent , proficient , intermediate , or basic . 

Hobbies & Interests: Although more personal than the rest of the sections, it doesn’t hurt to show a bit of your personality if you have the additional space in your resume. With a bit of luck, you and the recruiter may even share a hobby .

Volunteering Experience: Studies show that volunteering experience actually raises your chances of getting hired . In addition to showing that you are an individual motivated by more than just money, volunteering experience can be particularly great if you have recently graduated and have otherwise little work experience, or if you have an employment gap. 

Certification & Awards: If you have awards that make you stand out in your field or certifications from experts and if they are relevant to your position, don’t hesitate to show them off! For example, if you’re an architect prized with the Global Award for Development Architecture - well, that’s definitely something you want to include in your resume. 

Step #10. Start Applying!

And just like that, we can officially congratulate you for successfully starting - and finishing - your resume.

Chances are, if you got these tips right, you will land any job you go for. So go ahead and start applying!  

Key Takeaways 

That’s a wrap! Here’s the brief version of what we covered in this article:

• Before starting your resume, create an outline. It will provide you a skeleton to make the process of filling up each section much easier! 
• A typical resume’s sections include a contact information section , a resume summary or objective , work and relevant experience , education , skills , and additional sections - if you have space.
• If possible, use the reverse-chronological order resume format. That is unless you’re a recent graduate or an entry-level professional - in that case, the functional or skill-based formats might be a better fit for you. 
• Your past work experience should also start with your latest job, while the education section with the latest education entry. As a rule of thumb, start with your latest relevant experiences and go back as far as it’s relevant to the recruiter and the position you are applying for! 

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The Essential Resume Writing Guide [for Beginners]

• Tags: Resume , Resume Editing , Resume Writing

Job applications are an important milestone in life. As you’re sending out piles of resumes to hundreds of companies, you are heralding a new stage of life. Chances are you’re pretty daunted. Think of the importance of resume writing like you think of a food presentation. No matter what the food in front of you tastes like, you’d want it to be presented well, right? Especially if you know it tastes good. A resume is exactly like that.

So let us answer the big question: how do you write the perfect resume?

The difference between a resume and a CV

Before anything else, let’s get this out of the way: a CV and a resume are not the same. They both serve the same purpose: they are a list of your experience and skill sets that you write out to secure your dream job. But the key distinction is that they differ in length. CVs are generally longer than resumes, but a resume is what you’re likely to be asked during a job application. 

A CV stands for curriculum vitae, which translates to “the course of my life” in Latin. Apt to its name, it is a list of your education history, work experience, achievements, and skill sets. The shorter your career is, the shorter your CV is – but a CV can range anywhere between 2 or 3 and even 10 pages. 

A resume is a concise version of a CV. It is the most common document asked for a job application and is usually limited to a single page. What it is essentially is that is a marketing document that presents you as the perfect applicant for potential employers to hire. 

Note: There are various resume formats you can choose from. So it’s best to do a bit of research before picking a layout best suited to your line of work.

Parts of a resume

Whether it’s your first job, or you’re a job application veteran, use this list to check if you have all the things you need to cross the threshold of unemployment:

1. Name and contact details

Include your email ID, phone number, and (if you have one) your LinkedIn account. Potential employers should be able to contact you. 

2. Profile summary

This is a short bio that acts as a preamble to your resume. It’s essentially a summary of your skill set and your subsequent professional aspirations. It shouldn’t be more than two or three sentences long, is and usually placed at the top of your resume. 

3. Work experience

If you’re new to the workforce, this might be the most difficult section to fill up. But what works to your advantage is that you can play around a bit with this one. Here, you can add internships and even clubs or cells where you might have worked at college. Seriously, it works. It’s also a good idea for you to create a story through your work history: in other words, highlight the aspects of the job that show how your experience and prospective job are related. 

4. Skills and specializations

In this section, you can add things that you are good at. Make sure the skills you add in this section are relevant to the position you are applying for. 

5. Education history

If you don’t have a lot of professional experience under your belt, include information about your academic background in your resume. In addition to your school/college qualifications, include your achievements and accolades as a subsection to give it depth. Extracurriculars are also recommended. Clubs, sporting events, competitions that you represented your school in — that kind of thing. 

6. Social media handles

Depending on the position you’re applying for, nowadays, it’s also a good idea to add some of your social media handles . A professional networking site like LinkedIn is essential. If you’re applying for anything that involves you being on the internet on a regular basis — like social media marketing, for example — some employers even ask about your Facebook, Twitter, etc. After all, in today’s day and age, social media has become an important currency of communication.

7. Work samples or a portfolio

If you’re in a creative profession (such as content, graphic design, or web development), add links to work samples or a portfolio. Providing examples of your work is an excellent way to substantiate the skills you’ve put in the resume. If you don’t have enough work evidence, create your own samples by working on topics of your choice.

A general resume checklist

Once you’re done with all of the above things, it’s a good idea to go through this list of guidelines to ensure that you’re going on the right track.

• Hype yourself up . If a skill seems tangential but unconventionally relevant, add it! Employers like to see versatility. Remember, it’s about marketing yourself. 
• Don’t lie . Just don’t do it. Lies spiral into more lies, and that’s not how you want to start your career, right? What you should be focusing on, instead, is a way to highlight the skills you are most confident about. Provide evidence, and samples if you’re asked. For example, if you say you’re good at writing, find a way to highlight your writing experience. Spinning your skills works to an extent, so long as you know when to stop.
• Give it your 100%. As a beginner, it’s perfectly acceptable to add high school experience (although school seems like a lifetime away). Over the years, you will gain enough experience for you to be able to single out your most valuable experiences and skills to add to your resume. So if someone tells you that high school doesn’t count, trash that advice. For now. Note : As you gain more experience in your field, generally focus the resume on the most recent years of your career, unless you have exceptional projects/experience to add.
• Maintain consistency in language. Filling out your resume won’t feel like you’re writing a Beowulf , but grammar always matters. Consistency can be a matter of aesthetics, but it’s also about little things like maintaining consistency in tense and sentence structure. Since you’re listing out your work history in a concise, accessible way, the easiest path to stick to is simple past tense.
• Don’t clutter . there are ways to showcase your versatility on a single page. In any case, a resume is designed to be concise, so even if your page doesn’t fill up don’t feel daunted because you could actually make it work to your advantage. The easiest way to do this is through the words you use.
• Make your resume visually pleasing . Don’t worry, it’s not as overwhelming as it may seem. We’re simply suggesting that you pick a resume format that’s easy on the eyes and allows the evaluator to grasp the content of your resume faster. 

8 essential resume writing tips

1. perfect your resume summary.

The summary of your resume is the first thing a recruiter will notice. If done well, it can be a powerful introduction to your skill set, your professional expertise, and even you as a person! Craft a summary that conveys why you’re a good addition to the organization, rather than simply stating your career goals. 

A resume summary is a also good place for you to highlight some personal (but relevant) interests and qualities – something that will definitely grab the attention of your soon-to-be employer. 

2. Substantiate job descriptions with achievements

Your resume portrays you in the best light, and an effective way to do that is to provide proof! Directly stating your qualifications and job responsibilities definitely show that you know what needs to be done. But that doesn’t demonstrate the impact you’ve made through your work. In each bullet point, highlight how you put your skills and expertise to use. For example:

       ❌     “Effectively improved sales last quarter”

       ✔️     “Managed cross-departmental teams to accomplish a stalled development project that effectively led to a                         25% revenue increase.”  

3. Avoid annoying buzzwords and cliches

The one thing that recruiters and employers hate is constructing the idea of a person through their misshapen CV or resume. If you write words like “go-getter”, “team player” or “innovative forward-thinker”, they might do more harm than good. Buzzwords and phrases like these are far too generic, not to mention overused, and are quite off-putting. Hiring managers are not going to buy it, that’s for certain. 

If you want the recruiters to know that you are a “go-getter” or a “team player”, it is better to illustrate it through examples of your past work . 

4. Don’t fabricate anything on your resume

Lying might be portrayed as a widespread resume/CV phenomenon, but it is better not to do it. Remember that recruiters have access to your personal details and could do a background check if something doesn’t add up. Fictitious work experience, improved scores in examinations, and such will be thoroughly investigated. And if you are caught fibbing, you will definitely be out of contention for that role or for any future roles in that company. 

Also, even if you manage to get away with lying, the main problem that might hit you in the face is that you will struggle to perform up to the expectations that you set at the start. 

5. Tailor your resume to each company or role

The “one-size-fits-all” rule is best left to garments on sale and not your resume. Creating one standard resume format to be sent out in bulk indicates a lazy approach and disinterest in a specific job listing. Despite having the required experience, your vague resume could spoil your chances. There are also chances of really silly errors like entering the wrong company’s name –  and nothing sends your resume to the trash faster than that! Always take some time to rearrange and edit your resume to suit a company’s specific needs.

6. Think about the aesthetics

Invest some time in making your resume look visually appealing. You can arrange your sections in such a way that it makes the sheet easier to read. Believe me, your interviewers will be grateful. If visual arts isn’t your cup of tea, take advantage of the numerous pre-existing templates that applications like Canva have to make your document look beautiful. Splash some color to it, and spice up the plain white sheet you would have otherwise turned in. But don’t overdo it (Our recommendation: minimalism. You can never go wrong.)

7. Edit, edit, edit

There’s a lot to be said in a resume, but you also have to keep it all to a single phrase. So carefully edit your resume to ensure that everything in it is relevant to the application. Rather than worrying about the length, focus on the text. If you know how to make every word count, you might even get away with a slightly longer resume. Take Faulkner to heart, and kill your darlings. It’ll be worth it when you’re finally chilling in the office of your dreams. 

8. Proofread your resume before sending it out

You might dismiss spelling mistakes, but we assure you that hiring departments won’t! Grammar and language mistakes display a lack of attention to detail and general misgivings of incompetence. All your experience and accomplishments will be for nought if there’s a typo to go with it. Read it out loud, or get a friend to proofread and edit your resume before sending it out. If you can afford it, you can also get some professional help to make your resume top-notch. 

Customize your resume

Now that you have all the content you need for a resume, let’s talk about making it even better. You have all the ingredients, but there’s still something missing. The “X factor”. The thing that gives all your “ingredients” semblance and meaning. For a resume, the “X factor” is the way you customize your applications to make your resume seem more personal and appealing. 

You’re probably applying to a lot of places to keep your options open (good going!), and it is best that each application has minor changes. A way to go about this is to give your resume a theme of sorts, that aligns your experience with the job you are applying for. In fact, if you see that your resume already looks cluttered, it’s a good idea to filter out your skills as well. If you’re applying for jobs in multiple fields (this is perfectly normal when you’re applying for your first few jobs), single out the skills and experiences that are most relevant to the industry you want to work in and the organization you want to work with. 

Here are some related articles that you might find interesting:

• Top 10 Resume Editing Services of 2023
• How to Write a Cover Letter
• 10 Best Free AI Resume Builders to Create the Perfect CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Should you put references on a resume, how long is a resume, what should i include in a resume, what's the best resume format, what's the difference between a resume and a curriculum vitae (cv), what tense should i write my resume in.

Found this article helpful?

5 comments on “ The Essential Resume Writing Guide [for Beginners] ”

Thanks for your guide on resume writing, it’s quite thorough and helpful!

Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic article post on how to write a resume. Kudos to you!

The way you write about this topic is fun and made it easier for me to go through it all. I wanted to thank you for this wonderful and informative read…

Thank you for sharing such an informative and professional post on writing a professional resume. It is evident that you have put a lot of thought and effort into creating a resource that can be helpful for your readers.

I liked how you pointed out that it’s a good idea to tailor your resume to the position that you’re applying for. I’m looking to update my resume for some new positions I’m applying to. I’ll be sure to keep this in mind so I can give the recruiters the information that they’ll need.

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