How to List Self Employment on a Resume
Self-employment is a challenging way to make money. It offers a lot of freedom but very little stability. If you find yourself needing to return to full-time work for another company after a period of self-employment, you may discover you're at a loss as to how to list your self-employment on your resume. This is not an uncommon issue for the self-employed. It's important that you include your self-employment on your resume in a professional way so it doesn't appear that you were simply unemployed for a long period.
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Instructions
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Include details about time you spent self-employed as though it was time spent working in a traditional job. Describe the time period you were self-employed, your responsibilities, your accomplishments and the number of people you might have managed.
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List the self-employment information with all other work history. List the information under the name of your company rather than yourself if you had a company name while self-employed. Emphasize that your self-employment was as important as any other job and not time spent slacking off. Characterize yourself as a motivated self-starter when you add the specifics.
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List specific clients that you worked for if you can get their permission to do so. Include them in a separate section or as references that your new potential employer can use to verify your self-employment and the quality of work you or your company performed. Ensure that your new potential employer knows that you are not hiding anything when you say you were self-employed.
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Address your self-employment in your cover letter. Know that many employers can see self-employment as a red flag, especially if you are not up-front about it. Never sound apologetic about or downplay self-employment, however. Make it a positive thing in every way that you can no matter what you believe your potential employer might think.
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Include any other skills learned or accolades earned from your self-employment in the appropriate place on your resume. Never leave anything positive off just because it is connected to time spent self-employed.
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Tips & Warnings
Prepare to discuss your self-employment in detail if you are invited in for an interview after submitting your resume to a potential employer.
Never omit self-employment and leave a gap in your work history that you can't explain.
References
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