In today’s Covid-preoccupied working environment, offices are still very much on the remote bandwagon.
The old days, “good” old days or not, have been slow to return, and there’s a great deal of skepticism that they ever truly will.
That skepticism is partly driven by the fact that remote and hybrid arrangements have worked well – perhaps to the surprise of employers who had always seen working from home through very jaundiced eyes. For people in the job market, this means that employers are going to be looking for candidates who can handle the new remote reality.
The question is: What can you do to demonstrate remote competence? Obviously, it’s a particularly thorny question for anyone who hasn’t had personal experience working remotely, but it’s something that will impact resumes for everyone.
- Consider a “Remote Experience” subsection that highlights that experience and calls a hiring manager’s attention to it directly.
- Think about the skills that matter for remote workers – time-management, organization, ability to work independently, collaboration – and be sure your resume speaks to them.
- Drill down into the tools that are currently in use for remote workers – SharePoint, Google Chat and Hangouts, GoToMeeting, and the omnipresent Zoom, among others – and call them out specifically as modalities you use and understand.
- Make your tech know-how obvious. You may not know what tools a particular employer uses, and they range from the abysmally clunky to the almost-sublime, but remote work calls for comfort with all sorts of tech.
- Don’t forget that accomplishments still matter. If you’ve gotten great results working remotely – for example, you’ve far exceeded sales goals in a remote sales position – make those accomplishments explicit.
- And don’t forget that numbers often speak loudest to hiring managers. If you can quantify those remote accomplishments, don’t hesitate to do it.
For those who have no formal background in remote work, all is not lost.
- The same skills that are important to people with remote experience – whether they’re communication skills, leadership skills, or the ability to work independently – are typically part of any on-site office role. If you have them, make it a point to say so, especially if you can tie those skills to concrete accomplishments.
- Highlight things you’ve done that are “remote-equivalent.” If you’ve dealt with colleagues and clients in different locations, you’ve done the equivalent of remote work, at least in terms of what you need to do in order to maintain communications with people who don’t share your office space.
- And chances are that you’ve used many of the same modalities that are part of the remote experience, working by phone and text and email and video and all the rest. Make this clear when you write your resume.
- Finally, you can do exactly what those with remote experience need to do by highlighting your tech skills in whatever applications you’ve used. Make it clear that you’re a fast learner of anything they put in front of you.
As always, we’re here to help if you need a hand writing a compelling resume. Whether you’re looking to be remote, hybrid, or fully in the office, we can make you stand out from the crowd.