Being in the job market, you might be wondering about Freelancing. Freelancing is usually done by freelancers, who are “self-employed”. They are normally hired by a few companies at the same time, on a part-time or short-term basis.
Nowadays, however, freelancing is extremely common even amongst those who are working full-time. Should you include your freelancing experience when applying for full-time jobs in Malaysia?
Why Should You Include Freelancing Experience
Including your freelancing experience may be advantageous in two common scenarios:
1. If you have an employment gap
If you took a break between full-time jobs and took up freelancing jobs in the meantime, listing your freelance experience can help to fill up the gaps and shows that you:
- Possess attractive skills that can produce income
- Take initiative to create your own opportunities and network
- Know how to leverage your skills to provide value to any organisation(s) around you
- Are excellent at managing your time and projects
2. If you freelance as a side hustle
This is straightforward – it shows that you are an opportunist. It shows how you go the extra mile to grow as an individual, gaining more exposure, income and network. Again, it proves that you maximise your time to improve your quality of life.
Enough talk – Want to know how to include your freelancing experience in your resume when applying for full-time jobs in Malaysia? You’re at the right place.
Tips on Writing Freelancing Experience
The Basics
If you are writing a freelancing resume, these are the must-have items you need to include when applying for a freelancing role.
- Contact information
- Your availability
- List your experience
- Include skills to support your experience
- Add metrics, results, achievements
- Portfolio link(s)
If you are including your freelancing experience as part of your full-time resume, you may skip items 1 and 2 as you’ve already prepared your resume contact information.
With this structure in mind, you’re all set to create your freelancing experience section on your resume. That’s it? Of course not. You’ll need to polish this section and here’s how.
Skill is King
If you have freelancing experience, chances are that you have marketable skills that people or organisations outside are willing to pay for. Be proud of your skills and always highlight them in your freelance experience section.
As mentioned earlier, always use your skills to support your freelancing experience. Here’s an example for an artist freelancer:
- Design, develop and deliver 10 art pieces weekly to clients according to specifications and expectations
- Create abstract sculptures to be displayed in local establishments in 5 cities
- Product stylised and realistic photos for 3 online websites
- Develop and fit art installations in museums, reducing final cost by 10%
See how each job description screams “Skill”? These are unique, marketable skills that you should highlight when applying for relevant jobs.
Prove Your Worth
As highlighted in previous articles, job descriptions are not useful if they are not accompanied by metrics, achievements and/or recognition.
To truly prove your abilities, you’ll need to include prominent numbers and “%” to show the great work you did for specific companies or during a particular period (e.g. in one quarter or year).
If we take the same example above, including numbers that are advantageous to you will be useful for employers to visualise the value proposition you can bring to them, further boosting your chances of getting hired.
Showcase Your Work!
Freelancing is not as easy as people think as your work must speak for itself. The only way to convince potential clients is to directly showcase your amazing portfolio of past works.
The same goes for your resume. You should always include link(s) to your portfolio in your freelancing experience section, showcasing your best articles, videos, songs, websites, etc.
Your resume is only the tip of the iceberg. Your portfolio should be the “Wow” factor to immediately impress hiring managers and land you the dream job you’ve always wanted.
What NOT to Include When Writing Your Freelancing Experience?
- Do NOT send out a 5-page freelancing resume.
- Do NOT include confidential client information (you probably signed an NDA).
- Do NOT include “big words” to make your project seem more important or exciting. Your results and portfolio should reflect what you’ve written.
- Do NOT disclose how much you’ve charged for your work
- Do NOT add unimpressive results. Every space matters so use it wisely.
The Bottom Line
Freelancing experience should be included if it could bring advantageous to you, but only if it is RELEVANT to the job positions that you are applying for.
Once you have understood the basics and polished the section by following the tips above, you are well on your way to creating a comprehensive resume for jobs in Malaysia.
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