How to write a good resume for remote work in a foreign company

In the previous article , which reveals the general tendencies of the development of the remote work market, we slightly touched upon the subject of writing a competent resume. We have listed the main points and important points on which employers are paying close attention. Today I would like to highlight this topic in more detail, especially since most of the questions received by our support service are connected precisely with the need for a correct resume.



The recruitment market works exactly the same for all professional areas. I think this article will be equally useful for IT specialists and other specialists who want to try their luck in foreign companies.



So, to collect all the information first hand, we turned for help to our subscriber companies, who receive a fresh resume every week. We were asked to tell us about how they select candidates, what is the search algorithm among a large amount of data, and what they pay attention to in a more detailed “screening” of information. It takes 30-40 seconds for experienced recruiters to make a first impression of a resume. Below is a list of the main points that are important in selecting candidates.

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Remote work experience and last position

Within the framework of the remote employment search service, one of the main criteria for employers is previous work experience on a remote basis. This may be, for example, work on freelance exchanges. In this case, a good confirmation of professional skills will be the presence of a sufficient number of positive reviews in your profile. If there is no experience in remote work, you should be able to give a clear answer as to exactly what prompted you to take such a step.

Of course, one should not explain one’s decision only by the desire to change office routine for remote employment. However, if you know that you can work remotely more efficiently, changing your current job will only benefit you.



HR from Forkize explained this point as follows:

We always try to determine what exactly prompted the employee to change his previous job. And most importantly, whether his experience is relevant to our current job. You should have a clear answer to this question, as this is the first thing that they will ask you if it comes to an interview.

Also a very important role is played by the ability to work in a remote team. The difference between teamwork on a project when you are in the same office and working with participants who are distributed around the world is quite large. But using tools such as Slack, Basecamp, Google Hangouts, you can easily erase any boundaries.

Companies in which the applicant worked

If you have a couple of trump cards in your resume, such as working at Google or Microsoft, this will, without a doubt, be a plus, but you should not forget that the specifics of working on large-scale projects are different from working in a startup, where each employee has more responsibilities and only very limited time to solve problems.

Overall experience

Of course, the experience of remote employment is at the forefront in hiring for remote work, but general competence also plays an important role. If you have been working remotely for 10 years, but only for 1 year you are in the position of a front-end developer, they are unlikely to be taken to a similar position precisely because of their long distance experience.

Career growth

A very significant point is how the candidate moved up the career ladder at the previous job, whether his level of responsibility and his role in the company increased.



As technology develops every day, it is necessary to keep up with the times. If you didn’t see a desire for development or a higher level of qualification in the same place, you may not be able to become a really good specialist.

Resume organization

Try to keep within 1-2 sheets, do not write too big resume. There is high competition in the remote work market, and HR can receive up to 100-200 resumes per week. Reduce his time to process your data. Even if the resume is really very worthwhile, but its size requires a lot of time to study, most likely, it will be put in a “box for later”, where it will be safely forgotten about it.

Creativity and unusual design

Remember the main thing - no creativity compensates for your work experience, but there is nothing wrong with presenting information about yourself in an interesting way. It is important not to cross the line, as many HR are looking for the necessary items in the resume, using document search, and if you send the resume in the form of a pdf document with a picture instead of text, it is possible that it will go back to the same “box”.

Your visibility online

Do not forget to indicate in the resume links to your profile on social networks and professional resources. This can be a profile on Github or a portfolio on Behance.



There are a few things that are strongly discouraged by applicants.

Exaggerate your own merits

Everything secret always becomes clear, even if you and the employer are separated by thousands of kilometers. Be as honest as possible when preparing your resume. Many HR in large foreign companies are always in contact with each other. There is a high probability that your lies will haunt you for a very long time.

Copy someone else's resume

Perhaps the staff member of the personnel department has seen exactly the same resume many times. Even if you have similar skills and simply framed your work experience and education, it does not make you pay attention to you.

Be careful with personal details.

In Europe, in the preparation of resumes, it is quite common practice to indicate personal information, such as: gender, height, citizenship, marital status. In the US, such parts are redundant. Here they adhere to the policy “briefly and in the case”, especially if the question concerns the discrimination of the applicant on some basis.



If you still have any questions, I will be happy to answer them in the comments.



Respectfully, the founder of Talentboard.me is Arty Smooth.