Freelancing experience can be a great addition to your resume. It demonstrates your skills and expertise and explains your ability to take ownership and deliver results.
Freelancing typically involves working with diverse clients and industries, which means you’ve likely developed a wide range of skills and industry insights. Focusing on this experience can communicate that you’re adaptable and quick to learn new industry standards or tools.
Highlighting specific freelance projects in your resume can also reveal your problem-solving abilities, resilience, and resourcefulness in dynamic situations.
But how do you structure your resume in a way that presents your freelancing experience as your superpower?
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process and tips for adding freelance work to your resume.
How to Put Freelance Work on a Resume (+Examples)
Summarize this article for me pleasePreparing to List Freelance Work
One of the greatest advantages of freelance projects? Unlike traditional job roles that may not always produce easily shareable work samples, freelance projects often allow you to showcase tangible deliverables.
These portfolio pieces can serve as direct proof of your abilities, providing hiring managers with real examples of your work.
So, before you start listing freelance work on your resume, gather all the details of your past projects.
Here’s what you can do to gather project details:
📝 Jot down your key projects, clients, and results
🛠️ Make a note of the tools and software you used for each project
⏳ Track the time spent and the outcome—whether it’s a successful product launch, a published article, or hitting client KPIs
Once you’ve got your list ready, narrow it down to the most relevant projects. For example, if it’s a marketing role, highlight the freelancing projects where you worked on marketing campaigns and made a real impact for your clients.
How to select freelance projects for your resume:
Pick projects that showcase the skills mentioned in the job description
📌 Prioritize the ones with measurable results, like increased web traffic or boosted conversions
📌 Highlight a mix of skills, such as project management, client communication, and technical know-how
💡Pro Tip: One of the best freelancing hacks is to use project management software like ClickUp to record details and outcomes for your freelance gigs. ClickUp’s Task Management features help you track all your freelancing projects, clients, tasks, and achievements in one place so you can easily update them on your resume.
Summarize this article for me pleaseStructuring Your Resume
Freelance roles tend to be heavily results-oriented, with success directly linked to project outcomes and client satisfaction. When you include such work on your resume, employers will see that you’re focused on delivering quality output and can take ownership of tasks from start to finish.
However, the key is to choose the right resume format and structure your professional experience strategically to highlight your strengths.
Chronological format
This is a solid choice if you’ve done freelance work consistently over time. It lets you list your freelancing projects in order of time, starting with the most recent.
📌 Example:
Freelance Copywriter & Content Writer | Jan 2021 – Present
Various Clients (e.g., ABC Marketing, XYZ Tech)
- Wrote 50+ blog posts for a digital marketing agency, driving a 25% increase in website traffic
- Developed SEO strategies for eCommerce sites, resulting in improved organic search rankings
- Collaborated with clients to create compelling email marketing campaigns, boosting conversions by 15%
Freelance Graphic Designer | June 2019 – Dec 2020
XYZ Media
- Designed sales presentation brochures using Adobe InDesign, resulting in the conversion of 10 new customers
- Designed social media graphics and marketing materials that increased client engagement by 40% on average across four digital channels
- Developed brand identity packages (logos, color schemes, and typography) for the client, leading to a 60% increase in brand recall
Functional format
A functional resume works great in case of self employment if you’ve done many short-term projects or taken a career break. It focuses more on your skills rather than your work history.
📌 Example:
Skills & Expertise:
- Content Creation: Developed high-performing blog posts, articles, and social media content that increased engagement by 30%
- SEO & Digital Marketing: Implemented SEO strategies for clients, improving search engine rankings and driving traffic growth
- Project Management: Successfully managed three freelance projects at once in a span of 60 days, delivering all tasks on time and within budget
Freelance Projects:
- XYZ Retail (Jan 2021 – March 2022): Designed email marketing campaigns that boosted click-through rates by 18%
- ABC Tech (April 2022 – Present): Created website content and managed social media campaigns, leading to a 20% sales increase
💡 Pro Tip: If you are making a career change, you can highlight your freelance experience to show transferable skills. For example, if you want to switch from data analysis to web development, you can add your freelance data analyst experience to highlight problem-solving, data interpretation, user behavior analysis, and soft skills.
Hybrid format
Can’t decide between chronological and functional resume formats? The hybrid format offers the best of both. You can highlight your top marketable skills and job history, with the flexibility to showcase your best projects and continuous experience.
📌 Example:
Key Skills:
- Content Strategy & Creation: Crafted compelling copy for websites, blogs, and social media
- Client Communication: Maintained strong client relationships, ensuring clear project objectives and timely delivery
- SEO Optimization: Implemented SEO best practices, boosting client websites’ visibility
Freelance Content Writer | Jan 2021 – Present
Various Clients
- Developed and executed content strategies that increase organic traffic by 40% for multiple clients
- Wrote product descriptions for eCommerce sites, leading to a 10% increase in sales conversions
Freelance Marketing Consultant | June 2019 – Dec 2020
XYZ Marketing Solutions
- Designed and launched email campaigns, increasing click-through rates by 25%
- Managed client projects from start to finish, ensuring alignment with their brand’s goals and deadlines
We hope these examples come in handy to format freelance work in your resume. Now, let’s share some tried-and-tested strategies that will make it tough for potential employers to say no to your resume!
Summarize this article for me pleaseHow to List Freelance Work: Step-By-Step Guide
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to list freelance jobs on your resume for maximum impact:
Step 1: Create a ‘Freelance Experience’ section
Dedicate a specific section of your resume to your freelance experience, instead of clubbing it with full-time roles. Label it clearly as Freelance Experience, so employers can quickly find and understand what you’ve been working on. Treat it with the same importance and professionalism as any full-time role on your resume.
💡Pro Tip: If you have a mix of freelance and more traditional employment roles, place your freelance section either at the top or in a prominent spot, depending on what’s more relevant to the job you’re applying for. Make sure this section is well-organized and easy to scan—employers love clarity!
Here is an example of how to add both freelance and full-time roles in your resume.
💡Pro Tip: To show consistency, include the duration of freelance experience next to the title, like ‘Freelance Digital Marketer (2018–Present)’.
Step 2: List freelance projects under a single job title
Freelance work can involve a variety of roles and industries, but listing many different job titles can clutter your resume. Keep it simple by grouping your freelance projects under one job title.
📝 For example: If you’ve done graphic design, copywriting, or marketing work, mention ‘Freelance Marketing Consultant.’ This helps you create a cohesive and professional presentation resume.
Step 3: Include client names and project descriptions
When listing your freelance projects, mention the client (if they’re okay with it) and give a short project description to add credibility and context to your work.
📝 For example: You can add, “Developed a complete branding package for an XYZ coffee shop, including logo design, menu layouts, and social media visuals.” If your client prefers to remain anonymous, you can still provide details like industry or project type: “Developed content for a major tech company’s product launch.”
Step 4: Highlight key achievements and skills learned
Make your freelance work more impactful by highlighting key achievements and skills in bullet points.
Focus on measurable outcomes whenever possible. Instead of saying ‘Wrote blogs,’ say ‘Wrote 10+ SEO-driven blog posts per month, increasing organic traffic by 30%.’
By focusing on both the work you did and the results you delivered, you’ll present yourself as a well-rounded professional.
💡Pro Tip: Start each bullet point with strong action verbs like ‘Designed,’ ‘Launched,’ or ‘Managed’ to grab attention and convey impact. This will make your accomplishments stand out by demonstrating leadership, initiative, and clear contributions, helping potential clients quickly understand your value.
Bonus step: Use ClickUp to manage and present a diverse portfolio
Using a tool like ClickUp to manage your freelance projects can give you an additional advantage. ClickUp allows you to organize and track all your projects in one place, making it easier to pull together a polished portfolio for your resume.
Instead of scrambling to update your resume each time you apply for a job, having everything in one place makes the process much easier.
That’s where ClickUp Docs comes in. It helps you keep all your resume content organized and ready to go. Think of it as your go-to hub for adding new achievements, refining your experience, or creating rough drafts of your resume. Whenever you’re applying for a new role, you can quickly edit or adjust your resume without starting from scratch. No more digging through old documents—you’ll have everything at your fingertips.
ClickUp Docs help you:
- Create a professional resume with rich-text formatting features
- Add headers to resume for scannability
- Include portfolio links to showcase your projects through embedded URLs
- Track resume changes with its version history so you can send updated resume for all the roles you are applying to
But that’s not all. Once your content is organized, it’s time to make sure it’s polished, professional, and tailored to the job you want.
This is where ClickUp Brain (or ClickUp AI) can help. Struggling to find the right words or unsure how to frame a certain project? The AI assistant suggests better ways to phrase your achievements and ensures your language is clear and professional.
It also helps you find the right action verbs and keywords to boost your chances with recruiters or applicant tracking systems (ATS). With real-time suggestions, you can easily refine your resume, ensuring it’s always ready for the next opportunity.
Time management is key in freelance work, and ClickUp’s Time Tracking feature allows you to track how long you spend on each project. You can include data on your resume to show time management and multitasking skills. For example, say, “Managed 5+ client projects simultaneously, meeting all deadlines while maintaining quality.” This highlights your ability to juggle tasks efficiently, a key skill for prospective employers.
Finally, ClickUp Goals help you track project achievements by setting milestones. This makes it easier to add metrics to your resume.
Summarize this article for me pleaseExamples of Listing Freelance Work
Need samples to determine what your freelance resume should look like? We’ve got you covered!
In this first example, we have listed freelance projects chronologically and then shared details about the results you brought for the clients. The key here is to focus on good outcomes.
Here is another example to include freelance work in your resume for early career professionals. While you may not have specific (or impressive) outcomes to showcase yet, you can shine the spotlight on your work by demonstrating your mastery over certain skills and software tools or mentioning reputed schools or companies you learned from/worked with.
Summarize this article for me pleaseCommon Challenges and Solutions of Putting Freelance Work on a Resume
Varied job roles, client confidentiality, inconsistent work period, and other factors make listing freelance work on a resume challenging. Let’s see how you can tackle them:
Addressing gaps between freelance projects
Do you have gaps between your freelance gigs? It’s totally normal. Instead of letting a career or employment gap stand out, turn it into a plus point. Highlight that you spent that time sharpening your skills, taking online courses, or working on personal projects.
It tells the hiring manager that you made the most of your career gap.
Read More: The Best Productivity Apps for Freelancers
Overcoming the stigma of freelance work among traditional employers
Some employers still think freelance work isn’t as serious as a full-time job. Here’s how you flip that thinking: focus on the results.
📝 For example: Instead of writing ‘Graphic Designer,’ mention, “Freelance Graphic Designer—developed branding materials that boosted client recognition by 30%.” Or, if you’re in project management, you could say, “Freelance Project Manager—successfully managed a $50K project, delivering results 10% under budget.” This shows employers that you’re just as reliable as someone working in-house, if not more!
Maintaining consistency and readability in freelance work descriptions
Freelance work can vary greatly—even within the same field. For example, as a freelance virtual assistant, you might be helping one client with administrative work, such as managing emails and organizing calendars. For other clients, you might be handling customer inquiries and data entry tasks.
To keep things readable, group similar or small projects together and use consistent formatting.
📌 Example:
Freelance Virtual Assistant
January 2021 – Present
Client Industries: E-commerce, Tech Startups, Consulting
Administrative Support
- Managed emails, calendars, and appointments for C-level executives, streamlining communication and scheduling efficiency
- Organized and maintained digital files, ensuring quick access and reducing document retrieval time by 30%
Customer Service and Client Relations
- Increased customer retention by 15% by following up on service interactions and providing personalized support
- Handled customer inquiries via email and chat, resolving issues and ensuring a 95% customer satisfaction rate
Read More: Top Engineering Resume Examples
Summarize this article for me pleaseTips for Optimizing Freelance Work Entries
Now that you’ve understood how to create your freelance resume, let’s quickly discuss some hygiene tips for ensuring your freelance job applications are optimized from start to finish.
Tailoring freelance work for specific job applications
A one-size-fits-all approach does not work for job resumes—especially for freelancers who often juggle various projects. It’s crucial to tailor your resume for each job application. By focusing on the most relevant skills and experiences, you can highlight the value you bring to the role.
For example:
📌 If you’re applying for a freelance data analyst role with a retail brand, you can add “Analyzed customer usage patterns from large datasets, providing insights that improved user engagement by 20%”
📌 For a freelance recruiter role, you can focus on reducing time-to-hire. Add something like “Placed 20+ candidates across various roles, including software engineers, marketing specialists, and operations managers, within a 3-month period”
This approach ensures the hiring manager sees how your freelance experience directly aligns with their requirements, making you a stronger candidate.
Read More: 10 Freelance Templates to Manage Workload
Using keywords and action verbs in freelance descriptions
While tailoring your freelance resume for each role, look at the job description and use specific keywords mentioned in the job description to highlight skills. If the job lists ‘content creation,’ make sure to mention that exact phrase in your freelance entries. This helps your resume get past the application tracking software (ATS), increasing the chances of it reaching the hiring manager or recruiter.
📝 For example: If a video editor’s job description mentions increasing viewer engagement, you can mention in your resume, “Produced and edited dynamic video content that increased viewer engagement by 30%.”
It’s best to manage all job descriptions in one place so you can easily tailor your resume. The ClickUp Job Search Template helps you with this. You can add job description links, track your job proposals, and manage interview resources—all in one place.
The template provides dedicated sections for monitoring your application status (e.g., applied, interview, offer), deadlines, and important details like company contact info and Glassdoor ratings to streamline your job search process.
Proofreading and editing tips for clarity and conciseness
Once your resume is ready, proofread and edit it for clarity and conciseness. You can run it through tools like Grammarly to catch any grammar or phrasing issues. It’s also helpful to ask a mentor or peer for feedback—they might spot improvements you missed.
Here are a few effective tips for editing your resume:
📌 Ensure formatting is consistent for a professional look
📌 Cut vague or repetitive wording and focus on action-oriented verbs
📌Read your resume out loud to catch awkward phrasing
Trimming unnecessary details will keep your resume sharp and focused on the most relevant achievements.
Bonus tip: Using ClickUp AI for proofreading and enhancing content for resume entries
Need extra support to ensure your resume stands out? You can use ClickUp Brain to write, proofread, and fine-tune your resume. It’s not only your brainstorming partner but also a great AI writing tool to draft points for your resume, catch grammar mistakes, improve clarity, and even suggest better ways to phrase your accomplishments.
Simply paste your resume into ClickUp and ask ClickUp Brain to edit or proofread it and suggest improvements.
It can make content suggestions to ensure you’re using strong, action-driven language in your freelance job descriptions. This way, your resume is polished, professional, and ready to impress potential employers.
Read More: The Best Project Manager Resume Templates
Summarize this article for me pleaseAdvantages of Including Freelance Work on Your Resume
Including freelance work on your resume comes with lots of advantages, here are some of those:
Enhancing your professional profile
Freelance work adds a unique dimension to your professional profile, highlighting your ability to thrive as a solopreneur. In addition to your core competency, running your own business demonstrates proficiency in other essential skills like accounting, client management, project management, sales and pitching, etc.
Including freelance experience also shows potential employers you’re proactive, self-motivated, and have a strong work ethic—qualities anyone would value.
Demonstrating diverse experience and adaptability
Freelancers often work across different industries, with various clients, and on a wide range of projects. This breadth of experience showcases your ability to adapt to new environments and challenges quickly. It also means you’re comfortable wearing different hats—whether that’s marketing, content creation, technical tasks, or project management—and this versatility is a big plus for employers.
Read More: Want to showcase your technical experience in a resume? Try these technical resume templates to increase your chances of being hired.
Standing out in competitive job markets
When competition is fierce, freelance resumes can set you apart from candidates who have only worked in traditional roles. By highlighting your freelance projects and significant achievements, you show that you bring diverse skills and experiences that might not be found in a typical 9-to-5 role.
Freelance work can give you an edge, especially if you can demonstrate specific, measurable outcomes like “increased client revenue by 20%” or “completed 50+ successful projects.”
Summarize this article for me pleaseStructure Freelance Work into Your Resume with ClickUp
Including freelance experiences on a resume can be a game-changer for job seekers, helping you stand out by showcasing your versatility, independence, and real-world results. By using tools like ClickUp Docs to organize your projects and ClickUp Brain to refine your resume content, you can streamline the process and present your freelance experience in a polished, professional way.
Whether it’s tracking your client’s work, writing impactful job descriptions, or managing your progress with Custom Fields and Goals, ClickUp offers everything you need to keep your resume ready for your desired position.
Take control of your freelance career with a stellar resume. Sign up for ClickUp today and start organizing, refining, and presenting your work like never before!
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
