Independent Consultant resume example

As an independent consultant, you can offer key insights and guidance to help organizations be more efficient, profitable, and successful.

But can you effectively prove all of this and showcase your experience on paper?

If you’re in need of a little inspiration and guidance of your own, check out our resume writing guide and independent consultant resume example below.

 

 

 

Independent Consultant Resume Example

 

This example Independent Consultant resume gives you a general idea of how to structure your own resume, along with the type of content you need to include.

Sticking with this resume format will help you to get noticed by employers and ensure that they can quickly see the benefit of hiring you.

Now, lets walk through a step-by-step guide on how to write your own winning resume.

 

 

Independent Consultant resume layout and format

The format and layout of your resume can make or break its success.

Sure, it’s great to pack your resume with lots of impressive skills and knowledge, but if the page is not structured clearly, hiring managers will struggle to find the important stuff!

Above all, your resume should be easy-to-read and professional looking.

Follow these formatting tips to get noticed.

 

 

Formatting your resume

• Length: Keep your resume to 2 pages or under. You’ve probably heard that recruiters and hiring managers don’t have lots of time to read every resume, so keep yours brief if you want to ensure that they read all of the important info in yours.

• Font & readability: The key to a good resume is readability. To make your resume easy to read, use a clear and uncomplicated font, and break up the text with bullet points and short paragraphs.

• Layout: Hiring managers should be able to skim through your resume easily and pinpoint the information they want quickly. To help them do this, organize the page into clear sections with bold headings and dividing borders. The design should be clutter-free and professional-looking, with a calm color scheme.

• Photos: In the USA adding a photo to your resume is optional – you don’t have to do it, but it can be a nice way to get your personality across.

 

Quick tip: Achieving a professional look for your resume can be difficult and time-consuming. If you want to create an attractive resume quickly, try our partner’s Resume Builder and use one of their eye-catching resume templates.

 

 

 

Resume layout

Add the following sections when you write your resume.

• Name and contact details – Add to the very top of your resume to introduce yourself and make it super-easy for recruiters to get in touch.
• Resume summary – Reel hiring managers in with an “elevator pitch” style paragraph which sums up your suitability for the job.
• Skills section – A short and sharp list of your most important skills, that can be quickly skim-read.
• Work experience – List your previous jobs (from newest to oldest) detailing the skills learnt and applied in each.
• Education – List your qualifications and professional training.
• Additional info – If it helps your application, you can add an extra section for things like hobbies and interests.

Here’s what to add to each section of your Independent Consultant resume.

 

Contact Details

 

Keep your contact details short to save resume space and include the following.

• Name and profession title
• Cell phone number
• Location – Add your local area such as Silicon Valley or New York, unless you are looking for work in a different location
• Email address – Keep it professional and don’t use an old address that you thought was cool in high school, but now looks a bit embarrassing.

You can add a link to your LinkedIn profile if you have one – you do not need to include personal details like date of birth or marital status.

 

Independent Consultant Resume Summary

Create a strong opening for your resume by adding a compelling summary to the top that highlights your most valuable skills and experience.

This short but important paragraph is designed convince recruiters that you’re the perfect candidate for the job and entice them to read more of your resume.

 

 

How to create a resume summary that will excite recruiters:

• Keep it short: To effectively capture a recruiter’s attention, it’s crucial to keep your resume summary brief and to the point, limiting it to 4-7 lines as this provides enough detail without overwhelming them at this early stage.

• Tailor to target jobs: To better align your resume with your target jobs, it’s important to scrutinize the job description and identify as many relevant skills as possible to include in your resume.

• Avoid using cliches: Recruiters always see cringey cliches like “hardworking guru who works well in a team or individually” – they don’t mean much to anyone, so focus your summary on tangible skills and experience.

 

Independent Consultant resume summary example

 

What to include in your Independent Consultant resume summary?

• Summary of your experience: Summarize the type of work you have done in the past and the benefits you have delivered for the organizations you worked at.

• Relevant skills: To quickly showcase your suitability for Independent Consultant jobs, ensure that your summary emphasizes your most relevant skills to the jobs you are applying for.

• Qualifications: Mention any Independent Consultant qualifications that are important to your profession in the summary briefly, to show you are qualified to carry out the role.

 

Quick tip: Choose from hundreds of pre-written summaries across all industries, and add one to your resume with one-click in our partner’s Resume Builder. All written by recruitment experts and easily tailored to suit your unique skillset and style.

 

Core skills section

Sitting just underneath your resume summary, your core skills section gives recruiters 4-10 of your most in-demand skills in just a glance.

As Independent Consultant jobs may get hundreds of applications, this is a great way to stand out and quickly grab hiring managers’ attention.

It should be made up of 2-3 columns of bullet points and highlight attributes that are hyper-relevant to the jobs you are aiming for.

 

 

Best skills for your Independent Consultant resume

 

Quick tip: Our partner’s Resume Builder contains thousands of in-demand skills for every profession that can be added to your resume in seconds – saving you time and greatly improving your chances of landing job interviews and getting hired.

 

 

Work experience

So, you’ve got the recruiter interested with your catchy summary… Great work.

Now it’s time to show them the impact you make in the workplace by listing out your previous jobs and what you achieved in each one.

If you have tons of experience, you can condense this part down to the last few years – if you are junior, then you should include as much possible (even volunteering and school work placements)

 

 

Structuring your jobs

Resume job descriptions contain lots of information, so its crucial to structure them well.

Use the structure below to ensure hiring managers can consume the information easily.

 

 

Job outline

Kick off each role with a high-level overview to summarize the focus of the job, what the organization/department does, and how you fit into the bigger picture.

 

Key responsibilities

List your notable responsibilities in short sharp bullet points to demonstrate your input and how you contributed to the organization’s success.

Highlight the skills that are most important to the roles you are applying for.

 

Key achievements

Round off each job by adding some impressive achievements you made in the role.

Anything you’ve done that has made a big impact on your employer will make a good impression, think; generating revenue, saving costs, or improving a product.

Quantify your achievements with number where possible e.g. “reduced call wait time by 10%”

 

Example job for Independent Consultant resume

 

Quick tip: Create impressive job descriptions easily in our partner’s Resume Builder by adding pre-written job phrases for every industry and career stage.

 

 

Education section

Near the end of your resume add your education section.

Experienced candidates should keep it brief and focus on professional qualifications – and junior candidates can include high school diplomas, college degrees etc.

 

Additional information

The additional info section is optional but can be useful if you have anything else to add that could benefit your application.

For example, you may have some hobbies and interests that are relevant to your job – or you might have awards or publications to shout about.

 

 

Writing your own winning Independent Consultant resume

Following the steps in this guide will help you to create a winning Independent Consultant resume and bag lots of interviews.

Good luck with your job search!