I know you want your resume to stand out from others, but using standard white resume paper is your best option. Try to stand out from others by listing your achievements and skills instead.

Don’t put too much information in your resume. Keep it short and to point. You don’t have to put down every single job you had since high school. Remember, whole point of resume is to show potential employer that you are qualified for position.

Emphasize skills and achievements that are related to job you are applying for. When writing your past job descriptions, elaborate only on duties of your job that help potential employer recognize your qualifications for position you are seeking.

Even after doing all of this, your job resume will still be compared to dozens of other resumes. There’s not much you can do about that. But, with tips listed above, you increase your chances of having your resume actually read and considered for a possible job interview.

Another example: You are head of your company's quality assurance team. You've a good working knowledge of International Standards ISO9001. There is no conflict of interest if you were to take on a freelancing project to write quality manual for another company nearby as long as that company is not your employer's competitor.

Is There Demand for Freelancing Professionals?

Yes.. Aye...Si...Ya! There are many reasons why companies need expertise of a freelancer:

1.There is a sudden burst in business activity and company's existing workforce cannot cope.

2.The company has a one-off project (example: a takeover of another company or production of a massive catalogue).

3.Deadlines must be met.

4.The company needs specialised skills not available within company.

5.The management cannot justify long-term expense of employing a full-time person

What Qualifications Do You Need?

What qualifications DON'T you need? Generally, you don't need to have any special license, insurance, a company, an office or employees.

But you DO need to be sure that you will be able to do project. Afterall, this is what you'll be paid for. Knowing your 'Assets and Skillset' will give you a good feel of whether you can do project.

You'll need to put together a profile or portfolio that is more convincing than a resume. It needs to be more like a marketing presentation. Remember there are others out there who can do project as well.

Keep in mind that there will be opportunities to secure future projects with same company. So it's worthwhile doing it right for first project.

The Parallel Career Way

To be a full-time freelancer, biggest challenge is finding enough work to justify giving up your full-time job. How can you be sure that you will have enough work to pay all your bills?

The Parallel Career Way makes it less stressful and risky because you start developing your freelancing career while you still have a job. And thanks to Internet, things are now much easier.