I'm probably not the best person to answer this question, but I do some experienced hiring into technology and business fields, and a fair amount of recruiting overall. YMMV.
Two main points:
1. Don't worry about your resume too much. You're probably not going to get your next "real" job off your resume alone, so your accomplishments, projects, relationships are going to be more important anyway.
2. As in any position, you have to clearly and concisely show what you did and the impact you had. That's almost easier to do as a freelanced because you did it all. There's value in that: it's just at a different scale than a larger business. I'd wonder if doing something simple like incorporating your freelance business (so it shows up as "Buzzword Consulting" and not "Self-Employed" on your resume) might yield a stronger emotional response. ("He owned a business!")
Thank you especially for that second point. I've only been thinking about incorporating from a financial perspective (from what I can tell, it seems to be clearly worth it if you're in a product business handling money, but maybe less so if you're just a freelancer).
I hadn't thought about it as looking better, and more polished, from an HR-point of view. Great insight.
Two main points:
1. Don't worry about your resume too much. You're probably not going to get your next "real" job off your resume alone, so your accomplishments, projects, relationships are going to be more important anyway.
2. As in any position, you have to clearly and concisely show what you did and the impact you had. That's almost easier to do as a freelanced because you did it all. There's value in that: it's just at a different scale than a larger business. I'd wonder if doing something simple like incorporating your freelance business (so it shows up as "Buzzword Consulting" and not "Self-Employed" on your resume) might yield a stronger emotional response. ("He owned a business!")