Self-Employed Best Practices | Generated by AI
Question: What should I put in the “Employer” field for independent AI engineer work (e.g., “Unapplicable,” “No affiliation,” or something else)?
Answer:
Using terms like “Unapplicable” or “No affiliation” will hurt clarity and look unprofessional. Recruiters expect something that clearly indicates who you worked for, even if that “entity” is just yourself.
The goal is simple: make your independence look structured and legitimate, not undefined.
✅ Best practice (recommended)
Option 1 (most standard and clean): Employer: Self-Employed
This is widely accepted across resumes, HR systems, and background checks.
✅ Slightly stronger (more professional branding)
Option 2: Employer: Self-Employed (Independent)
or
Employer: Independent
✅ If you want to be more “product/brand” oriented
Option 3: Employer: Zhiwei Li (Independent AI Engineer)
or
Employer: Independent Practice
✅ If you have a public presence (like your blog)
You can even anchor it:
Employer: Self-Employed (lzwjava.github.io)
This subtly proves legitimacy and gives recruiters something to verify.
❌ Avoid these
- Unapplicable ❌ (not natural English in this context)
- No affiliation ❌ (sounds like a gap or uncertainty)
- N/A ❌ (too vague, looks like missing data)
💡 Example (final polished entry)
Independent AI Engineer Self-Employed Aug 2023 – Jan 2025
Key insight
Recruiters don’t mind independent work at all. What they care about is:
- Can they understand your role quickly
- Does it look intentional and structured
- Can they verify or trust it
“Self-Employed” solves all three cleanly.
If you want, I can next:
- Turn your whole experience into a high-impact, quantified resume section
- Or adapt it specifically for US tech companies vs China hiring expectations