Valuing Your Ticket In – Your Resume
Most people don’t look at their resume unless their looking for a job. It can be really difficult to look at a resume after a long period left untouched and try to update it. Incorporating all your relevant past experiences, skills, accomplishments into your resume since you last looked at it can be daunting especially if the turn around needs to be short (e.g., someone asks you to send it to them immediately).
Many experts say “Your resume is you – paper thin.” It should accurately represent your professional life. However, many individuals are not happy with their resumes and feel that they can better communicate their fit with a position in person. Oftentimes, you will not get that opportunity unless your resume is in great shape.
In order to have a document that is up-to-date and can be pulled out in a moments notice, here are some tips:
1) Update it regularly.
You should know where your resume is. It should be easily accessible (put it on your desktop) and when you take on new responsibilities at your job, get accolades for a project, get a promotion, volunteer, you add it to your resume IMMEDIATELY. Add everything. This working document can be longer than 1 page because you need to cater a resume to a particular position. Somethings may be relevant to one position and not another. It’s hard to remember these things in retrospect and even harder to remember the dates. It’s much easier to edit than produce the information.
2) Find a format you LOVE.
Since your resume is you paper thin, it should be visually appealing to you and others. So, look at others’ resumes, check out resume books–it should be neat, organized and easy to find the information. It should make you want to open it up and edit it regularly. You should have pride in it. You should also show it to others and see if they find the format attractive.
3) Have trusted friends take a look at it for errors.
Obviously, always spell check and read it over, but also have friends take a look it for these issues as well as offering suggestions for wording. It’s great to ask colleagues who are in the same industry to assist with language and phrasing that is common to your industry.
4) Look at other resumes.
You should try to see what other people’s resumes look like at various levels in your industry. Check the internet by position. You can also ask to see colleagues resume or search for resume books focused on particular industry. It will help you stay current with trends in your field regarding resumes and show you the skills, experience, training, etc. that you need to demonstrate that you have. It’s a great motivator while currently employed to take on new projects, build new skills and take on new training opportunities.
5) Work on improving your language.
Always try to make the language on your resume more efficient in its communication of your professional experience. Not only does it strengthen the impact of your resume, but it also shows your writing skills which are critical in today’s workforce.
It’s important to think of working on your resume as iterative (i.e., involving repetition) and you should enjoy it as it should reflect your professional self and is your golden ticket to an interview and communicating one-to-one in further detail your fit for a position.
