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When was the last time you updated your resume?
As we begin the New Year, think about the last time you updated your resume or even reviewed your resume. Most people begin to think about writing a resume or updating a resume when they are asked for one, or when a career change occurs that requires a resume to be presented. For the most part it is a reactive measure rather than a proactive measure. When you are writing your resume in a reactive manner, you are usually under some pressure to produce a good document in a short space of time. My advice would be to always keep your resume up to date so that when an opportunity is presented to you, you are ready to go with a few customized changes. Yes! I know it is cumbersome, but it will pay off in the long run.
Despite all the online tools available, a resume is still the number one document that is requested when applying for a position. It can also be a great place to have all your experiences and accomplishments on one document so that you can then create a customized resume when you are looking to make some change in your career. Or an opportunity arises. I would recommend creating a master working document of all of your accomplishments for easy reference.
Did you know that employers spend about 6-10 seconds initially reviewing your resume? Yes, that is correct! This means that you have 6-10 seconds to impress the person reading your resume. How does one do that you may ask? Displaying the skills and accomplishments that an employer wants to see is a good starting place, as well as making your resume visually appealing with no grammatical errors.
Here are some tips on keeping your resume updated.
• Create a master working document of all of your work accomplishments. This allows for easy customization when a resume is required. This also helps with remembering all the great work that you have achieved!
• Update your resume every 6 months to include, not only your duties, but more importantly your accomplishments.
• Stay away from the resume templates found online, they can be very restrictive and will not allow you to do much else other than what the template wants you to do.
• Make sure you have someone else check the spelling and grammar on your resume.
• On first glance, does your resume look appealing? Use clean text that is easy to read and allows for formatting your resume.
• Where work experience is limited you can also use your volunteer experience as work experience.
• Think about any skills that might need updating, did you gain more qualifications? Did you take part in training? Are there new skills that you want to obtain?
So, as you begin this New Year, update your existing resume, or if you don’ t have one, try putting one together. … as you never know when you will need it! I know I will be updating mine! More details on writing a resume will be featured in the next article
If you have any career questions, comments or suggestions on future articles, please email sabira @ career-infusion. com. I would love to hear from you about your career questions and hopefully make this an interactive piece.
I have over 19 years of experience in Career Coaching, Counseling and Training, primarily within the Higher Education and the non-profit sectors. I have served as Director of Career Services at a number of Universities within MD, as well as worked internationally within the career development field. I currently am in private practice and serve as President-Elect of Maryland Career Development Association( MCDA). I hold a Master’ s degree in Psychology and Social Studies and am a Global Career Development Facilitator and Instructor, a Dependable Strengths facilitator and trained in the MBTI Assessment. I also hold the Master Career Specialist designation from the National Association of Career Development( NCDA).
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