Did you prepare for “International Update Your Resume Month” in September?

Here is your annual reminder that September is “International Update Your Resume Month.” If you did not do an update, here's a little nudge.

You need to engage in managing your career and updating your career documents!

As an employee, when you tweak your resume, you could be simultaneously gathering performance metrics for your end-of-year review. That’s a WIN-WIN!

Although the Department of Labor reported a decrease in initial and ongoing unemployment claims over the past 52 weeks, the highest local Tri-State area insured unemployment rates were New Jersey at 1.9 and Pennsylvania at 1.2 for the week ending September 10th.?

There may be a lot of job openings and hiring going on, but some companies are also laying off employees, so you always need to keep your career documents current and up to date.

If you haven’t dusted off your resume in a while and need some tips, here are seven articles to help you with keywords, verbs, formatting, gaps, and more.

• How Keywords Help You Win on Your Resume & LinkedIn Profile
• September is International Update Your Resume Month
• How to Conquer the Employment Gap on Your LinkedIn Profile & Resume
• Two Secrets to Writing Resumes for Bots versus Humans?
• 73 Formatting Tips to Optimize Your Resume to Get Hired
• Which one comes first - resume or LinkedIn?
• Over 300 Powerful Action Verbs for Your Career Documents

Once you have established a solid base resume, you can make copies and customize them for each job application. If you have the proper format, it’s easy to exchange keywords, and you can also weave in key phrases from each job description.

Here are the typical sections I use in a resume, though they may vary by individual:

• Tailored Resume Headline
• Core Competencies
• Career Highlights
• Professional Experience
• Past Experience (if applicable)
• Education & Certifications
• Awards & Honors
• Professional Organizations
• Volunteer

Here are a couple of other tips if you are concerned about age discrimination:

• Do not use an AOL or hotmail email; get a Gmail address.
• Do not use Times New Roman; try Calibri or another modern font.
• No Objective or References available upon request.
• Remove graduation dates.
• Only go back 12-15 years of work experience on your resume.

If you don’t have time or don’t want to update your resume on your own, hire a career coach who will collaborate with you individually.

NEXT STEPS

• Subscribe to my?newsletter on LinkedIn?for bright ideas to manage your career.
• Join as a member at?https://greatcareers.org/membership?of the #1 business networking association on the?Philadelphia Business Journal’s Book of Lists?two years in a row!?
• Register on the?events page?for these upcoming online events.
• If you need a resume or LinkedIn profile to get you to your next step,?book a call?to chat!
• Follow?#GreatCareersPHL

AUTHOR BIO

Lynne M. Williams?is the Executive Director of the?Great Careers Groups, a volunteer-run 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides career education and networking connections for 1) job seekers in career transition, including veterans, and 2) employed and self-employed for career management. She is also the President of?ChemPharma.net?and runs a Clubhouse session on Fridays at 11 AM ET in the?Thought Leadership Branding Club.?

Aside from writing keyword-focused content for ATS resumes and LinkedIn profiles, Lynne is currently writing her doctoral dissertation on LinkedIn for Job Seekers. She is a contributing author on “Applying to Positions” in?Find Your Fit: A Practical Guide to Landing the Job You Love?along with the late Dick Bolles, the author of What Color is Your Parachute?, and is also a speaker on?career topics.

This article is also published on:?vista.today,?montco.today,?delco.today,?bucksco.today,?and the Great Careers Groups' blog. A list of articles can also be found in a?Google doc.