Managing Your Career (Updating Your Resume)
Most people dread the resume, however we live in a world where the majority of jobs require you to submit a resume as part of the application process and the best part, they still have you complete an application that ask pretty much the same information you detailed in your resume, but they still want both. Making applying for jobs the most pleasant and invigorating experience of ones life. Although it is my belief that LinkedIn will replace the resume and daunting application one day, I don't know how soon that 'one day' will be.
I get it, resumes are a pain, applying for jobs is a pain, but there are some simple steps you can take to make these processes less painful.
Pick a format that works for you
My first suggestion is finding the resume format that is best for you. I don't know how many times I've heard students/alumni regurgitate a rule some career coach or recruiter told them (based on a person preference) about their resume that they now practice as if it was law, and to make it worse they share that information with others and the cycle continues. There are best practices when it comes to resume writing and some work better than others, but there is no such thing as laws.
What works great for some, may fail miserably for others. The key here is finding a format that you can be comfortable and confident with because it is a representation of your personal brand. What others share with you about your resume are merely suggestions that you must weigh out the importance of as part of your overall presentation to future employers.
Unfortunately, you're really just gonna have to depend on your gut to decide what makes you feel more confident when sharing your resume and what makes you apprehensive about showing others you resume. Those will be the things you want to keep and things you want to change.
Having a resume format you are comfortable with with will allow you to focus on content updates and not a complete and total overhaul of your entire resume every time you look at it.
The resume is never complete
Think of your resume as a living document. You'll never be done with it and it is never complete. So once you feel it is done, step away and come back and re-read your resume again. You're going to find changes you want to make, mistakes that have been made, and adjustments to the formatting and that is ok.
My point here is that it will never be done, complete, or finished, so if you're not making adjustments to your resume (continuously) that may be the first mistake you are making in managing your career.
Tip: Certain industries will require you to adjust your resume per the position you're interested in so keep all the versions of your resume saved somewhere.
Update your resume often
Which leads me to my next suggestion. You should be updating your resume often. At least once a year. I like to think of updating my resume in the same way I updated my FAFSA when I was in school. I had to complete a new FAFSA every year after my parents or I completed our taxes, the same is true for your resume, or you can use your companies annual review period as a great reminder to update your resume. Either way, get use to updating your resume at least annually.
What you don't want is for an opportunity to arise and someone say, send over your resume and you have to say, "Ok, let me get that updated and I'll get it over to you." Noooooooooooooo. There is nothing worse than looking like you are not prepared for opportunities when they arise and since you never know when that might happen you always have to be prepared. As I often say, if you stay ready, you won't have to get ready. Plus, I am always expecting something great to happen so I always like to be ready for that day when it does present itself.
Tricks: Utilize LinkedIn to help you keep your job changes, projects, classes you have taken, etc. updated and in one easy to find place that you can reference when its time to update your resume. The best part about LinkedIn is you can choose to share that information with your network when you want or not at all.
Make sure your resume is easy to access
Send the updated version of your resume to yourself in an email and flag it so you can find it easily and access it from anywhere, on any computer, at anytime. There is no need to have your resume saved on a jump drive or have to wait until you get home to send it over to anyone that might be requesting it. You'll always have it readily accessible when you need it. You can also use a cloud account like Dropbox to access as well.
MSU Denver Alumni Career Services is hosting a workshop to help you prepare for the job search. We will go over everything you need to know to have an effective and productive job search. We will discuss resumes, job boards, social networking, and more! To register click here.
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If you would like additional assistance finding a resume format that you can be confident about please call MSU Denver Alumni Career Services and schedule an appointment with one of our experienced career coaches, who is eager to help you plan, execute, and stay on track towards accomplishing of your personal and professional goals.
Click here to learn more about me and my role at MSU Denver
For other career advice and resources we encourage you to visit MSU Denver Alumni Career Services. Many of our career resources are free or deeply discounted for MSU Denver alumni. Services are also available to community members in the alumni and career service office. To book an appointment call us at: 303-556-8320 or send us an email at [email protected]
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If these topics sound like they would be of interest to your employees, sales conference, or professional organization, contact me at 303-556-6344 or [email protected] for more information.