Time to Update Your Resume?

If you’ve reported to me or heard me present to teams I’m associated with, I almost always talk about “taking that first call” from a recruiter. To be clear, I don’t want folks to leave the team. However, I learned an important lesson long ago:

First – hire, train and develop the right people so well that everyone tries to steal them away, and

Second – provide an environment and opportunity that convinces them to stay. 

The onus is on leaders to consistently deliver and support the teams we manage. I’ve lost some great ones (looking at you Oana) and I’ll lose others as time goes on. However, I want the great ones to explore, I want to them to look and I want them to stay (when they can).

Before you take that first call, you need to make sure you can actually have a good conversation. For years, I’ve committed a little time every day to LinkedIn. Is the platform perfect? Far from it, but it continues to be the best way of updating your professional profile. You should consider LinkedIn as your constantly evolving online resume.

Why devote time every day? It does two things:

1)   Over time, it opens doors you didn’t know were closed or even there, and

2)   More importantly, this daily action makes you think about your career on a consistent basis.

What I’ve found when asked to review someone’s resume/LI profile?

People don’t know how to tell their story and/or maybe their story needs more work. Your profile should be specific to you and the actions you made happen that resulted in success for the team/company/organization.  What did you do and what was the impact?

If you don’t have specific actions/wins/lessons to add, then you have work to do. Go find that extra bit of whatever and crush it.  Imagine telling a friend about a project you uncovered and how you worked hard to make it successful and impactful to/for others.

If you do have specific stories, highlight the positive result for the company and others (the benefit to you is assumed since you’re the one sharing the story).

Also, consider and write about what motivates you. Do you go looking for that motivation or do you wait for it to find you? I’ve heard professional speakers cover the topic of "passion" from every angle but I have zero doubt that it matters.  Passion matters a lot and we feel passionate when we’re motivated. If I’m hiring or even just looking at LinkedIn profiles, the folks who resonate with me are clearly passionate about what they do and why they do it. 

Lastly, don’t be afraid to describe your ideal gig. It shows you have a healthy sense of self-awareness and you’ve given serious thought about how to add value to your next team. It helps you stand out. Speaking of standing out … it’s crowded out there.

I did a Google search for my name on LinkedIn, it returned: “View the profiles of professionals named Adam Williams on LinkedIn. There are 1500+ professionals named Adam Williams, who use LinkedIn to exchange ...” (ugh, 1602 to be exact).

Not only do I have to stand out in the crowd, I have to stand out among my own name ;-).

Good luck if and when you search for the next part of your journey. Don’t wait until you wake up miserable with the current job – devote daily time to your career.  If you ever need help, hit me up via InMail.