Why do we procrastinate around keeping our resumes up to date? Six reasons that will resonate with you are:
- It is a struggle. Drafts and rewrites of updated experience and skills take too much time, and you have more pressing work to get done.
- Resume style standards keep changing. How do you know what is the latest and greatest? Are objectives at the top of a resume, old school? Are resumes submitted on-line in a different format from a printed version?
- Skill sets are a moving target. What is hot today may not be tomorrow. So, I might as well wait till I need a resume to emphasize my latest expertise.
- You are in a good place. You feel good about your job and see a future with the company.
- It is pricey. It can be costly to hire a professional writer.
- Out of sight, out of mind. It is easy to stash your resume away in your bottom drawer and forget about it.
But, here are six reasons why you should update your resume NOW, even if you
are not in the market for a new job.
- A promotion becomes available, OR In Case the Worst Happens. You may be in line for a promotion at your company in the future. The person you interview with will want a current resume. Do you want to start working hastily on a revision just before the interview? Sometimes, these opportunities come up when you least expect it. After the promotion, while it is still fresh in your mind, update the resume with your new job title and responsibilities. OR if you are laid off, time is of the essence to start networking, adding your resume to search engines, and determining companies on your target list. That takes time. Having a ready resume will expedite your job search process, and you will recover more quickly.
- Recruiters are always looking for great candidates. Job opportunities often land at your doorstep when you are not looking. Independent recruiters and company recruiters are always scouring LinkedIn for candidates. It is best to be armed with a current resume.
- You need an elevator speech. Rewriting a resume allows you the opportunity to work on your elevator speech. Networking is an essential activity in all job searches. Jobvite’s 2019 Job Seeker Nation Survey reports that even though most applicants apply for jobs on a job board or employer career site, 35% found job postings on social media, 50% of respondents heard about jobs from friends, and 37% say they also learn about jobs from professional networks.
- You need to create concise, memorable success stories for interviews. A resume can’t possibly capture your personality, leadership style, passions, personal attributes, or differentiators. Those are told through success stories of your projects. I write about how to craft those vignettes in my book Answers to the Top 20 Interview Questions and provide fill-in-the-blank templates to make it easy on you.
- Your memory is fleeting. We take for granted our strengths – our talent, skills, and knowledge. Often, when we let time go by, we forget new skills we have learned, accolades received, and glowing performance reviews. By reviewing your strengths and accomplishments, you’ll better be able to ensure your professional progress makes it onto your resume.
- It’s time for self-reflection. We often don’t take time to review our long term goals. Working on your resume will provide a good barometer of how close or far away you are from reaching your 3-5 year goals. It’s a great time to determine how to close experience gaps to reach those goals. It can also lead to a productive conversation with your manager of what you would like to do more of so you can grow your strengths. It’s also a great time to jot down a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves in a job. Don’t settle!
Let’s address the struggle in creating and rewriting resumes. I prefer tools that help to jumpstart the resume process. If you are going to write your own, I have a favorite free site that takes some of the pain, time, and energy out of the equation for you. Resume Builder has aggregated millions of resumes for thousands of jobs and job descriptions from thousands of small businesses and large, international companies like Amazon, Apple, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and more. With this information, they built a machine learning engine that analyzed these resumes and job descriptions to build a resume matching profile – determining what keywords to use, what relevant experience to use, and, in general, what works and what doesn’t when making a resume. You can read more about it here: https://www.resumebuilder.com/create-a-resume/
I encourage all my clients to update their resumes as significant projects come to an end to ensure they capture milestones, new skills, and success stories – so they don’t become a fleeting memory. At a minimum, update your resume once or twice a year – even if you aren’t actively looking. Remember, recruiters and promotions are pleasant surprises, and networking is an ongoing activity that requires a pithy elevator speech. And, take stock of your long term goals. Be ready for the opportunity with an updated resume.
To Your Career Success,
© Katie Weiser, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Katie Weiser with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
