Starting the hunt for a new job? Or putting feelers out to see what’s available? Whatever the case may be, your resume needs to properly reflect not only the jobs and work you’ve done but also targeted on what you are looking for.
Typically people dread updating their resume, however, it’s a necessary task. Below are a few tips to help you keep your resume fresh and appealing to potential employers and new opportunities.
Keep It Updated
Partly why working on a resume is such a chore is because many of us end up doing a full revamp, rather than making updates as they happen. Have you moved? Make sure your current location is listed, typically local candidates are given preference so you may be looked over. Has your telephone number or email address changed? This needs to be updated immediately or you may not be reachable.
After you have your personal data in check, take a look at your job history. Is your most current position listed? Add that with as much information as possible about your responsibilities. Employers are going to be most interested in your recent role.
Eliminating Clutter
Since we’re on the topic of jobs, it may be of use eliminating some of your older positions. If there are old internships or jobs that are not remotely relevant to your current career pursuits, they can most likely be cut. If you have a 20+ year career and looking to be a Senior Mechanical Engineer, then your first job at a corner grocery store is probably not going to help your current cause.
Skills Section
For experience, remember to list your jobs in reverse chronological order. This makes it easier to see what you’ve been doing most recently within your work history. As we stated, more detailed explanations of roles should come from the most recent work positions.
What Goes Where
Now that you’ve amended some of your sections, how do things look? You can always start with a mission statement if you like, stating what you are looking for with a new opportunity. You can follow that with that skills section we mentioned. Your skills section provides a nice cursory glance of what will be expanded upon in your experience.
The last section should be education, however, if you’re a recent grad, you can have this towards the top. If it’s been a few years since you’ve graduated, this should appear towards the bottom of your resume. Your degree is still important, but employers are going to look more closely at what you’ve done since graduating.
Cross-Platforming
Now that you’ve made some edits to your resume, you are going to want to make sure it’s updated across all your platforms. Your resume on LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Monster, CareerBuilder, etc. should be updated at the same time. You’ve done all this hard work getting your resume cleaned up, so you want to make sure it’s doing its job of getting you noticed.
It can be tricky navigating the job-market landscape. If you need someone to look at your resume, have questions, or want to see what opportunities may be available, please contact TriMech Staffing.
Want more hiring and career tips? Check out our other staffing blogs!
