It's not too late to start on new years resolutions, make updating your resume a priority this new year!
The new year is a perfect time to build positive new habits for the rest of the year and beyond. Often when we stay with an employer for a long time, we tend to forget about updating our resumes to include all the new relevant experience we have gained. Having an up-to-date resume is an important aspect of being a prepared professional regardless of your job field. Getting in the habit of updating your resume yearly or biyearly can make this process less time-consuming and daunting. Whether you are preparing to look for a new job, or just want to update your resume, these are some of the best areas to focus on.
Update Skills and Experiences
Over our careers, we can gain a lot of valuable new skills and experiences that we didn’t have when we created our existing resume. Whether you have gained these new skills through your current job, or you have taken classes you want to highlight skills that are important to your career. This can also come in the form of certifications that many employers look for in qualified candidates. Having this information clearly and concisely laid out in your resume can quickly show potential employers you have the skills for their job.
It is also important to update your work experience to reflect your current job or any that you have had since you last updated your resume. While adding recent work experience is good, it is not necessary to add every single job position you have held since the last time you have updated your resume. Include jobs that are relevant to your career field or ones that reinforce your skillset. If you get a promotion, that is also a great thing to update on your resume because it shows you had the initiative to move up from your starting position.
Remove Irrelevant Information
As you gain more experience in your career field, you will likely begin to have information on your resume that is no longer relevant to your career field and the jobs you’re applying for. When we are making our first resumes, we tend to put all the information we can on it whether it is relevant to the job we’re applying for or not. As you get more experience, you can begin to be more selective about the things that you include on your resume. You can take off any job that isn’t up to date or relevant which will clear valuable space for more important things. We recommend putting 2-3 of your most recent, and relevant jobs on your resume. You don’t need to tell your entire career story with your resume, you just need to be able to give potential employers the highlights your professional skills and experiences.
Clear Up The Appearance
While the most important part of your resume is the content, having a good design and formatting can help guide readers through your resume efficiently. The appearance of your resume is also an additional chance to differentiate yourself from other candidates. It is no longer necessary to only use a black and white resume. This is your chance to get creative with the layout, the colors, the fonts, and other design elements. Some people are even using resume design to show off different skills or create something that is specific to the company they are applying for. Changing up the design of your resume also can draw attention to the important parts of your resume and emphasize different skills and experiences. Your resume is how you are going to set yourself apart in a stack of other candidates so use design elements to your advantage! Just remember to keep everything professional.
Review Before Submitting
Before you go to submit your resume to a potential employer, you should review the document top to bottom. The most important things to check for are spelling errors, grammar mistakes, and out-of-date information. Spelling and grammar errors are extremely easy to fix, and employers will take note of them. When you submit your resume, you want to be sure that it is exactly how you want the hiring team to look at it because that is the first impression you make and a chance to differentiate yourself from other candidates. This is also a great time to make sure that all your contact information is up to date.
Getting into the habit of updating your resume every year is a great way to stay prepared heading into the year. Using these tips, your resume will be ready for 2022. These are just some of our tips for updating your resume this New Year. For more tips, check out our employment blog!
Our team at ExpressPros Minnesota are staffing and employment experts dedicated to helping you find your next job, or employee. Contact us today by calling us at 952-448-3653, or emailing us at [email protected].
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