Keeping your resume updated should be a continual career management practice as you change jobs or promote within your company. You never know when a promising career opportunity will unexpectedly fall into your lap, which will require sending a resume to the hiring manager on a moment’s notice. Besides this, in today’s shaky economy, you can’t predict when you may become suddenly unemployed and back into a job search. 

If your resume is several years out-of-date, you’ll be ill-equipped to confidently enter the job market. In crisis mode, you might put together a “quickie” resume that probably won’t sell you to your best advantage. Instead, be prepared by updating your resume while you’re employed or in your early days of a severance package; you’ll have one less thing to worry about when you do need it.

How far back to go? According to most hiring managers, all you need to include is the most recent 10-15 years of work experience. Since it is now October 2011, you need not go back further in your career history than October 1996, give or take a few months. You can either eliminate prior experience or abbreviate it, i.e., describe the positions in short paragraph form at the end of your resume, without listing dates.

 What information to include? List your most recent employer and your current position, including if you’ve been promoted or had a lateral move. Next, put your former employers and positions held in those companies. Include any accomplishments as well as awards, college degrees, certifications, licenses, computer skills and foreign language skills you’ve acquired or industry associations you’ve joined. If you have gaps in your work history, you can incorporate volunteer projects, part-time work, and temp, contract or consulting assignments.  (Download this Resume Update Form, to organize your content.)

How to describe your work-related tasks? If you have company-prepared job descriptions, use these as a basis for résumé content. Or, think of your typical workday from beginning to end and just write freely about your work tasks; then edit accordingly. Otherwise, go to the O*NET, type your job title into the “Occupational Quick Search” box (in the upper right-hand corner); then see what content appears under “Tasks.”

What file formats to use? The most acceptable formats to use are MS Word (.doc or .docx) or an unlocked PDF; this means when you are converting the file to PDF, say “no” to any passwords required for saving or printing the document. You will also need text file versions (.txt), for online postings and applications. (Download my primer for creating text resumes.)

How to store your resume safely? Computers crash and files get lost. I cannot tell you how many clients have emailed me for copies of their resume because of these reasons. Thankfully, I’m a digital pack rat and can usually find their documents stored in my computer or external drives. I strongly advise keeping your documents backed up on a CD or USB drive.

 Having a current resume can be a less daunting process when you keep it updated on a regular basis. Doing so will assure that you’ll be prepared to hit the job market running and be ready for the next career opportunity that comes your way!

© 2011 Joellyn Wittenstein Schwerdlin, The Career Success Coach. All Rights Reserved

1. Length is relative: Your resume’s length depends on your experience and profession. If you’re a recent college graduate, one page will do. If you’re a seasoned executive, two or more pages are acceptable. Even though electronic resumes aren’t affected by length, some job boards impose word count limits for online postings. 

2. Go “chronological”:This format lists your jobs from present to past. Hiring managers like this format, because it’s easier to understand your career progression. Avoid functional formats – skills and achievements at the top, employers at the end – because hiring managers will have trouble matching your achievements and skills with each employer.

3. Scrap the objective: The overworked objective: “Seeking a challenging position in a progressive organization” is your resume’s ticket to the trash bin. Hiring managers don’t care about what you want. When reviewing a resume, they’re tuning into Channel WIIFM: “What’s in it for me?” All they care about is how you can solve problems for their company.

4. Brand yourself: Replace the objective with a title, which reflects your professional brand. Examples: Benefits Administrator; Java Software Programmer; Not-For-Profit Executive; Retail Store Manager. Adjust these titles, depending on the position you’re seeking, only if your résumé’s content substantiates your ability to do the job.

5. Use keywords: Resumes posted online are read by scanning software, targeting specific keywords, to select or reject candidates. Your résumé must contain keywords specific to the job requirements as well as your profession and industry. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Resume, 5th Edition, has a great chapter on keywords.

6. Flaunt accomplishments: Accomplishments convey how well you did your job, i.e., with sales increases, cost savings, or productivity improvements. Include 4-5 accomplishments under each job. Quantify in tangible metrics, e.g., “Expanded $1 million territory by 25% ($250,000) annually.”

7. Describe employers: Write a business description under each employer. Doing so will convey clear information about companies which may be unfamiliar to hiring managers. This descriptor, which can be 1-2 sentences, should include the product or service offered, clients served, sales volume, and number of employees.

8. Customize: Avoid using an all-purpose resume. Customize your résumé for each position you apply for. Use the job description in the ad for clues about how your experience matches the position requirements then write the content accordingly. Include your most relevant experience and minimize other career history.

9. Deflect age discrimination: List the most recent 10-15 years of your experience (with dates) which is what interests hiring managers the most. Summarize or abbreviate prior experience, without listing the dates. If you received your college degree over 15 years ago, you can omit dates of graduation.

10. People – not resumes – get jobs: Career CrossXroads’s 9th Annual Sources of Hire Survey revealed that networking is the most effective strategy for landing employment: 51% of US job openings in 2009 were filled by internal transfers and promotions; 26.7% of external hires were filled by referrals. So, don’t just post your résumé and wait. Tap into your network to find an inside contact who can hand deliver your resume to hiring managers in companies where you want to work.   

© 2010 Joellyn Wittenstein Schwerdlin, The Career Success Coach. All Rights Reserved. www.career-success-coach.com