With the New Year, it’s important to establish resolutions to help us better ourselves. Whether it’s resolving to lose weight or improving your skills professionally, simply establishing those goals provides us with the motivational tool to accomplish them. If your resolution this year is to find a job, then you’ve come to the right place.
Go a step further beyond establishing this as your goal and update your resume to set yourself up for a successful job search this year.
1. Change Dates
Read through your current resume and add or update any dates. For example, if one of your past work experiences is listed as present, then be sure to include the date you left. If you completed a level of education since the creation of your resume, make sure your resume appropriately states that you graduated. You may not want to add your graduation date, but you should at least include “degree completed.”
2. Add New Content
Add any work experiences that aren’t listed on your resume that are relevant to your current career goals. Update any projects or accomplishments that have been completed since your resume was last updated.
3. Remove Unnecessary Info
Start with the bottom of your resume. If there are work experiences that don’t pertain to your current career goals, then remove them. Remove skills, accomplishments, or education points that don’t pertain to your current career goals.
4. Revise & Proofread
Re-write a career summary, if you have one, with fresh and new info. Edit any bullet points you have included with your work experience and make sure you don’t repeat any action words. Finally, once you finish revising, read through your resume out loud 3 times to proofread for any mistakes.
5. Change Up Your Format
Changing the look of your resume will not only make it feel like a whole new resume, but also give you confidence for your job search. Just remember, simple style elements, such as text color or font, are much more effective than complicated ones, like colored text boxes and special graphics. Color and different font styles should be limited as an accent, rather than changing the entire document to a different color or style. Do NOT include images or photos on your resume because it may confuse resume scanners.