Update....Update....

One of the great things about PC’s, besides the fact that they allow you to surf the web and stuff, is that they make it easy to update documents like resumes. That assumes of course that you remembered to save your last version, you remembered where you saved it, and you remembered what you called it. Fortunately, I had done all three. With everything that had been happening at the company, it seemed like now was a good time to get into resume update mode.

The really hard thing about preparing or updating your resume, besides just getting your body and mind in gear to do it, is figuring out just what you have been doing all day…and you know you have been doing something….and all of your accomplishments. Then, you have to figure out how to put it all down on paper in a reasonably concise, meaningful and hopefully even somewhat impressive way. Today, with the scarcity of jobs and the abundance of competition, impressive is probably the key word here, impressive, of course, without stretching the truth. Our resume, we are constantly reminded by recruiters and others, represents us. It is the first, and sometimes only part of us, that a prospective employer will ever see. If it is not good, and different people have different opinions on what is good, we’ll never even get our foot in the door of a company to meet a Personnel Representative let alone an actual Hiring Manager.

I was somewhat lucky with my resume. One of my many “sidebar” tasks at my company had been to re-write all of the job descriptions for my department. So, I not only kind of knew what I had been doing, but I also had in writing what I should have been doing. Surprisingly, they were pretty close.

With resumes, form or style can be almost as important as content, and they often work hand in hand. As both a hiring manager and as a resume writer, I have seen two predominant resume styles: the “chronological” resume (the one I prefer) which outlines from last to first your employment history, and a more general, topical and accomplishment focused resume. The later is more suited to someone without a long employment history or to someone who may be looking to change fields and wants to show skills and accomplishments in one carrier or field that can be applicable or transferable to another carrier or field. With either resume style, most experts agree, it is critical, especially in today’s market, to not only show what you did, but how what you did had a positive impact on the business. Sales and revenue were increased. Production was increased. There was a measurable increase in product quality.

Another really great thing about PC’s is that they allow you to easily tailor or customize your resume to the particular job you are applying for at any given time. So, if the requirements of a job call for heavy presentation skills or specific business analysis experience, you can go back and modify your resume to emphasize those skills and your accomplishments in those areas. Just make sure that you have actually done what you are saying that you have done!