Revising And Updating Your Resume
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 04:25PM Before you start your job search, you will have already written a resume that serves as a representation of your job history and experience. In addition to listing information about your prior job experience, this resume will also mention your special skills and qualifications that make you suitable for the positions that you are applying for. You will also address what some of your personal business goals are for your career; this can serve to give an indication of who you are as a worker to your potential employers. There may be times, however, when you will need to revise and update your resume so as to better adapt it to the job you are applying for.
Why You May Need To Revise Your Resume
If your resume is currently not getting a good response, a revision may be in order. You may not be getting attention because of a lack of work experience, which may be why you want to revise your resume so that your more pertinent skills are highlighted. You may want to consider taking your listed jobs out of a chronological order and instead list them according to the relevance they will have on the position that you are applying for. You may also want to look at your stated skills and include any job skills which you may have previously left out.
Rewording of certain phrases can really help you stand out more through your resume. If you notice that your resume has a passive tone, consider revising it so that all of your statements are more direct and action-oriented. You will want to stand out above all of the other applicants and show that you are the right person for the job. This may come from revising your resume to reflect a positive attitude in addition to all of your accomplishments.
Updating Your Resume Can Help As Well
Your personal skills and goals may also grow during your job hunt. Instead of using the same old resume, you will want to look at the ways in which you can update this tool to give a better reflection of who you are. If you have updated your personal career goals, change your resume to show where you currently stand in your job search. If you have taken classes or seminars, which build on your current skills, list these as well. The more factors you have, which make you stand apart from all of the other applicants, the easier a time you will have with landing a particular job.
The resume that you hand out is going to be a direct representation of yourself and why you consider yourself the best candidate for the job. Therefore, you will want to put time and effort into it, making sure that it will stand as an accurate representation of who you are going to be as an employee. Use revision to make yourself look more professional and to give potential employers a more accurate picture of yourself. Only after you make your resume as strong as it can possibly be will you make the impressions that you need to make and hopefully land that job!
By Neil Morrical
neil_morrical@yahoo.com
For help in revising your resume or to just start fresh with a professional looking resume, try the free resume template from CareerRush at http://www.careerrush.com
Reader Comments (2)
I addressed some of this in my blog yesterday. Of course, one shouldn't lie on their resume, but every resume you send out needs to be tailored to the position for which you are applying. I had a client decline a resume last week because the candidate, applying for a machinist position, but as his objective "to obtain a position as a mechanic."
She wrote back, "Pass -- this isn't a Mechanic job."
Additionally, there is one specific point I wanted to emphasize that I put in my blog:
Call it petty, call it unfair, call it lazy. But most hiring managers spend about 5 seconds reviewing your resume. Unless they see something they like -- then they’ll spend 45. What do they look at during that all-important 5 seconds? JOB TITLES. If they are looking for a Customer Service Rep, they do not want to see "Client Relations Network Facilitation Management Technician" or something equally needlessly complicated. Don’t try to sound fancy. Try to hit the mark. Now, don’t take me too literally: if you are applying for a CRNF Manager position (yes, I made that up), then by all means, go wild. But otherwise keep it basic, honest, and direct. No hiring manager is going to attempt to decipher your job title and weed through your job duties to find a match; make the match obvious, or else you’re getting skipped.