Keep your resume up to date

Let me guess, writing your resumé looks something like this: 

Find an old copy of a resume.

 

Make sure the contact information is current.

 

Add the most recent company, title and a few bullet points about what you did.

 

Send out to about 200-300 companies and get little if no response.

Sound familiar? Unfortunately that’s an all-too-often occurence when it comes to updating the resumé. Let me make a suggestion to help end this problem: Update your resumé while you’re working and add successes while it’s fresh on your mind.  You should have one really long resume that lists everything you’ve ever done… since high school. When you find a position, write your resumé based on what that company wants to hear about. Don’t send the entire resume (had to write that just in case). If you have the highlights updated before, it’s easier to think of all the cool contributions you made. Otherwise, you’ll be stressed out because you lost your job and not able to think clearly about all the cool things you did.  Now, perhaps you’re laid off and the time machine isn’t working to take you back to those moments. Try this: Ask your old co-workers for feedback on the really cool things they know you did.  You might remember some of these things, but I bet they’ll come up with a few things that you didn’t remember. Besides, it’s a good reason to reconnect with people.  When you do land the next job, remember to keep your resume up to date. Maybe put a reminder in Outlook every 3 months to update your resume.