Now that we’re transitioning into spring, it’s a great time of year to do some cleaning and decluttering in places like your home, office, and car.

We’d also like to suggest doing some spring cleaning with your resume. Dust it off and update it to reflect who you are today.

To support you, we’re providing some of our top suggestions and best practices for creating a winning resume that tells the story of YOU.

  • Try to keep it to 1-page double-sided, max and embrace white space.
  • Think about keeping only items that:
    • you love to do
    • you want to keep doing
    • are in alignment with what the position needs (if you’re not currently looking for work, disregard this one)
  • Delete old/irrelevant jobs. Typically, it makes the most sense to only go back 10 years or so in your work history.
  • Think about the “so what” factor in the bullets you list. List not just what you did but what the outcome was. Consider things like:
    • Did you increase sales?
    • How many people did you train?
    • How many projects did you work on simultaneously?
    • What did your efforts result in?
    • NOTE: Not every bullet needs to have the “so what” factor but the majority should.
  • If you’re looking to fill space, you could include other sections that callout skills, trainings/professional development, or volunteer work. 
  • Ask a trusted friend or colleague to review and provide feedback on:
    • Grammer, spelling, etc.
    • What accomplishments and descriptions sound great?
    • What feels like it’s missing?
    • What story does the resume tell them about you? Is this the story you want to tell?

We recommend creating one comprehensive resume document where you have all of your bullets and paragraphs that describe the work you love and want to keep doing. Then, as you apply for different jobs, you can pick and choose which content is in alignment with the hiring organization’s needs.

Whether you’re aiming to grow within your current organization or explore new opportunities elsewhere, keeping an updated resume helps you stay clear about your strengths and goals, so you can find work that’s the right fit for you.

Make “spring cleaning” your resume an annual practice. In addition, consider keeping a living document handy where you track new experiences and accomplishments regularly, to make this annual process easier.

If you’d like a full list of our resume best practices, click here to download the PDF.

Let us know how it’s going!

 

If you’d like support
navigating your goals,
contact us today.