Five tips for updating your resume
2 December 2008
Read by 1597 persons
Your resume is a document that must evolve with you; it’s your mobility instrument, the tool that will allow you to (re)position yourself in all circumstances on the job market. Far from your student years, you may have relegated it to a drawer or a dormant file on your computer. Here are some tips to bring it to life and, in the process, to take stock of your professional project.
1. Regularly rethink it
Your resume should not be a simple juxtaposition of experiences. Updating it does not only mean adding a few lines summarizing the additional years of professional life you have just lived. It should help you take stock, at least once a year. It’s an opportunity to brainstorm about yourself…and even surprise yourself. Caught up in everyday life, you may not have realized your professional evolution and what you have learned.
2. Think about the substance before the form
We often start by focusing on the form before thinking about the substance. So saturated with advice that your resume should not be too dense, you risk censoring yourself and eliminating very important elements from the outset.
Start, chronologically, by reviewing all your latest professional experiences, detailing them as much as possible and classifying them under three main headings:
- The first, very factual, will detail your work environment: company name, number of employees, main activities, name of the department or division in which you worked, your job title, status…
- The second will detail your exact responsibilities within that company: number of people under your responsibility, importance of the project(s) you led, context, results. As far as possible, and particularly for sales representatives, reason in terms of turnover. What was it when you took on your responsibilities? What was the objective? Was it achieved? If not, why?
- Finally, the third section, the most difficult, will concern the skills and knowledge you implemented, perfected, or acquired during each of these experiences.
Don’t omit anything: a badly experienced experience is also a source of learning.
3. Training: choose!
Do the same for the training section. Include and detail your internships, even the shortest ones. However, there’s no need to go back to the mists of time. From 5 to 10 years of experience, the recruiter will not a priori be interested in your high school transcript, especially if you have a degree from a prestigious school. On the other hand, don’t neglect the options you chose during your studies if they relate to the position you are aiming for.
4. Synthesize
The art of the resume is not to hide or embellish reality, but to highlight, through your experiences, what you want to achieve professionally. Summarize each of the experiences you have previously described, starting, of course, with factual elements (name and size of the company, etc.), then describing your missions, detailing a little more what seemed more interesting to you. If you have had more or less the same experiences in recent years, try to introduce an idea of evolution from one to the other (for example, by highlighting a larger company size, a higher turnover…). Ideally, your last experience will be the most “complete”.
5. Adapt
The work you have done beforehand will help you identify the important elements of your career, but also to take stock of your motivations and desires. What you haven’t used in your resume can serve as a “base” for your future cover letters. Information on training, which is less developed in the resume for people with significant professional experience, can, on the other hand, be included in the letter. Similarly, the assessment of your acquired skills and knowledge can help you choose the positions you will apply for and provide strong arguments to prove that you are the right person for the job (on such a position, I was able to acquire skills in…, by carrying out mission Y…)
Dominique Perez
Published in June 2008
Posted online on December 1, 2008
Pourseformer.fr
1. Regularly rethink it
Your resume should not be a simple juxtaposition of experiences. Updating it does not only mean adding a few lines summarizing the additional years of professional life you have just lived. It should help you take stock, at least once a year. It’s an opportunity to brainstorm about yourself…and even surprise yourself. Caught up in everyday life, you may not have realized your professional evolution and what you have learned.
2. Think about the substance before the form
We often start by focusing on the form before thinking about the substance. So saturated with advice that your resume should not be too dense, you risk censoring yourself and eliminating very important elements from the outset.
Start, chronologically, by reviewing all your latest professional experiences, detailing them as much as possible and classifying them under three main headings:
- The first, very factual, will detail your work environment: company name, number of employees, main activities, name of the department or division in which you worked, your job title, status…
- The second will detail your exact responsibilities within that company: number of people under your responsibility, importance of the project(s) you led, context, results. As far as possible, and particularly for sales representatives, reason in terms of turnover. What was it when you took on your responsibilities? What was the objective? Was it achieved? If not, why?
- Finally, the third section, the most difficult, will concern the skills and knowledge you implemented, perfected, or acquired during each of these experiences.
Don’t omit anything: a badly experienced experience is also a source of learning.
3. Training: choose!
Do the same for the training section. Include and detail your internships, even the shortest ones. However, there’s no need to go back to the mists of time. From 5 to 10 years of experience, the recruiter will not a priori be interested in your high school transcript, especially if you have a degree from a prestigious school. On the other hand, don’t neglect the options you chose during your studies if they relate to the position you are aiming for.
4. Synthesize
The art of the resume is not to hide or embellish reality, but to highlight, through your experiences, what you want to achieve professionally. Summarize each of the experiences you have previously described, starting, of course, with factual elements (name and size of the company, etc.), then describing your missions, detailing a little more what seemed more interesting to you. If you have had more or less the same experiences in recent years, try to introduce an idea of evolution from one to the other (for example, by highlighting a larger company size, a higher turnover…). Ideally, your last experience will be the most “complete”.
5. Adapt
The work you have done beforehand will help you identify the important elements of your career, but also to take stock of your motivations and desires. What you haven’t used in your resume can serve as a “base” for your future cover letters. Information on training, which is less developed in the resume for people with significant professional experience, can, on the other hand, be included in the letter. Similarly, the assessment of your acquired skills and knowledge can help you choose the positions you will apply for and provide strong arguments to prove that you are the right person for the job (on such a position, I was able to acquire skills in…, by carrying out mission Y…)
Dominique Perez
Published in June 2008
Posted online on December 1, 2008
Pourseformer.fr
