If you’re planning to take advantage of Update your Resume Month in September, you will need to compile some information that probably isn’t just sitting around in a file.
It’s more than just adding your current job description to the top of your resume. Hiring managers and recruiters know or can find out what you do. What they really want to know is how well you’ve performed. The most reliable indicator of future performance is still past performance.
If you don’t know what your next career move will be, or you’re not looking for a job, focus your attention on documenting your accomplishments. If you already know your next job target, aim your resume in that direction.
What might that look like? Here are some questions to answer to gather the information you need for your resume update:
Accomplishments
- What have you done at your current job that helped your employer make money, save money, or become more efficient and productive? Include quantifiable numbers in either dollars or percentages.
- Have you finished a project? What made it successful?
- Have you done part of your job well enough to have received some sort of recognition or award? How about a bonus or promotion? A compliment? A thank you? Be sure to explain what the recognition was for and when you received it.
Initiatives
- Have you started or contributed to a project ? Was it your idea? What made your part indispensible?
- Did you land any major accounts? How did you do it? Was your process different or new?
- Did you receive a customer service satisfaction rating? Tell a story about what made a certain customer interaction special.
- Did you take part in a merger or acquisition, capital improvement project, or office relocation? What did you do that was important to the overall effort?
- Did you receive positive publicity for your business? What for? When?
- Describe a new committee assignment?
- Did you train or mentor anyone? What was your process? How are they performing now?
- Did you present information at a meeting, workshop, or seminar? How were you chosen to present? What was your topic? How many people attended? What indication do you have that your information was valued?
Additions
- Did you take on new responsibilities? Were they assigned to you, or did you ask for more work? What were they? Describe the successes you have achieved with the new tasks.
- Have you attended any conferences or other training? Include workshop titles, dates, city, and name of sponsoring organization. (Remember to save the certificates of attendance.)
- Have you earned a new certification, license, or degree? Include designations, training course titles, dates, city, and the name of the certifying organization.
- Did you join a professional organization? Include the name, where they are headquartered, the focus of the group, and the month and year you joined.
- Did you serve in an office or perform significant duties for a professional organization? Describe what you did and how well it turned out.
- Did you volunteer for any community organizations since you last updated your resume? Include the name of the organization and the name of the event, if different, the date(s), and a description of what you did.
If you’re like most people, you haven’t kept track of your career accomplishments, and starting seems like a really big project. One option is to have your resume professionally written. The process will give you a framework for collecting data and a good perspective on what information is important and what is not. Contact me to set up a phone call so we can figure out if I am the best person to guide your project.
If you’ve already taken advantage of our resume creation services, you just have to let us know it’s time to get together again.
In either case, if you pay for your resume update in September, I will honor the price through the end of the year. This means you will receive your resume at the lower 2013 price even after the October price increase takes effect, but you have until Jan. 1 to get your information to me. Contact me today to reserve your place in my schedule.
