Keeping your resume up-to-date is crucial for career success. As you gain new skills, accomplishments, and experiences, you’ll want to update your resume to reflect them. A current resume allows you to put your best foot forward when applying to jobs or pursuing a promotion.
Why is it important to update your resume regularly?
There are several key reasons why you should make updating your resume a regular habit:
- Demonstrate your most recent achievements – Employers want to know what you’ve accomplished lately. Outlining your newest skills and successes will show them you’re keeping your abilities current.
- Tailor your resume to each application – Tweaking your resume to fit the requirements of different job postings or potential promotions is easier when you maintain an up-to-date version.
- Refresh your resume’s look and feel – Over time resumes can appear stale and dated. Giving your resume formatting and content a refresh helps you put your best image forward.
- Reduce gaps in employment – Having extended gaps between jobs on your resume can raise red flags for employers. Updating your resume frequently prevents large empty spaces in your work history.
- Fix errors or outdated information – Keeping your resume updated allows you to correct any mistakes and replace any old or irrelevant details that have changed over time.
Making resume updates part of your regular routine, such as every six months or once a year, ensures you are showcasing your most impressive qualifications and achievements at all times.
What kinds of changes warrant a resume update?
You should update your resume any time something relevant in your experience, skills, or personal details changes. Some common reasons to update your resume include:
- New job – Add details of your new job title, responsibilities, accomplishments, skills used, etc.
- Promotion or move within your company – Include your new job title, expanded duties, and achievements in the new role.
- New skills or certifications – Add listings for technical skills, specialized training, software proficiencies, certifications, or educational degrees you’ve recently acquired.
- Awards and achievements – Include any new company awards, industry recognitions, public speaking engagements, publications, or professional accomplishments.
- Completion of projects – Detail projects you led or participated in, including goals, technologies used, and final results.
- Personal information – Update details like your name, address, phone number or email if they have changed.
- Employment gaps – Fill any resume gaps by adding entries for volunteer work, freelance jobs, classes, or major projects.
Even minor changes in these areas can improve your resume and make your qualifications stand out.
How often should you update your resume?
Most career experts recommend updating your resume every six months to one year. This ensures all of your experience is current. More frequent updates may be warranted if you have job changes or acquire major new skills. Even if nothing significant changed, doing a minor refresh of your resume annually is wise.
Some good times to update your resume include:
- At the end/start of a new year
- After completing a major project or assignment
- Upon earning a new certification or degree
- Before beginning a job search
- After a promotion, job change, or company change
- Anytime you notice your resume is outdated
Setting reminders on your calendar to update your resume every six months or year will help you remember this important task.
What are the key sections to update?
When updating your resume, be sure to review and refresh these key sections:
Contact Information
Update your name, phone number, email, and mailing address if anything has changed. Double check that your voicemail greeting and email address sound professional.
Professional Summary
Rewrite your resume summary to focus on your most recent experience and top achievements. Read it out loud to make sure it sounds compelling.
Skills
Add any new technical, software, language, or interpersonal skills you have developed. Consider organizing them into categories or listing your strongest skills first.
Work Experience
For current and recent roles, update your job titles, companies worked for, and the dates you were employed. Expand your bullet points to highlight major projects, awards, and accomplishments from the past six months to a year.
Education
If you earned a new degree or completed coursework, provide details on those credentials. You may also list recent training seminars or conferences attended.
Optional Sections
Update entries related to certifications, publications, volunteer work, activities, honors and awards as needed. Add any that are newly acquired.
Spending time improving these core sections of your resume will ensure you put your best foot forward.
What are some resume updating best practices?
Here are some top tips for smoothly updating your resume:
- Use a resume template – This makes updating sections easier. Google Docs and Microsoft Word have great templates.
- Keep old versions – Maintaining old resume file names or copies allows you to retrieve previous information if needed.
- Quantify achievements – Use numbers, percentages, or money amounts to quantify accomplishments and emphasize their impact.
- Check for consistency – Verify all headings, font sizes, and formatting remain consistent after making changes.
- Remove irrelevant entries – Delete or pare down old positions, skills, and activities that are less relevant now.
- Proofread carefully – Read over the updated resume 2-3 times looking for any mistakes in spelling, grammar, or formatting.
- Get feedback – Ask a friend, family member, or career counselor to review the updated resume to get an outside perspective.
Following best practices helps produce a high-quality and compelling resume that will get you noticed.
What tools can help streamline updating your resume?
Leveraging technology tools is an efficient way to simplify and speed up the process of updating your resume. Here are some top tools to consider:
Resume Templates
Using resume templates in programs like Microsoft Word or Google Docs gives you pre-formatted sections and logically organized layouts. All you have to do is plug in your details. Popular templates include:
- Chronological resume template – Lists work history from most to least recent.
- Functional resume template – Focuses on skills and achievements first.
- Combination resume template – Combines both chronological and functional elements.
- Targeted resume template – Allows you to customize your resume to specific jobs.
Resume Builders
Resume builders provide forms and tips to help you create or upload and update your resume in a step-by-step manner. Well-known options include:
- LinkedIn Profile to Resume Builder
- VisualCV Online Resume Builder
- Zety Resume Builder
- ResumeGenius Resume Builder
- Resume.com DIY Resume Builder
Applicant Tracking Systems
Large companies use applicant tracking system (ATS) software to accept and scan resumes. Optimizing your resume for these systems by using keywords can improve your chances of being noticed.
Resume Review Services
Services like TopResume and Novoresume offer professional resume reviews, providing expert feedback to improve your resume. Their insights can guide your updates.
Leveraging tools like these when you update your resume saves time while producing a polished, optimized end result.
Conclusion
Updating your resume regularly is critical for putting your best foot forward in today’s competitive job market. Making small but impactful updates every six months to one year ensures your resume accurately reflects your most recent skills, experience, and achievements. Focus on beefing up core sections like your professional summary, work history, and skills, and take advantage of available tools like templates and builders to efficiently overhaul your resume. With some annual TLC, your resume will always be ready to open new doors.