It’s coming the time for New Years resolutions – and I am sure that just about all of us can relate to this being a catalyst for assessing our careers!  So many people take some time over the holidays to have a bit of a look at job vacancies and current pay rates and update their resume.

In fact – updating your resume at least once a year is an extremely good idea!  You never know when you might want to use it and if it’s been a long time, you don’t want the overwhelm of trying to recall everything when you actually need it (believe me – there are an awful lot of people who forgo excellent opportunities, because an out of date resume makes them succumb to the fear that precedes inaction)!

So – we recommend that you take an hour or two over the festive quiet time and update your resume and here are some tips to get it right – so your resume will get NOTICED!

  1. Set out your dates roles in order with the current or latest job being first,
  2. Be sure to address any gaps – hiring managers look at the gaps and discard you if there is no tangible reason (ie: maternity leave, study leave, carers leave)
  3. Achievements mean more than responsibilities!  This is a big one – and if it has been some time since you have updated your resume, you may not know that this is the new expected standard.  If you’ve ever applied for a government job, you will be familiar with ‘demonstrating’ achievements through actual examples – hiring managers don’t want to know what your responsibilities were/are anymore – they want to know what you do and how you achieve your work responsibilities with specific examples!
  4.  WATCH your spelling – please, all Australians: understand that if you use American spelling you may just be cutting yourself out of the game before you’ve even had a chance to prove yourself!  Spell check is American, buy a dictionary!
  5. Watch your grammar and typo’s – spell check won’t pick up typos (some of my resume ‘favourites’ include: Manger for manager; from for form and there/their for they’re
  6. Make sure your font is easy to read and the layout is appealing to the eye – if it’s too condensed without enough white space it will likely be ignored
  7. Around 3 pages is a good size to aim for, but again – it is better to have more white space to make it appealing to read, so don’t squash things up, an extra page well laid out is more appealing for the reader
  8. Review the WHOLE resume – make sure past roles are in past tense, check for spelling and grammar etc, ask a trusted friend to read it over if you can!

We hope the above tips help you to get started – once you start you will find it easier than you thought (especially if it has been a while since you’ve reviewed you resume).  If you are really stuck, you can engage a professional who will assist you, but with the above tips, you will be ahead of many people who are applying for new jobs!

Let us know in the comments below if you have any questions about how to lay out your resume, or what you should be including!