Tune-up Your Resume

The stock market is tanking and Greenspan just lowered rates again. Who can guess what the economy will do? Who cares? If you are well prepared, you will endure less pain and get out of these uncertain  times with minimal damage. You just have to be ready. There are many things in life that require preparation to ensure optimum performance. Why is it that we ignore one of the most critical aspects in preparing for our careers? If your personal marketing package, your resume, is not up to date, can you really expect to keep up with the pace of traffic in today's marketplace? Here are some signs that your vehicle to career success needs a tune up:

You are using an outdated  format.

You successfully made it through college, so why is your resume still stuck there? If you have an objective that reads: "To obtain a challenging position that will allow me to utilize my studies of marketing as well as my internship with a growing company," it is time for a new resume. If you hold your resume up to light, and there is more white space than actual content, another sure sign. If you have on your resume that you were captain of the lacrosse team and president of your fraternity, why not change your resume to highlight your involvement in professional societies? You've matured since college and so should your resume. It may be time to consider adding a Career Summary or a Summary of Qualifications, highlighting your background in a more professional light. Now that you are a seasoned professional, shouldn't you have more than just white space to show for it?

The last job you have listed on your resume ended in 1985.

You have actually been promoted to VP of Sales, but the last time you updated your resume, you had just been hired as a sales associate and this was before the merger. Obviously, nothing in the business world remains the same for long, so make sure your resume stays current with the times. With the irrational beahavior of the stock market and the fluctuation of dotcoms, your resume may be your best weapon in combating the uncertainties of today's marketplace.

You have updated your resume over the years and now it is five pages long.

Your resume should be 1 to 2 pages long, depending on your experience. Nobody wants to read a novel of your job experience. Since employers only give your resume less than a minute, you must make your best case in a quick and easy manner. Use your resume as a tool to get your foot in the door, and then you can expand on your positive attributes the interview as a result of your concise, yet impressive resume.

You have a resume, but it is not accessible on a computer.

Your computer crashed, taking all of your files with it. You have only one copy - a printed copy. If you expect to keep up with technology, it is essential that your resume remain technologically savvy. Employers expect you to have your resume available in ASCII text as well as Microsoft Word. Most times, you will first send it as an ASCII file. Once you spark their interest, a request for a copy of your resume in Word is sure to follow.

Now that you know the signs of a resume in need of a tune up, here are the reasons why you should update your resume now:

Headhunters have too many prospects vying for your job to wait on you.

When you get that soul searching call from a human resource professional who believes you to be the perfect candidate, offering $20K more than what you are currently making, you are not going to want to tell them to give you time to update your resume. Think of all the advantages of being able to shoot them your resume via e-mail instantaneously, while securing an interview in just one phone call.

When searching Comp-search.com, your dream job all of the sudden is staring you in the face.

You are dying to send your resume, but by the time you have updated it, the position might be filled. Why take that chance? You have put off updating your resume because it seems like such a hassle, but nothing is more frustrating than scrambling to get your resume together, only to find the position filled. Update now-it could mean a lifetime of difference in the job of your dreams.

Mergers, Layoffs, Uncertainty, and more Mergers

While looking at the business section of the newspaper today, you notice several articles about mergers and layoffs. It's just business, isn't it? Don't let this facet of business leave you out of a job. Big company buys your small company and brings its big company employees along. Where does this leave you? Don't get caught with an old resume. Perhaps throughout the merger they will consider resumes to properly fill the new positions. Will you be ready?

Worst of all: you update quickly and still miss an opportunity.

Let's suppose you hear about the perfect job opportunity, so you quickly pull together a resume. How can your resume stack up against a well-put together, consistently maintained resume? Did you highlight all of your key strengths? Did you have enough time to make sure you produced a resume that presents the best reflection of yourself?

As you look ahead and begin to schedule those appointments to change your oil and pump up your tires to make sure that your car is the most finely tuned machine on the road, take time out to ensure that your resume has evolved at the same speed that you have. Do not let the one thing that could determine the success of your future fall by the wayside. Tune up your resume because when your career needs a tune up, you will want to have the best tools possible available.