Update your Resume

This month marks the second annual Update your Resume Month, sponsored by the Professional Resume Writing and Research Association.

The goal of the campaign is to encourage everyone to take a serious assessment of their career and update their achievements and changes that occurred over the past year that need to be on the resume.

Maintaining a current resume is much easier and productive than writing one from scratch the day before a job closes. While a great resume won’t guarantee you a job, a boring, mediocre resume won’t even get you noticed.

Job-hunting is the only competitive event where you rarely get to evaluate the competition. It’s now a employer driven market, and strong companies will demand great people for their the money. An updated resume is like an insurance policy for your career.

Here are some tips to give your resume an annual facelift.
· List any awards you won or were nominated for.
· Add a Keywords and a Computer Skills section.
· Get rid of boring objectives and “references available upon request”.
· If you don’t have a Headhunter, find one or two who specialize in your occupation.
· Dump the one page format.
· Check the Document Properties to make sure one of your former employers is NOT listed on the software license.
· Convert it to ASCII Text.
· Back it up on a floppy disc or CD and keep a hard copy of your resume in an Accomplishments file in a paper folder.
· Add a quote that sums up your work ethic from a well-known source.
· List the high profile stories you are familiar with, and how well you know your way around your city.
· Add famous stories you’ve covered.
· Don’t forget to send copies of your updated resume to your references and your agent.

For more free tips on employment searches written by Professional Resume Writers, log on to www.updateyourresume.com. To find a member of the PRWRA in your area, visit www.prwra.com.