Regularly updating your resume can have great effects on your job search and can be beneficial even if you aren’t currently searching for employment. I suggest updating your resume monthly, for 5 reasons, which I’ve listed below.
- New accomplishments to add – every month you should be striving to accomplish more in your current position. This could be something minor that may not necessarily be added to your resume or it could be something huge that showcases your achievements. Either way, you should set a goal to rack up accomplishments and at the end of the month (or whenever you decide to update your resume) you should determine which, if any, should be added to your resume. New accomplishments make you are more marketable candidate and when your resume is filled with them, you’ll be the one choosing from all of the offers you’ll receive.
- You’ve gained new skills – Maybe your job hosted a training, formal or informal or maybe you learned something new on YouTube (I learned how to use Photoshop this way), these are skills that should be added to your resume. Taking time to go over all of the potential skills you’ve gained monthly is a great way to insure that you’re capturing everything you’ve learned.
- You’re in a period of career change – If you’re in the beginning of your career or you have an established career and are ready for a change, your career goals could be changing frequently as you figure out you next move. While you’re exploring new career paths, keeping your resume updated to reflect your current career goals will be very useful when applying to jobs. Each resume that you submit to an employer should be tailored to the role that you’re applying to and making updates to your resume that reflect your current career goals, will allow you to customize and submit your resume quickly.
- You’re not getting the response from employers that you’d like – If you’re submitting a resume to employers that you wrote last year and haven’t updated it since, don’t be surprised if you’re not getting called. Additionally, if you have your resume uploaded to websites like Career Builder or Indeed, employers can see the last time you’ve uploaded your resume. If the systems shows that the resume was uploaded a while ago, a lot of employers will assume that you are no longer in the job market. If you find that you aren’t getting callbacks from the jobs you apply to, take some time to review and update your resume.
- To remain familiar what’s in your resume – There’s nothing worse than sitting through an interview and being asked questions, based on what’s in your resume, and you don’t have an answer. For example, if you have a skill listed on your resume like, conflict resolution, and you forgot you listed it because you haven’t used that skills since 3 jobs ago. If an interviewer asks you about the last time you used it and you can’t think of an answer, you’ll look a little foolish and dishonest. Regularly reviewing and updating your resume will help you avoid this kind of situation.
Once you have a resume that you love, it’s easy to assume that you’re all set until you have a new position to add. This couldn’t be furthest from the truth. Updating your resume monthly has so many benefits and I hope I’ve illustrated some good reasons why you should. If you’re not sure what you should be looking for when updating your resume or you’d like a more extensive list of changes it may need, check out my Resume Audit Checklist. It’ll give you some great criteria to judge your resume on.
How often do you update your resume? Let me know in the comments below.