The Watercooler

Dust the Cobwebs Off Your Resume Using These Hacks

Why do you need to update your resume regularly?

The employment market and job search have changed dramatically over the past year and a half. Jobs, and the skills needed to perform them, have evolved.

Even if you haven’t changed employers or roles, dusting the cobwebs off your resume should be an annual habit. Regularly updating your resume:

  • Ensures it’s in great shape to capture a recruiter’s or hiring manager’s attention.
  • Keeps your qualifications, work experience, and skills inventory up to date.
  • It makes it easy to kickstart your job search when you’re ready.

So, if you haven’t reviewed yours in the last year, grab your digital Swiffer. Use these hacks from PrideStaff’s staffing recruiters to polish up your resume:

Avoid fundamental mistakes.

As you update your resume, be careful not to add problems to the plate:

  • Grammar and spelling mistakes. Proofread mercilessly!
  • Insufficient or inaccurate contact information. Make your phone number, email address, and (if applicable) LinkedIn page and online portfolio URL easily visible.
  • Too much information (and TMI). Employers want pertinent information about your qualifications, work experience, and what makes you the ideal candidate – not your memoir. As you grow in your career and gain work experience, keep the focus where it belongs: on your recent accomplishments and relevant, transferable and soft skills. Keep the length to one page if you can, and leave personal details out.
  • Not customizing your resume to the role. Adjust your basic resume for each role to which you apply.

Scrutinize the format and design.

Take a step back and consider the overall appeal and effectiveness of your resume. Within a few seconds, it needs to convince an employer that “this could be the one.” How do you do that? Make sure your resume:

  • Is easy to read. Read it aloud to ensure that it communicates what you want to share, and that the content is easy to absorb.
  • Is skimmable. Organize information so that a human reader or software program can easily find what they want.
  • Is searchable. When applying to a job, intersperse relevant keywords from the posting throughout your resume, where appropriate.
  • Is logically organized. Most resumes follow a reverse chronological or skills-based format. Choose the resume format that best highlights your strengths and positions you as the ideal candidate.

Showcase your remote work experience.

If you’ve worked virtually, you’ve acquired a new set of skills that you should highlight on your resume. With remote work here to stay, employers want to hire people with proven abilities to work from home. Here are a few tips for listing remote work on your resume:

  • Think like an employer. Hiring managers want evidence that you’re disciplined, self-motivated, tech-savvy, and an adept communicator.
  • Thread your virtual work experience throughout your resume. Or, if you have room, add a new Remote Work Experience section in which you detail the hard and soft skills that make you successful at remote work, as well as the technology tools you’ve learned (e.g., cloud-based apps, virtual collaboration tools, video conference technology).

Looking for more great resume advice?

Check out these other posts from PrideStaff:

How to List Remote Work on Your Resume

You’re Spooking Hiring Managers with These 5 Resume Mistakes

Need a job now?

Apply with PrideStaff. With offices across the nation, we have great temporary, temp-to-hire, and direct jobs in:

  • Accounting / Finance
  • Administrative / Clerical / HR
  • Customer Service / Call Center
  • Healthcare / Medical
  • Information Technology
  • Insurance
  • Legal
  • Management
  • Manufacturing
  • Sales / Marketing
  • Skilled Trades
  • Warehouse / Distribution / Logistics

Contact the PrideStaff office in your area to learn more, or search local job opportunities here.