Graduation Time: How to Update Your Resume

By Lucy Wyndham – 

Approximately 3.6 million students were projected to graduate high school in 2018, with colleges and universities expected to award roughly 2.9 million undergraduate and graduate degrees the same year. This means there is a lot of new competition flooding the market, even as the workforce in general seems to be in flux. If you are a veteran of the workforce and are looking to make a career move, it is imperative that you take your resume and update it to outshine the new, hungry talent. Fortunately, this is not as arduous as it may sound.

The Importance of Current Standards

If your resume even looks slightly outdated, it can spell doom from the start.  Elements that used to be essential to a proper resume, such as an “objective” field, have morphed into a symbol that demonstrates a lack of current resume standards. It is important to find out what is considered obsolete, and act accordingly.

This mindset also applies to your skill set. Locate any skills that may no longer carry cachet, such as old software proficiencies, and excise them swiftly. Nothing makes you look archaic quite like touting competency in a software or program nobody uses anymore.

Brush Up Your Contact Info

While it is always important to have vital information like your phone number on your resume, it has become increasingly important to tout your online presence in your resume. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 93% of recruiters are either currently recruiting or are planning to recruit potential employees via social media. If you do not have at least one online social profile active, it is in your best interest to create one soon. When you do, make sure to not post anything that potential employers may find unsavory.

Look Peppy, Yet Professional

Don’t be afraid to pepper your new-look resume with a handful of action verbs. This will make your accomplishments look livelier. More importantly, they will help you look enthusiastic. However, you want to be careful and not look too enthusiastic, which can be done by using the wrong font. Avoid any font that looks playful or slightly irrelevant, as that will reflect on you as a candidate.

These refreshers won’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll get the job against the freshly graduated young buck. However, they will at least give you a better chance than you would have by trotting out your tired old resume. Sometimes, a better chance is all you need.

lucywyndham.writer@gmail.com