Keeping you Résumé Current

Keep it Current

There is a truism in the world of academia that one needs to publish or perish. Graduate and specifically post-graduate students are expected to get their name out there and not only tell the world that they are subject matter experts but add to the general body of knowledge they are concerned with. This is accomplished through contributing to journals and periodicals and either teaching or speaking engagements.

What does this have to do with job hunting? Are there any lessons we can take from this? Most definitely. It’s all about keeping ourselves current and our skill sets and experience relevant to the job market today. A lot of us have been in the same position for the same employer for a number of years. We may have taken a lot of in-house; job-specific courses, but how much of that training is transferable to other employers? We all know people who were laid off or down sized after a lengthy career with one employer (various local examples we can point to) and suddenly forced into a position where they had to write resumes and start a job search after being out of the ‘game’ for a number of years.

Hiring managers will look at resumes and in the back of their mind keep asking themselves if there is anything in them that is relevant to the job they are hiring for even if they offer full training to learn the basics of the position. Relevancy does not necessarily mean related skills and experience but can point to an ability to learn and take on new challenges. It is easy to become somewhat complacent in a secure job that offers a steady and reliable pay cheque. We are all guilty of this. The worst position to then find oneself in is having to scramble and upgrade and become ready for change when change suddenly hits us one Monday morning.

How can we keep it current and show we can take on new challenges? Stay involved and keep up-grading skills. Be honest about skills and experiences you have and whether or not they would be transferable to another field or employer? Technology and business processes are changing with increasing rapidity. Our five, ten and or 20 year old resumes are expected to compete in this landscape.

There is an abundance of courses and training programs, available both on-line and in person we can look at taking. Many of these are free and a large number of them are offered within our own community at various government funded agencies. There are a number of associations we can look at joining. I mentioned Linkedin recently. Linkedin offers dozens of associations and groups you can join and participate in. Such involvement can definitely be included in a resume.

Keeping current by taking training. Joining groups and associations allows us to constantly refresh our resumes and ourselves as candidates. If we look at our resume as a weapon in the fight for a job we really want, we need to be better armed than our opponents; i.e. other candidates.

Stay current. Think of your resume as a work in progress; something you are constantly polishing and upgrading. Don’t let it gather dust. Not only are you investing in yourself but you are nurturing the one thing that will get your foot in the door.