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Has it been awhile since you updated your resume? If you are like many professionals, you always have good intentions to update your resume and LinkedIn accounts, but time just always gets in the way. Well here are three quick things you can do to put your best foot forward professionally so that opportunity doesn’t pass you by.
Update your resume.
When updating your resume, make sure that your contact information is current, your last position is listed, and your profile or objective statement is still relevant to the direction you want to move in your career. I know you have a career full of great experience, but employers do not want to read a report so limit your resume to 1-2 pages, with no more than ten years of experience.
Clean up your social media.
The joy of social media is being able to say what you want and just be yourself or someone else entirely if you want, but just know that it can come at a cost. It’s perfectly fine to have a glass of wine or even a beer (or two) and fun nights out because life is for living. However, if you’re timeline consists of wild nights out, drunken videos, or keg handstands, you may want to do some cleaning and if not, some privacy checks. If you do not want potential employers to look at you with a cautious glare, you should do a quick audit. Start with images you may have been tagged in. Remove any tags that are irrelevant or paint a negative picture of you. I also suggest removing posts that are overly political, explicit, and negative. Remember what you see is what you get, and that is how employers will view your online presence, so make sure what they see is something they want.
Update your LinkedIn.
Employers and recruiters almost always look to LinkedIn to gain more insight on candidates. Make sure that they find a great representation of who you are. Upload a recent head shot, update your work history, and create or edit your title and summary so that it grabs the attention of recruiters in your desired industry. This tell them who you are and what you do. Also, if you are very active in your community, make sure you list those activities. If you’ve used your LinkedIn to post unprofessional content or you use explicit language and that’s not the norm in the industry you seek, delete it please.
If you are a woman that needs help with any of the tips above, the Indy DFS Career Development Center has computers and staff to help you create or update your resume and setup your LinkedIn account. Give us a call to setup an appointment at 317-940-3737.
