September is International Update Your Resume Month!

by Sara Bennett | September 9, 2021

0 Author-Sara, INFO/RESOURCES - FOR JOB SEEKERS

Yes, that’s a thing.

When was the last time you updated your resume? In an ideal world, you would have plenty of time to prepare a resume when you spot an opportunity you want to apply for or need to unexpectedly job search.

In reality, this is never the case it seems. Even hiring a professional resume writer requires at least 2 weeks of turnaround time.

Creating a resume under pressure and time constraints can make you feel stressed and rushed. You can easily forget to include key pieces or your experience and skill set. Or, forget to think about what your resume looks like from the eyes of a recruiter or hiring manager. Or worse, you might miss an opportunity altogether because you didn’t move fast enough.

You might be perfectly content in your current role and not thinking your resume needs a refresh. You might even be thinking as reading this “I am so happy in my current job. I have no desire whatsoever to entertain any other job offers.” But, we want to encourage you to think differently and be prepared.

Remember – writing a well-aligned, concise resume takes time and there are no shortcuts. But the best time to get your resume ready is well before you need it! Don’t wait until you are about to quit or lose your job to invest time into your resume or you also might not have access to the data you need to include in your resume! We hope this blog will encourage you to think in the long term and keep your resume and self-branding sharp on an ongoing basis. You never know when you will need them – plus, the best opportunities are often the inbound ones, you never know what role might be coming your way!

There are two things we recommend doing to eliminate the pressure of writing a resume and ensure you always have an updated resume:

Update your resume every September – A full update once a year is perfect, and now you’ve got an international holiday to mark the occasion and serve as a reminder! We also think September is the perfect month to update because people are coming back from summer vacations, work is picking up pace again and companies are hiring! Check out this blog for a step-by-step guide on how to update your resume. Ensure your resume is current in both content and design.
Keep a running list of work wins – Start tracking your accomplishments and note specifics and metrics. Do this often, so you don’t forget the great things you’ve done! This way, when you need to update your resume you can include these ‘work wins’ on your resume. Think of them as pre-written bullet points you can list under your current position, such as:

How many processes did you improve and how many hours of work or expended resources were eliminated?
How many projects or responsibilities did you oversee?
How many customers or clients did you serve?
How much sales/revenue did you generate?
Compare (using ratios and percentages) your previous performance to current
Compare performance to external sources (industry performance, competitors, etc.)
How many problems did you effectively troubleshoot and resolve?
What performance reviews, awards or ratings did you receive?

Here are some examples:

Lead implementation of a new CRM that resulted in 100 hours of work saved per month
Received an average score of 4.87/5 on annual client feedback survey
Drove a 40% increase in service productivity through process efficiency improvements
Generated $20K in sales in 6 months

When was the last time you updated your resume? Let us know in the comments below!

PACE Staffing Network is one of the Puget Sound’s premier staffing /recruiting agencies and has been helping Northwest job seekers find their “just right” jobs for over 40 years. A 5-time winner of the coveted “Best in Staffing” designation , PACE is ranked in the top 2% of staffing agencies nationwide based on annual surveys of customer satisfaction.

PACE provides multiple placement options: