Background
It's been a while since I have thought of writing a blog on this topic. Incidentally, in the last two weeks couple of my friends have called me and asked for advice on changing jobs. After looking at their resume, I decided to write this blog which has been there on my mind for quite some time.
I have come across many people who often see writing resume as something very painful thing to do or something which is not so interesting to do. To be honest, I was one among them in the beginning of my career. As I was someone who never really liked Microsoft Word, preparing the resume was a big headache. For me, it was one of the most irritating thing.
But I am an observer and a quick learner. So I realised the importance of it very early in the career without actually being told by someone else. So in this blog, I will try to briefly explain on what could be a better approach towards resume.
So, what's the problem🤷♂️?
Problem is that, most people don't enjoy writing resume and their approach towards it. They get a job somewhere and work in that organisation for few years. Now, after working for few years, they decide to change their job. What do they do? They try to find their old resume lying somewhere in the system and start updating it. However, they don't remember what they did in the last few years. It's also possible in some cases that they realise that they have not done much for the last couple of years and the clock has ticked very quickly. They get depressed, discouraged or find, updating the resume intimidating. And this my friends, is exactly the problem.
What most people do?
Often times, people talk to their friends and ask for a reference. When they are asked to send their resume, they just go ahead and update their resume in 1-2 days. If they don't find their old resume, they find a template on google and start writing whatever that comes to their mind. I am not saying this is wrong, but this is not how you should see your resume or changing the job in general. Also, they tend to forget many things that they have done in the past couple of years because they don't remember them.
Say that you have got a job somewhere. Well, you make yourself comfortable there and start working. This is where most people fall out. This is why many people find it difficult to find the job. They don't touch their resume or their profile in LinkedIn until they decide to change their job again, which is may be in 2-3 years time. They make themselves too comfortable in an organisation and get into that routine of comfort. Although they learn and work, they don't update their profile periodically. This is what most people do.
How should be the approach then?
It is rather a big topic when it comes to changing jobs which I will cover in a separate blog. However, I will try to touch upon few things here.
If you don't look at yourself for every few months, how do you where are you standing? When you are looking at your resume periodically, you will know exactly where you are, what you are lacking and where should you be heading in the next few months. If you haven't learnt something in last 5-6 months or if you don't find anything that you can possibly add to your resume, then may be you should do something about it. This is the red flag. Either you are making yourself too comfortable in one place and getting carried away in it without actually realising it or you are not working on something which you shouldn't be.
I can't really tell how important it is to visit your Linkedin profile or your resume often. Start visiting those more than you used to. Update the resume when you have finished a project or learned something new. It could be every month or every two months or even a week. It doesn't matter as long as you are doing it regularly. Start doing this and very soon you will see the difference.
So the best approach is to have a plan for the next 12-18 months. List down the skills that you want to learn. Set realistic goals for each one of them say 3 months or 6 months. When you finish it, go ahead and update your LinkedIn profile and your resume.
When you do this, you are always confident of what you have in your profile. You know exactly what you want to talk during your interview. As you start learning and updating your skills, you will find the current trends, skills that are in demand, best practices if you just observe closely of what's happening around.
Conclusion
Resume is not something you just use it merely as a tool to get a job. It's also not something that you can simply copy/paste from someone else's on google. Resume is something you gradually build over the period of time by putting constant effort to learn and get hold of the skills. it is something you should be proud of, something you should enjoy doing. Because you have put in the effort it takes to learn those things. So, be proud of your hard work, be proud of your resume. it's the mirror reflecting your hard work!
In Summary, I can't really tell how important this process is. But try it for a year and you will never have to struggle writing resume or to find the job again.
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