In this last article in my Six-Figure Resume, I want to put all the pieces together into a process that allows you to refine your resume and improve your interviewing rates.
Don’t Let Your Resume Collect Dust
That phrase, “Dusting off the resume,” exists for a reason. Far too many people ignore their resumes after they get their job.
I highly recommend visiting your resume at least every three months.
When you keep your resume updated with current accomplishments on the job, you’re better prepared for when a new opportunity shows up, and you have a record of your best results for when you have performance reviews.
In other words, your resume can pull double-duty.
Adjust Your Resume For Each Job
When you apply to a job, take the opportunity to make changes to your resume before you apply. While this sounds like another chore in an already soul-crushing process, there’s a lot of benefit to it.
First, you can, by simply re-ordering your technical skills, make it easier for a hiring manager to see you’re a fit by putting the skills in the description first on your resume.
Second, by looking at your resume with the question in your mind, “How can I make this even stronger,” you can find opportunities everywhere to make a minor tweak to catch someone’s eye.
Last, by refining your resume each time, you have the ability to find out if your tweaks help or not.
Track Your Results
So you’ve made some tweaks to your resume before you send it into a new job. Make a note of the company, the posting, when you applied, and what version of your resume you used, and record a date two weeks from now.
All of those bits of information aside from the two week-thing help you stay on top of things when you start getting multiple interviews from multiple companies in a week.
Knowing what version of your resume you used helps you see which tweaks work and which don’t. You’re using data now to refine your resume!
The two-week thing is primarily for your mental health through the process. Job hunting is soul-crushing, and knowing you applied without hearing anything back is a lingering demoralizer. By declaring that two weeks from now, you’re moving on, you can help end that long emotional drain by letting yourself forget you ever applied there. If they didn’t get back to you in two weeks, move on.
Some companies are slow and will get ahold of you months later, but when you’re not emotionally vested in that, you can let it be a fun surprise.
Start Applying
If you’ve fixed the mistakes and format of your resume, you’re ready to start applying now that you know how to optimize the results through continual refinement. So, dust off that resume and never let it collect dust again!
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