Tips For Refreshing Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile

As the economy opens up again, companies are starting to hire, but what if you haven’t worked in awhile? You might be feeling unsure of how to dip your toes back into the hiring field, we’re here to help!

One of the most important steps you need to do is update your resume and LinkedIn account. Signature Source defines an effective resume as one that can “show the potential employer that you understand the needs of their business and are qualified for the position desired.” So where do you start?

Determine your resume’s focus

What career direction do you want to go in? If you don’t have a clear vision of what you want from your next job, then your resume will not resonate with employers. If you’re interested in getting into the food industry, tailor your resume to that. Sending a hiring manager a resume you used when you worked in finance isn’t going to cut it. If you have different career interests, it’s best if you create different versions of your resume.

Research the industry you’re trying to get into

This means talking to people in your interested field and looking at jobs listed in your target industry to get a sense of what employers are looking for. Are there certain keywords or phrases that seem to be cropping up in all the job descriptions? Add those in. Are there things in your old resume that are not appearing in job descriptions anymore? Take those out. Are you going to need to enroll in classes or learn new skills to be competitive in your field? Think about learning new skills!

Develop a strong career objective

The Career Objective highlights your key skills and shows how you can contribute to a company.

If you’re staying within your current career field, writing a compelling career summary is very important. It’s a great way to highlight the experience you already have and valuable skills you can bring to the table.

If you’re looking to change fields, emphasize the skills you learned in your old career and how they can be applied to a new area of interest. For example, your old career objective could say:

Seeking a challenging position with a future-oriented company offering opportunities for growth and advancement.

But your new career objective might be:

Dynamic public speaker/presenter with advanced technical knowledge, seeking to leverage these strengths as an award-winning computer instructor into an entry-level software sales position.

Examples from Monster

Highlight the results and outcomes of your achievements

It’s important to list what your projects and jobs were, but were you actually successful at them? It’s nice to know that you maintained workstations and specific systems, but listing specifics will really make you stand out. Maybe you could talk about how you improved system efficiency by 90% or that you brought 50% more workstations to your company. Use action verbs and numbers, percentages, etc., to provide solid proof.

Add some style to your resume

This doesn’t mean using bold colors and wonky fonts; rather, you should use one of the many templates that are available to you. This will format your resume in a nice way and usually includes underlining, italics, useful icons, etc.

Pro Tip: proofread, proofread, proofread

Remember that your resume should be flawless. Make sure your proofread it so you can catch any grammar, punctuation, or word errors. Ask for feedback on your resume and have several different people look it over.

LinkedIn is essentially a digital resume, so a lot of the above steps are still relevant but with a few tweaks.

Make sure your Headline and About sections are updated

These sections are the most important since they’re the first things that people will read. Be sure to utilize all the space and use relevant keywords as this is what people will be searching for.

Be sure to add media

One of the great things about having a digital resume is that you can add hard proof of projects you’ve worked on. Upload videos, presentations, PDFs that showcase the work you’ve done.

Keep your Experience section up-to-date

Make sure this section reflects your most recent career changes and work. Add start and end dates, and add descriptions.

Send requests to connect with people in your career field

Connect with other people in your company as well as people that are in the same groups as you are. If you notice that there’s a group that seems relevant to your field, join it! Follow companies or organizations that you like and see if you’re able to make connections that way. Comment on their posts and engage with the community, which shows that you’re an active member and are passionate about xyz.

If you liked this blog post, Signature Source also offers services to help you with your resume. Check out our website or email us at contactus@signature-source.com