8 signs your resume is outdated and how to fix it
A resume is one of the most important pieces of paper you will ever carry with you in your professional career. It should ultimately describe who you are to the best of your abilities with the hope that at least one company will find you savvy, smart and well-rounded enough to hire as soon as the position they think you’re perfect for opens.
This is not something that remains the same as time goes by. Updating your resume on an as needed basis is key to attracting the right employers without them asking questions that wouldn’t be put on the table had you not taken care of things ahead of time.
It’s good to know if there are parts of your resume that are outdated, either from an obvious or not so obvious point of view, especially if you are one of the many people looking for a variety of new jobs on the market that come with a very high price tag.
Take a look at eight signs your resume is outdated ahead of you repeatedly clicking the apply button.
Relevancy 101. If there’s one word that’s most important to your resume being current it’s “edit”. Sure, you’ve achieved a lot in your career so far, but rambling on about every job you had from high school to now with details that aren’t relevant to the position you are desiring won’t make you look good to a potential employer. Instead, tailor your resume to include specifics that they will love as opposed to piling on unnecessary sentences.
Too Lengthy. Creating the perfect resume can become that much trickier as your career ladder continues to grow. A big part of this revolves around putting all the right info in without making things too long. Just like the step above its important that you only include info relevant to the job or jobs at hand without making the employer feel like you’ve written the first chapter of your memoir. Keep in mind that they are sometimes looking at hundreds of resumes for one position and can easily bypass yours if they see just how long it is. Bottom line: keep it concise.
“References Upon Request”. It’s 2021. By now you should know that you’re going to have to provide references for most of the jobs you are applying to. Putting “references upon request” is archaic, pointless and a waste of space on what could be a fabulous resume.
Objective/Statement of Purpose. The employer knows why you’re there so having an objective or statement of purpose on your resume is, going to use that word again, irrelevant. Take that out and replace it with a short highlight reel (nothing more than a paragraph or 3-4 bullets) about who you are in the professional world and what you have accomplished.
Inconsistent Formatting. If you’re OCD like me then this usually isn’t the case. But there are plenty of resumes out there that take inconsistent formatting to a super bad level which can cause a perfectly great candidate the job they want. Avoid choosing multiple fonts, make sure you use bold, italic and the underline buttons in the best of ways, check to see if everything is evenly placed and don’t type different date formats. Having one of your jobs read as “December 2018 – December 2019” for one and “12/18 – 12/19” for the other should never, ever happen.
No Links. Your resume is the entrée that should be delicious and hearty. An added link, like your LinkedIn or some type of other profile that also highlights who you are as a professional, is that tasty dessert you’ll want to have that makes you look even better to the people that will determine if they’ll hire you or not. It’s something that should be a no brainer in the digital world we are living in today.
Outdated Skills. Speaking of modern its important for applicants from all types of job backgrounds to keep up to date with whatever job skills are needed in their industry. Highlighting those from yesteryear on your resume isn’t impressive. It’s also a reminder to hone in on the relevant ones in case you haven’t in an allotted period before taking the next step and applying for a job that requires them.
You Include Your Home Number. I’m sorry, is it 2001? The only kinds of numbers you should include on your resume is business or cell and make sure your references ones are the same.
