Resume Write & Wrong

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How to use it to further your career...and more

In Part 1 you learned how to set up your own career file and what to put in it. Now we will focus on three ways you can make it work for you.

1. Write a new resume

However stable and comfortable, or stagnant and drab your job is now, it will change. Trends in industry and in the economy over the last decade predict you are likely to go through several career incarnations in your lifetime.

When your company goes through reorganization, gets bought out, or closes... When you realize you've advanced as far as you can where you are... Whenever you see the writing on the wall, you should prepare yourself to move on.

Digging into your file and reviewing your old job descriptions and performance evaluations can reveal how you have grown professionally. You may realize tasks you once enjoyed aren't as rewarding for you anymore. Conversely, tasks you once disliked might look inviting now.

Insights you glean from rereading these materials will guide you in choosing skills and experience to highlight on your new resume.

You might decide to move from a technical field into management, or from customer service into accounting. Somewhere down the line, you may plan a more dramatic shift, for example, selling a successful business to become a schoolteacher. In such instances, little details that have faded with time may take on new importance.

It may be a course you took, unrelated to your current job may be a solid qualification for your new objective. You may be holding onto a letter from a mentor you had forgotten about and who might help you in your new job search.

If you had tossed out or misplaced these documents, your new resume could be weaker and you might miss out entirely on a valuable opportunity.

2. Perform a yearly self-assessment

It is important to stop once in a while amid the hustle bustle of life to carve out a slice of quiet time for review and reflection. A day around the New Year is appropriate. Your birthday is another good time. Set aside an hour or two for yourself each year and make it an annual ritual.

With no television and no cranked tunes in the background, go to your career file and spread the contents out on a table or desktop before you. If you haven't already done so, sort the contents into categories (by document type, or by employer).

Read over old resumes and compare and contrast them with each other and recognize the progress you’ve made from your first job to your current one. Ask yourself some questions:

• Are you satisfied with your current work?
• Did you take a detour that you regret today?
• Are you moving too slowly toward your dreams?

Write down your answers and some steps you could take in the next year to get you moving in the right direction.

Read over your performance reviews. Were your supervisors fair? Were they too easy, or too hard on you? Select the evaluations you think were fair. Take a highlighter and mark positive areas so they will stand out clearly next time you assess yourself, or write a new resume.

• Savor any progress you've made.
• Affirm strengths others have seen in you.
• Feel grateful to those who encouraged you to grow.

Even if you are not in a position to make big changes, such as leaving your current employer, or going back to school, this simple act will will reinforce your resolve and subtly guide your actions toward your true goals.

3. Give your confidence a boost

Whenever you suffer a setback in your career, or in your personal life, recovery is harder if the negative is all you can think about. That makes it the perfect time to dip into your career file for some positive reinforcement.

Pick out the award certificates, the words of praise, the good performance evaluations and bask awhile in the glow. Remember that however badly you may be feeling, you are the same person as the one in your records, who has recognized skills, talents and accomplishments.

Don't wait for something devastating. Go ahead and buoy yourself whenever you are feeling down. As you call to mind past triumphs and visualize yourself achieving new ones.

You are worth the effort

This is your life, not a rehearsal, and your career is a huge part of it. Your experience, development and accomplishments should be documented. You and your contributions are unique and valuable and worthy of remembering.

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