New Year, New Career? 5 Ways to Get Your Resume in Shape Too!

SIGH. The end of the year cometh, and I find myself thrilled about what is to come in 2013, but also saddened that this means the END of Christmas treat-eating. Pretty much everyone under the sun is talking about their go-to diet strategy for 2013, but y'all would be surprised how many people have the same habit of getting-in-shape-procrastination when it comes to job hunting.

It sounds something like, "yea I really need to update my resume, but I'll just wait til after the holidays and then start putting it out there."

I don't disagree too much with this type of procrastination because the fact is that there's a lot less hiring going on at the end of the year anyways, and it's disheartening to the job seeker to troll the job boards only to find openings at the local Taco Bell. SO - my advice to you is to take this last little bit of downtime in 2012 to get your resume in shape and be ready to land your dream job all before bikini season!! (I know you are stoked about how much extra gym time this is going to give you after the ball drops. yeesh.)

FITNESS - tshirt from Etsy

Here are 5 easy "exercises" to make your resume sparkle in the new year!

1. CLEAN IT UP. If your resume is in a template you hijacked from MS Word, get rid of it and start over, WITHOUT a template. They are gross and make your resume look just like everyone else's. If the font of your resume is still in Times New Roman, may God have mercy on your soul. Ok that's a little extreme. Try fonts like Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, or Tahoma. These are the easiest to read on a computer screen (which is most likely where yours will be seen).

2. GET THINGS IN ORDER. If you've been out of college for more than 6 months, this is the order the sections of your resume should be in.

CONTACT INFO

SUMMARY STATEMENT

RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE

EDUCATION

ORGANIZATIONS/MEMBERSHIPS/ASSOCIATIONS

REFERENCES (if required)

3. TRIM THE FAT. Do not list your hobbies or extracurriculars unless they are related to the jobs you intend to apply for. Also, leave the dates off your education. They give us clues as to how old you are and if you think age doesn't secretly matter to a hiring manager, you're wrong. Take off your extracurriculars from college (unless you just graduated). It no longer matters that you were Treasurer of your sorority (this was a hard one for me to swallow!). Only include references if they are required by the job you're applying for. Otherwise, a simple "References available upon request" will do just fine.

4. BE BULLETPROOF. Limit your bullet points to 3 per position, except your current one. In that case, it's only okay to have more than 3 if you have that many actual, legitimate accomplishments you think you need to share. If bullet point #4 is something like, "arrive at work promptly every day and manage coffee maker output," I invite you to visit Wikipedia and search for the definition of "accomplishment." If bullet point #4 sounds more like, "contributed to reduction of annual employee turnover from 22% to 12% by implementing a New Hire Mentoring Program," you may continue.

5. BE FIRST-DATE FABULOUS. I always always ALWAYS tell people to look at job hunting like dating, and I am sure a million other recruiters say the same thing. If you've completed the workouts above, LOOK at it one last time and ask yourself, "if this resume was me, would it get asked on a second date?"

Two things here: one, don't treat your resume like an online dating profile full of lies. Just don't. You will be found out, and then dumped (by your boyfriend, and your prospective employer).

Two, just like a good Southern girl, don't give it up on the first date, and don't let your resume give it all up either. Your resume should only include enough information to get you to the next step. You'll have plenty of time in the interview to make sure the hiring manager knows about your mission trip to Africa and your mad Photoshop skills. But if you scare him/her away with a three-page resume detailing your life timeline, they'll have nothing left to talk to you about in the interview. And they'll probably be so bored from scanning your resu-novel that they won't call you for one anyways.

As always, these are just the opinions of a lowly recruiter, BUT I do hope they ease your pains of getting in shape for 2013, especially if your resolution is to find your dream job this year! Happy job hunting!