Tis the Season to Fine-Tune Your Resume

Tis the Season to Fine-Tune Your ResumeTis the Season to Fine-Tune Your ResumeTis the Season to Fine-Tune Your ResumeThe holiday season a great time to fine-tune your resume so youre ready to jump when the next job opportunity knocks. So, carve out a little time to examine what youre doing in your job search, and especially look at these four areas of your resume1)Professional Summary. Do you have one? Does it conveyaccurately and without exaggerationwhat you can do for the company? Is it aimed at the kind of work you want to do?To be sure, review a few job postings that sound like the opportunities youre targeting. Take note of the skills and qualifications the employers require and highlight those that are common to many of the postings. Which ones do you meet? More importantly, which ones do you exceed? For example, if theyre looking for someone who is proficient with a particular software application, are you beyond proficient, or an expert user?2)Experience. Be sure youre emphas izing accomplishments, not just listing your past duties. Showing how you helped an employer make money, save money, or make a process mora efficient can help you stand out over other candidates.What are the extraordinary things you did that made a difference in how your company, division, or department performed? Its important to emphasize those achievements to gain an edge. You just might need several edges to get an interview.3)Social Media Tie-In. Do you have a profile on LinkedIn or some other social networking site for professionals? If so, does the profile support and complement what your resume says about you? Consider putting your LinkedIn address on your resume alongside or right under your name and contact information.4)Spelling and Punctuation. Getting together with relatives or friends over the holidays? Ask one or more of them if they will proofread your resumejust in case you missed anything. (Social etiquette tip Dont ask them to do this during a holiday gathering Tw o or three days later should suffice, after the holiday hoopla has subsided a bit.)After you make these resume upgrades, youll be ready to renew your job searching efforts, answer job postings, take advantage of every networking opportunity, and sharpen your interviewing skills. Because the end of a year and the start of a new one are good times to look for work.