Winter is finally giving way to Spring, a season not only popular for its warmer weather, but for being the perfect time to de-clutter, clean, and organize your home. Spring cleaning isn’t only for your personal life, think of it as the perfect time to tidy up your resume too.
Cleaning up your resume doesn’t have to be as daunting as decluttering your closet. Use these tips from an animal health recruiter to get your resume spruced up.
Cut outdated information
You don’t need to list that internship from 20 years ago. Unless you’re fresh out of school or restarting your career, remove the entry level positions and internships. A good rule of thumb is to focus on your most recent 15 years of employment. If you have critical professional experience or accomplishments prior to that time frame, list it in your career highlights or skills section.
Reduce page count
If you completed the first point, you have a head start on this one. The ideal length is 2 pages. Reducing a 4-5 page resume by just one page makes a big impact. If you have experience that is redundant across multiple positions, consider listing it only once.
Add New Skills and Accomplishments
This might seem counterintuitive after the last point, but don’t forget about adding new skills, certifications, and accomplishments. It is always wise to give examples. For instance, “project management” could be listed as “project management for implementation of new customer management software working with stakeholders across 4 departments”
Proofread
Proofread your resume, then have someone else proofread your resume for you.
Spring cleaning your resume isn’t a time consuming or difficult task and freshening it up once a year will have you well-prepared when the right opportunity for the next step in your career calls.
-Written by Heather Meadows: Animal Health Recruiter & Life Sciences Recruiter