How to Age-Proof your Resume

How to Age-Proof Your resume:

1. Highlight current skills

Make sure your resume highlights current and relevant skills. If your past experience doesn’t make you more competitive for the job you are applying for, leave it off. Hint: if a highlight of your career is 10+ years old, recruiters and hiring managers may think you need to challenge yourself more.

2. Omit your earliest work experience

Focus your resume on the last 5-7 years, and don’t go further back than 10 years total. If you have been at the same company for a long time, only go back the last 10, and you can include a brief heading at the end of your last entry indicating, “additional experience available.” 

3. Sync up your resume and LinkedIn Profile

Make sure your LinkedIn profile- companies, titles, and dates—match your resume. Recruiters look at your LinkedIn profile, and if the two are disparate, they may assume you are lying on one of them. 

4. Update and check your contact information

In this digital age, where our lives are intertwined with technology, maintaining accurate contact data is more important than ever. Always make sure your phone number and email address is correct on your resume - and on any document where you hope to receive a response.

5. Tailor, tailor, tailor

Create and keep a master resume (think of it as a “brain dump”) with all your skills and experiences. Then select the most relevant points to go into a new resume you will create for the job for which you are applying. This is what is referred to as “tailoring your resume.” And simplify it as much as you can. You will never be all things to all employers. Showcase your expertise for the job at hand by highlighting your transferable skills and creating qualification statements around your experience.

The Virtual Resource Room at Calgary Career Hub is a self-serve portal open to everyone, 24/7 and 365 days per year. Check it out. It’s the best place to learn everything about job search. An entire category is devoted to resume creation. Click this link and get the password that appears on the screen: Virtual Resource Centre