Jul 23, 2013

One of the most common mistakes regarding résumés is to assume that one size fits all. In the competitive job market that exists today, updating your résumé and applying for jobs can be a full time job in itself.

I personally recommend generating a “Master Résumé” that has all of your work history. That includes the job you had at McDonald’s in high school or the overnight shift you worked at a warehouse on weekends in college. Put EVERYTHING on this document. Once you have this file created make sure to store it on a cloud drive like Google Drive or Drop Box or on a flash drive that you keep in a safe place. Better yet, use both!

Once you find a job that you want to apply for, open your Master Résumé file and find all of the job functions from your job history that apply to the job in question. Applying for a training position? You will probably want to include information on the Lab Assistant job from your college days. Never been a manager before but interested in a leadership position? Make sure you have a note about being the captain of your high school soccer team. Save a copy of the Master file with the name of the position you are applying to in the file name. That way you can go back and reference it as well as print out a copy when you go for your interview.

Finally, if you’re done with your résumé and need someone to look it over, please visit my information page for résumé review services.

Continue on to part two.