Next month, I plan to apply for an internship and need to update my resume. Generally, I’m on top of things when it comes to keeping a clean, updated resume at the ready but in the last few months, I haven’t done the best job of maintaining my resume. A major reason for this is that I haven’t really done anything noteworthy or resume-worthy. Also, I’m not satisfied with the layout and visual appeal (or lack thereof) of the current document so I don't even look at it. But since I have to submit one for this internship, I’ve renewed focus and plan to produce a better resume.
I did some online exploration and found an article from the New York Times titled, “An Online Toolbox Starts With a Polished Résumé by Joshua Condon (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/technology/personaltech/02basics.html) In the article, Condon breaks down some fundamentals to getting the most out of an online resume.
I've summarized the fundamentals:
KEEP YOUR RÉSUMÉ AT THE READY. Always maintain an updated resume and keep it online via email so that it can be sent to employers quickly.
DON’T WASTE YOUR FORMATTING. It’s easier to keep the online resume in PDF format. This ensures that more people can access it across different technologies. PDF documents act as a universal language in the world of professional documents.
MAKE AN INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING. Utilize social networking sites like LinkedIn and Xang to get your name out there and meet people with similar expertise and interests.
SHOW YOUR E-MAIL SKILLS. When sending a number of files to employers or colleagues, instead of sending droves of emails with monstrous attachments, provide links to file host sites like drop.io and filedropper.com that allow sizable, organized uploads.
THINK BEYOND THE RéSUMé. There are ways to market yourself other than resumes. Personal websites are good ideas in addition to posting presentations or visual projects on Flickr and YouTube.
THINK BEFORE YOU POST. When posting work from other places of employment, it’s important to use caution because a lot of the time, the work will be the property of the company for which an employee worked.
THINK BEFORE YOU POST. Be careful with personal social networking, questionable photos, and negative comments and posts. If an employer detects unsavory material online of a perspective employee, there’s a good chance that employee will not be hired despite any professionalism.
This is great advice to follow! Constructing a resume can be difficult, but if you put time and effort into it, the outlook will be positive. I've had my resume recently criticized and his response was not very pleasant. But it's all about constructive criticism that helps your resume evolve. -- I've made two resumes previous to the one I have now, and it's interesting to see the difference in layout and content growth. Good Luck!
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