Career TOOLBOX #35: 5 Ways to Spring Clean Your Resume. Let Your Gold Sparkle.

This month I took on the daunting task of overhauling my resume and LinkedIn profile. Granted, this is what others pay me to do for them. But, would I be able to take my own advice?

Luckily, I have a tremendous A-Team of friends — people who are brilliant and who know that part of what’s required in an honest and supportive friendship is living in a truth zone, especially when others are focused on changing their lives. I’m tremendously grateful to these three people who, while from completely different industries — film, marketing and engineering — provided great insight into how to take 25 years of an unconventional, multi-industry career and shape it into a clean and clear professional story.

The process taught me a lot, mostly to be even more compassionate and patient when working with my clients. But it also helped me evolve the resume to the next level. One that reaches the overworked, understaffed and underpaid ADD key decision-maker audience even quicker.

Below is a list of things I learned along the way and that will, hopefully — at least when it comes to your resume — help you to let go and move on.

1. Transience. In our world of texts and key words, there’s always a way to say something faster. Leave out transitional statements and even the how or why of what you accomplished and just state the what. Give them the rest in the interview chair.

2. Test. “How was what you did in that one job relevant to what you want to do now?” asked my marketing friend. Great question. One specific company no longer reflects my current goals. So I removed it entirely. (Left as one-liner on LinkedIn.)

3. Truncation. One corporation where I worked for 4+ years was taking up nearly half a page. This was costing too much resume real estate space. So I collapsed all the roles into one working title and just highlighted the most relevant accomplishments of my tenure with the firm.

4. Theme. Because I’ve worked in multiple industries, and continue to do so, instead of keeping things linear I organized my positions by industry category. This immediately gives the reader precise flow, aligning similar roles within the various sections.

5. Truth. Yes, of course you MUST be honest on your resume. There are very easy ways to check on this today. What I had to do, and what’s rarely easy for anyone, was get honest with myself as to what happens next.

The past is just that. To be in demand today, it’s critical to understand how one fits in with today’s market needs. And express those goals quickly, clearly and confidently. So go ahead and polish your resume gold. You never know who will take notice of your brilliance.

Reprinted with permission and gratitude from CoolCleveland.com.