Time for Some Career Spring Cleaning!

Spring is here! The birds are chirping, the trees are budding and the flowers are blooming.

This time of year, you pay lots of attention to revitalizing your home and yard.  But what about your career?  Like your closets and flower beds, your career will greatly benefit from a little annual “sprucing up.”

In the spirit of spring, use these ideas from PrideStaff to clean up your resume and portfolio – and find your next great job:

Purge.  To make space for new accomplishments on your resume, you have to get rid of that ancient work history.  As a rule, show only the most recent 10 years of your career and include experience only relevant to the positions to which you’re applying.

The same holds true for your portfolio.  To make room for new work samples, start by purging the old.  A potential employer will have limited time to review your examples – make sure you eliminate redundant or dated pieces to keep the focus on your most exceptional projects.

Bottom line, critically examine all of the content in your resume and portfolio and make sure that every sample and piece of information demonstrates your current value to your target employer.

Reorganize.  Once you’ve purged, now it’s time to decide how to best present your experience and accomplishments on your resume.  Depending on your history and the type of job for which you’re applying, you may want to consider switching from a chronological to a functional or hybrid format.

Organize your portfolio elements in chronological or some other logical order (i.e., project type, client type, industry type, etc.).  Add organizational elements (tabs or labels for a physical portfolio; logical naming conventions for online pieces) to make it easy for a potential employer to find the work examples he needs.

Fill in the blanks.  Now that you’ve cleaned out and reorganized your content, determine what’s missing from your resume and portfolio.  Examine the requirements of your target job and find ways to align your skills, experience and work examples with those requirements.  Make your best accomplishments and work examples more impactful and relevant, by quantifying the results you achieved.

Update.  Once all of the details are organized, make sure the look and tone are as fresh as the content.  Review examples of great resumes and portfolios you find online, and take your cues from them.  Update your terminology, layout and font choices to give your resume and portfolio a fresh, polished appearance.

Make a Fresh Start with PrideStaff

If you’re ready to change jobs, change careers or increase your flexibility, PrideStaff can help you make a fresh start in your career this spring.  With offices nationwide, we offer a wide range of temporary, temp-to-hire and direct opportunities to make a change.  Contact the PrideStaff office in your area to find out more about great local job opportunities.