How To Update Your Resume in 2024

Allow me to set the stage for you. The year is 2024. You've got some amazing experience under your belt and you're ready to take your career to the next level. There's only one problem. Your resume is screaming 2012. Okay, so in this video I'm going to walk you through things you need to remove from your resume and items you should be sure to include because here's the thing. What got you an interview fresh out of college will not work today. Okay, so the first thing that has to go is the resume objective. Listen y'all, no one cares that you are a passionate professional interested in securing employment with a reputable organization so that you can learn and grow blah blah blah blah blah. Listen, it's giving self-seeking and at the end of the day companies are hiring you to solve specific problems for them. They are not at all, at least at this point, interested in what you are looking to gain from them. Next, please remove references available upon request from the bottom of your resume. I don't know whose idea it was to add that but please let it go. Trust and believe that every employer fully believes that if they request it, you will provide references. No need to state it. Next, please remove your full mailing address. Nobody needs to know exactly where you live unless you are signing an official offer letter. Okay, and this one may hurt a little but it's time to remove any outdated honors. Unfortunately, no one cares that you were the vice president of the National Honor Society in high school. Let it go. Let it go. It's been years. Let it go. Okay, so I would think this one would go without saying but I have to say it. Please remove unprofessional email addresses from your resume. So, I mean, listen, first name, last name, I understand it's not necessarily available for everyone at this point but throw a few numbers on that thing and let it be what it's going to be but like anything that's got dollar signs or talking about you being so fly, like it's gotta go. Okay, and I know this one is gonna be a bit controversial to my older folks. However, more than 15 years of experience, those items need to be wrapped up in a concise blurb. Remember, the employer is looking for what skills you would bring to their company. If you haven't been exercising those skills in the most recent 15-year jobs, it doesn't really do much for them. And I'm gonna leave it at that. And I know I just said I was gonna leave it at that but I'm gonna add one more piece right on top of that, right? Like right on top of that. The other thing that you should remove is irrelevant work experience when you have relevant work experience. What do I mean by that? Listen, if you've been in project management for the last nine years, no one's gonna care about the fact that you worked in your produce department two years ago, right? Like nobody's gonna care that you were a cashier or a bagger at the grocery store. Like it's time to let that go and let your new strengths and skills shine. Okay, since I've already heard the older folks, this one is for the younger folks. Please, please, please remove your photo from your resume. I get it. You found the cute little template on Canva or maybe you even got it from Microsoft Word. But honey, honey, your photo has no place on your resume. Okay, so now that I've given you more than enough to remove from your resume, let's talk about some important things that you should include. Okay, number one, let's start very simple. Correct contact information. This is arguably the most important information on your resume because you want them to reach out to you for an interview, right? So make it easy and give them the correct information. Just triple check, triple check that it is all there and all correct. Next up, be sure to include a career summary. This will act as your career narrative, letting them know how all of the roles that you've held previously connect. Help them to understand and quickly see the value that you would bring to their organization. Speaking of value, the next thing you need to be sure to include are accomplishments. Job duties just won't cut it. Listen, anyone can be assigned to do a certain job, but how you perform them, how you do them, that's the magic that only you can bring. Next, be sure to include any relevant volunteer experience. Remember, volunteering is a great way to gain additional skills and experience outside of your nine to five. The last item I'll remind you to include in this video, because honestly we could go on and on and on, but the last thing for this video, be sure to include both hard and soft skills. Both of them matter and as an added bonus, be sure that you are pulling hard and soft skills relevant to the position that you are applying for. Now listen, if you've watched this and thought to yourself, this too much, this too much, like it's overwhelming looking at my resume where it is and what you're asking me to do. It's just too much. Don't worry, have no fear. Next week I'm going to be back with a video teaching you how to create a resume from scratch. I recognize that some of y'all just need to throw the whole resume away and that's fine, that's fine. So next week we are going to walk through four steps to help you create a resume from scratch. In the meantime, I've included a link to my go-to resume template to jumpstart your resume update.