Whether you lost your job, chose to leave, or have other circumstances that have left you without a job, being out of work can make the career search feel much more difficult. However, being out of work may allow you the time to refine and retarget your resume so you can stand out when looking for your next career move. Our team at Amotec has rounded up three ways to improve your resume while not currently working.
Customize to Future Opportunities
If you have a wide range of experience, you may want to create different versions of your resume. You will want to identify the roles you are interested in that may have different key requirements. For example, you can create one version of your resumes that emphasizes your experience leading a team of people for a manager or team lead opportunity while another version may focus more on your expertise utilizing an industry-specific software or process to meet department goals. You can also highlight measurable items and metrics that best align with the role. For a leadership role, you might want to emphasize how your management skills led to less waste or higher team morale while a more technical role might highlight how production or time spent was improved.
Once you have completed the different resume versions, it is a great idea to construct a base cover letter for each version that you customize for each individual application. The cover letters can also emphasize those specific skills and experience that make you a perfect fit for that role.
Add Certifications and Special Skills
As you have progressed throughout your career, you likely picked up new, and grown existing, skills, processes and certifications. Whether it be software knowledge, a specific leadership training, or an industry-recognized certification, you want to make sure your resume highlights the areas where you excel. Including these items can give depth to your listed experience and can be one of the keywords hiring managers and recruiters are looking for when interviewing candidates.
Update your Digital Resumes
Often job seekers create an online profile on sites like Indeed, LinkedIn and Glassdoor when they are first searching, but fail to maintain that updated profile throughout their career. Be sure your online profiles on those hiring platforms reflect your most up-to-date resume so recruiters and hiring professionals see the most accurate representation of your professional skill set instead of outdated information. Having the certifications and skills mentioned above on your digital resumes make it easy for recruiters and hiring managers to find you when they are filtering through dozens of candidates.
