Chapter 10. The Rsum

Chapter 10. The Résumé

Your Career Ambassador

When you give someone a message to convey to someone else, your hope is that the message is understood.

In many cases, your résumé is the first message that you give to a prospective employer. It is vital that the message is clear and effective, represents your abilities, and gives the reader an understanding of who you are.

Of all the tools placed in your toolkit, the résumé is perhaps the one that gets the most focus and initial use. I won't go so far as to say that it is the most important. Remember: The goal of this book is to help you build a career, not necessarily get interviews or even get a job. However, I will assume that a significant number of readers of this book are actively looking or will soon be looking for a job. Therefore, this chapter focuses on development of the résumé.

Update your résumé frequently, perhaps even quarterly. In addition to reducing preparation time when you need to send it out, frequent updates allow you to more accurately track the projects you've worked on and your accomplishments. Remembering the time frames and specifics of projects can be difficult if you've let too much time elapse between updates. Periodically updating your résumé also allows you to better assess your impact or performance on the job.