4 Quick Tips for Resume Spring Cleaning
I don't know about you, but we're heading into a busy season here.
I'm excited about all of the milestones that are coming (another high school graduation, end of elementary school, chorus concerts, vacations, etc.)
With everything coming down the pike, I don't have a lot of time for busy work. I'm sure you don't either. And when you're busy, the last thing that you are thinking about is updating your resume or LinkedIn profile unless you are in an active search.
When clients come to me, they often have ignored their LinkedIn profiles and resumes for years because they just had too many competing priorities. They haven't needed to update things, so they just put it on the back burner. I completely get it.
The good news: if this is you, you can make up for lost time fairly quickly.
Here's what I suggest in getting started:
- Be clear on your goals: Know what you want to do next (the types of roles/clients that you are looking to attract) and focus your efforts on highlighting the impacts/results that you have delivered in these areas in the past.
- Demonstrate your value through numbers: I'm an engineer by training, so I make spreadsheets for everything. I get that this might not be you - however, I challenge you to quantify what you can and show numbers (product revenue, etc) whenever possible.
- Weave early experiences into your summary: When you have high-profile early experience, you don't need to leave that on the 2nd page of your resume. Highlight this in your Executive Summary to show your career journey in a clear and concise way.
- Use headlines to grab the reader: Leave the objective statement in the 1900s where it belongs. Modern resumes and LinkedIn profiles focus on what the employer/client is looking for. Your goals are important to you, but not necessarily important to future employers.
One more note: this may not be the weekend for you to do this work. Just know that when you are ready, making these updates may not be as hard as you think.
And if you'd prefer to not do the work yourself, feel free to reply to this message and let me know how I might be able to help - I still have a few open spots remaining in May, but I'm booking up fairly quickly.
Question of the week
How do you turn down a job offer respectfully, despite asserting how much you wanted it during interviews?
Here is some context: After three rounds of successive and successful interviews I felt an offer would follow, and that it would be on the higher side of the salary band due to my experience. But that was not the case. The offer was lower than I expected. I probably could have negotiated up, but the final interview made me realize that at 53 I should be aiming for more senior positions (Sr Director, VP, or even CMO) befitting my level of experience and expertise - both considerably more than the 40-year-old VP (bosses boss) I interviewed with.
Had the salary offer been acceptable I might have taken the job because it got me back into the corporate workforce. But the overall experience was an eye-opener and realization that it would be better to hold out for the right opportunity before even applying.
This is why salary transparency has become such a hot topic (and why so many people are angry about the unrealistic bands that companies publish).
If the company had given you a realistic salary range upfront, then you probably wouldn't have gone as far in the process - you would have told them that the salary wasn't where it needed to be and left it at that. I am fine with you being open and honest that the salary wasn't what you expected. I don't think that you have to give them any additional information (including the realization that you plan to start looking for more senior roles).
In case you missed these LinkedIn posts:
"I became invisible when I turned 60."
Poll: If you could, would you stay in your current role until you're 94 like Warren Buffett? (1350+ votes)
Posting on LinkedIn helped my Gen X client land 3 job offers in 3 months.
3% of workers believe "overqualified" is a legitimate reason for rejection.
You can do all of the right things to find a job....
Want to up your game on LinkedIn?
Need a new resume or executive bio?
I deliver resumes, executive bios, LinkedIn profile optimization, and 1-hour strategy calls.
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Limited time only: We'll be offering the current version of the Ageless Careers Toolkit through June 30, so if you're looking to take the course, you'll want to start it now.
The Ageless Careers Toolkit is a self-paced job search program with 5 modules:
- Build Your Ageless Career: I answer your biggest job search questions and troubleshoot common issues for Gen X and Baby Boomer job seekers
- Write Your Ageless Resume: I've written 1000s of resumes - this is my 43-page guide for writing a winning resume
- Craft Your Ageless Cover Letter: My tips for writing a cover letter in 10 minutes or less
- The Art of Ageless Interviewing: Boost your confidence through my biggest interview tips
- Create Your Ageless LinkedIn Presence: We are going to optimize your LinkedIn profile so that opportunities find you
The toolkit includes both written guides and video presentations with 10 sample resumes across various functions (marketing, finance, engineering, manufacturing, sales, etc) and roles (Project Manager, Director, VP, C-Suite).
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Other ways that I can help:
Question of the Week: Do you have a question that you would to have answered in the Question of the Week? If so, reply to this email and let me know what's on your mind.
Corporate Presentations: I deliver customized presentations for businesses and universities, offering webinars/in-person presentations across topics including ageism, resume best practices, LinkedIn optimization, job search, and more.
Hiring Help: Reach out if you have any open roles that you would like to share with this community.
Sponsorships: Reach Gen X and Baby Boomer executives by sponsoring this newsletter (we're currently at 4500+ subscribers for the newsletter and 71,500+ followers on LinkedIn, so you can easily reach a wide base of readers).
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Take care of yourself and have a wonderful weekend!
Colleen
