The Key to Being Job-Ready is Being Resume-Ready

It goes without saying that you can't write about yourself if you don't know yourself. At least not easily, anyway! If you're anything like me, and most others, you likely don't look at or think of your resume until you're about to apply for a new job or promotion.

This makes a lot of sense. Your resume sits in your Google Drive until you need it, right? And then, one day, you're sitting in a WIP and someone mentions they saw an opening at an agency you've been dying to work with for years.

Queue the sheer terror of needing to update your resume…

For some reason, it feels hard. You say to yourself, “I only need to add a few certificates, and update my last role description”, and yet… the updating doesn't happen until the last minute. It causes you a bunch of undue stress. And in the rush of it all, you don't highlight your key achievements or talk about what you're proud of, thus short-changing yourself.

“There's nothing worse than putting your second-best foot forward because you had to rush a copy of your resume.”

So, what can you do instead?

Get resume-ready, today. If you stay ready, you don't need to get ready.

Ultimately, your resume is a piece of written communication. And there are things you can do, to prepare so that when it comes time to write—you're ready.

One tip I give people, to ensure a solid level of preparedness before writing, is to have a deep understanding of your subject matter, at all times.

If you're writing a resume, the subject matter is you.

You need to have a deep understanding of yourself. A rolling understanding. Not a point in time, on this day, understanding. As you grow, learn, achieve and morph into the ultimate version of yourself, you need to continue to get to know yourself. And, capture that information in your notes app, or a doc online.

That way, come resume writing or updating time, you're good to go.

There are two things you can do to not only get to know yourself, but keep track of who you are and your achievements as well:

1. Keep your LinkedIn up-to-date.

Seriously up-to-date. Not in a look-at-this-conference-I-went-to-one-time kinda way.

Instead, take some pride in your Linkedin profile, and check in on the information you're posting, as well as who and what you're interacting with. You are, after all, the sum of all your online impressions.

• Keep your photo and cover image current. Yes, I said it. Loudly too, for those in the back. Why are we creating a sense of dissonance in ourselves by hanging onto old images that no longer serve us… or look anything like us? The first step to knowing yourself is seeing yourself. Your current self.
• Update your headline. Again, keep it current and about what you're currently working on.
• Add achievement-focused dot points to your work experience. You might add a list of responsibilities when you start a role, and as you grow in the role, add to this list with results and moments that matter. You'll notice that after a few months, or years, your list of achievements will be stellar (and lengthy), making it easy to pinpoint and pick the ones you'd like to highlight on your resume.
• Each quarter, you might like to add a featured article or item to your profile. It doesn't need to be for anyone else, it can be for you and you only. Write about what you're noticing in the industry, and what trends seem to be shifting or reflect on what you achieved in your latest campaign.

Keeping your LinkedIn up-to-date not only gives you access to a wealth of content for your resume, but it also shows you give a sh*t about your career, have pride in what you do, and signals to recruiters that you have a good sense of self. These are all excellent things to ‘show' rather than ‘tell' others. So many bonus points are gathered when you keep your LinkedIn up-to-date.

2. Make it fun, with a new personality test each month or quarter.

Who said that getting to know yourself can only be done via a Gallop Strengths Assessment or Myers-Briggs profiling? Probably someone promoting those things. Before we go on, there's nothing at all wrong with either of those approaches—I'm saying they're not the only way though.

Why not take a Which Mario Kart character am I? quiz, and see how you feel about the results? You might surprise yourself, you might think you've been a Luigi all this time, when in fact, you're a Princess Peach. 

What do you do with these results? You guess it. You can write a post about them on LinkedIn. This means you can refer back to the results and use this information to colour your resume or jog your memory on a certain aspect of your career.

If you're already doing these things, you're already on the road to being resume-ready. Well done. Stay ready.

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