Spring is here! Time to clean out your garage and take those shirts you don’t remember owning to Goodwill. While you’re at it, this represents a perfect season to think about spring cleaning your resume as well. Resume updates will help you stay ready no matter what your career throws at you.
A tight, effective resume can greatly improve your job prospects in the accounting and finance industry. The document offers your best chance to make a good first impression. As such, you want it to present your best qualities as a potential employee.
Meanwhile, your career keeps advancing. Even if you’ve held the same job for a relatively long period of time, you’re constantly picking up new skills and expanding your experience. Make sure your resume shows this growth.
To make this happen, periodic resume updates are essential. A routine spring cleaning can leave you ready to grab the next opportunity when it comes along. Here are five easy updates for accounting and finance professionals:
Five Easy Resume Updates for Accounting and Finance Professionals
Add Your Latest Skills and Experience
Your resume should encapsulate your professional abilities. As you progress through your accounting and finance career, you should be adding skills constantly. However, if you’ve had a comfortable job for a long time, you may have gotten lax about adding your latest upgrades.
Include all your recent accomplishments and experiences. This can include new responsibilities, professional certifications, or memorable projects. Also, don’t forget about soft skills. Note your expanding abilities in areas like communication, teamwork, and leadership.
Drop Outdated Experience
As you add your most recent experience, delete or summarize your older information. This does more than just create more space on your resume for fresher information. It also lets you emphasize your more hirable qualities, which usually derive from the last few years of your career.
As you progress through your career, some of your work history will become outdated. It no longer signals value to future employers. To get the most out of your resume, concentrate on your last five years and carefully consider how much you need to include that is more than 10 years old.
Research Keywords
Much of the grunt work for sorting resumes gets done by computers. As such, you need to write your resume for two different audiences. It has to pass the initial software screen, while still remaining interesting and dynamic for the eventual human HR staffer who will determine the next cut in the hiring process.
Make sure your document does well with the AI-based readers. Research the keywords that are most common in your industry. Also, look to the job posting for hints as to what terms might prove most valuable to a particular employer.
Build a Flexible Template
Eventually, you’ll want to customize your resume for each individual job opening. Small tweaks and changes in emphasis can increase your chances at particular positions.
To do this, you want to have a strong “base resume.” This is a template you can use as a point of departure for the customized version you will eventually send.
Review Your Formatting and Grammar
Don’t forget about the most basic forms of cleanup. Make sure your grammar and spelling are correct. Put each part of your resume under the microscope — any tiny error can give an HR staffer the excuse to disregard your application.
At the same time, look for any updates you can make. Try to use interesting and dynamic language, while still remaining professional. Also, research the current expectations in terms of format. The structure of your resume might need a refurbishment to meet the prevailing standard.
Need Help Landing A Great New Accounting or Finance Job?
A great resume is only the first step in advancing your accounting and finance career. You also need the right connections. A top recruiter, like Elby Professional Services, can steer you towards the perfect employers to boost your professional development.
Contact Elby today to learn more.
