As far as pandemic disruption goes, my life has remained essentially unchanged. I work in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, so I was busy helping people work on COVID-related vaccines and test kits. While my traveling dropped to nothing for a few months, virtual support was at an all-time high. I wasn’t thinking about my resume, but that’s because I keep it up to date.

Over the last year, several friends have lost their jobs. It’s been devastating, even if it wasn’t a job they loved. As someone who has experienced losing a job, I understand the feeling of freefalling that comes with no safety net. Because of that experience, I’ve changed my tack when it comes to preparing my online professional presence and resume.

1. You Never Know

Several jobs ago, on an unremarkable Monday afternoon, my company gave me two pretty shitty options. I could either leave immediately with a check or be put on a disciplinary plan, during which I could get fired anytime and receive nothing. I decided to take the money and run. It was a devastating experience, and I made a commitment to myself shortly thereafter that I never wanted to find myself without a job and unprepared to apply.

Fortunately, serendipity meant that I was already within the hiring process of another company that ultimately did hire me. Still, I was blindsided and devastated by the loss of my job. I knew I didn’t like them, but it never occurred to me that they might not like me. I know, it was vain, but it’s how I felt. The experience taught me that you never know when your position could get eliminated or outsourced, or your company could break up with you, as mine did with me.

Ever since then, I regularly review my resume and update it as needed. Even if I love the job I’m currently working, I still update my resume. It doesn’t matter what company for which you work – their loyalty is to their bottom line, not you. When your resume is current, any opportunity that presents itself is available to you. This year, I accepted a job for which I didn’t even apply. A recruiter found me on LinkedIn and reached out. If my profile and resume were not current, I may not have gotten that opportunity.

2. Regular Updates Save You Time & Energy

No one thinks to themselves, ‘yay! time to update my resume!’ but it’s an important part of your professional growth. It’s a lot easier to remember the remarkable things you’ve done in your job when you’re still in your current position. How well do you think you remember your ‘newly acquired’ skills and responsibilities from three years ago? For most of us, easily forgotten are the mundane, regular tasks included in our job. It’s much easier to review what new responsibilities you’ve taken on or projects you knocked out of the park while you’re still doing them.

The other nice perk of regularly updating your resume is that you can one-up yourself. Oh, you learned a new software two months ago? Now you can also add that you’ve implemented protocols utilizing it for the department. As your skills and responsibilities grow, you get to constantly improve what you write about yourself. It’s not only easier to do when you do it often, but it’s also a bit of an ego stroke. Who doesn’t like reading about all of the awesome things they’ve done to grow? Growth matters to hiring managers. They want to see how the role progressed over time, which brings me to my next point…

3. Include Job/Title Changes Within Organizations

If your title changed while you were with a company, don’t just list everything you’ve done under the latest title. Companies like to see that you’ve grown over time within the organization because you’re learning and improving. Every company, no matter the size, wants to hire employees with a growth mindset.

With my last organization, I was offered a lateral move from in-house based work to field-based. While the roles were similar, I still list them as separate on my resume. It also allows me to separate out the interesting and different aspects of the job that expanded in that transition. Even if you are moving from what you perceive to be a low title to a middle-low title, it doesn’t matter. It still shows growth, and it shows that you perfected your initial responsibilities and took on more.

Conversely, if you don’t show title or responsibility changes, the perception can be that you weren’t willing to take on more and grow within the organization. One way to get around this, if you haven’t had a title change, is to include all work under one title and then include sub-categories (e.g. sections for Admin, Data Entry, Department Organization, etc.). Even if an organization is hiring for an entry-level position, they are always interested in individuals who are hungry, professionally speaking. There are always ways to present yourself more or less favorably on your resume. Let that 1-2 page document highlight your best efforts and growth mindset.

4. Resume Optimization: Use AI to Your Advantage

Artificial intelligence has added a lot to our world, but unfortunately, it’s also made the job search process that much harder. The vast majority of medium-to-large companies are using ATS (or Applicant Tracking Systems). They use these programs to gauge the best candidates from all who have applied for a position. If your resume doesn’t meet the specific requirements of an ATS – even if you’re perfectly qualified – your resume won’t ever get in front of a person. Because of this, sites like Jobscan have been developed to help you use ATS to your advantage. I discovered Jobscan in 2020, and while haven’t (yet) utilized their services, I probably will at some point in the future. They have subscription services, but you can also do quite a bit for free.

If you want to stick with the free version, they allow you to upload something like 5 resume versions per month or two – along with the job description – and they will give feedback, based on ATS analysis. Now, it may not be perfect for every industry, but it will give you a really good idea of the types of information and vocabulary you might be missing. Even if you don’t take all of the advice, you can’t ignore that it is objective.

If you sign up for their subscription services, Jobscan will also do LinkedIn and cover letter optimization, in addition to more resume uploads. Either way, if you’re in the job search market, you’re leaving information and money on the table if you don’t check it out.

5. LinkedIn is Your Friend

I can’t tell you the number of people I know who don’t keep up with their LinkedIn profile, and it’s really unfortunate. As I mentioned earlier, I was offered – and accepted – a job for which I didn’t even apply. The recruiter found me on LinkedIn, and because my resume and profile were both current, we were able to move forward quickly. He also was able to push for and get a higher salary for me. These types of opportunities just don’t happen if you aren’t keeping yourself job hunt ready at any time.

Ninety-four percent of recruiters use LinkedIn to vet candidates, and 87% of recruiters use LinkedIn specifically to find candidates. If you aren’t updating and managing your LinkedIn profile, you may inadvertently be taking yourself out of the running for positions. Everyone Googles everyone else nowadays, especially in a hiring situation. If you aren’t aware of and managing your internet presence, you could be losing opportunities and, in the worst case, could be presenting an inaccurate image of yourself to the world.

Resumes and LinkedIn are like

Peanut butter and jelly. They blend together to make something better. If you really want to put your best foot forward in your next job search – or get lucky and have a job come to you, as it did for me – take some time to update both, and keep up with it. Put it on your calendar and look at it once a month – maybe nothing changes, but when it does, you’re ready to add it. You never know what opportunity might come knocking. Don’t you want to be ready to open the door when that time comes?