Mid Career - Updating your Resume

You probably haven't looked at your resume since you were hired on with the Corps. But now is a great time to look it over and add in the new experience you have gained since starting your career. You want to have your resume ready to go incase an opportunity comes along like a temporary assignment or the possibility of being on a national team.
• Length – Most resumes that get sent in are too long. Some are 5 or more pages. Managers will not read it in its entirety. So it is a good idea to present your most relevant and critical information in the top two thirds of the first page.

• Readability – Do not use tiny, unreadable font in order to squish all of your experience on the page. It can make it very hard to read and by the end the manager may not like you very much for causing eye strain and a headache. Instead make sure your truly significant accomplishments stand out. Use bullets or short sentences and put them first. If you bury them in the middle of a really long paragraph, there is a good chance that either the hiring official will not read it, or they will simply gloss over it.

  Do not rely on the USA jobs tool to lay out your resume for you, use MS Word or equivalent to make it readable. Your resume is your brochure, make it stand out.

• Focus – Job titles are consistent and generally the hiring manager will know by the title what your day to day job duties are. A resume should not be a collection of position descriptions. Do NOT copy and paste from your position descriptions. As stated earlier…your job title already tells the hiring official what jobs you perform. You really want to focus on listing your accomplishments and the unique skills you gained from the position. If relevant, include information about the scope of your duties or the size of the programs you worked on.

• Listing your Trainings – You should not include a list of all the trainings you have ever taken. Limit it to critical training for licenses or certifications that would be a benefit for the job you are applying for. A hiring manager is not going to select you because you took SHARP or Ergonomics training. There is no need to include dates unless you are showing a license or certification is current. Awards can be included, but only include major relevant awards and make sure you give the reader some idea what they are for.

• USA Jobs Questionnaire – These questionnaires are often included with the announcement and till determine if your resume gets referred. Answering all minimum qualification questions affirmatively guarantees a minimum score of 70. Answer questions in your favor but make sure your resume can back up your answers.