Many of us only update our CV when we’re ready to look for a new job.
But there are many reasons why we should make updating our CV a regular habit.
Here are some useful tips to make sure your CV remains up to date and packed with all your notable achievements.
When should you update your CV?
You should update your CV whenever your career hits a new milestone. This might be a promotion or a particular professional achievement, such as earning a new qualification.
Regularly updating your CV will ensure you remember your achievements as they happen. This is much easier to do than trying to recall them years down the line. The dates of job responsibilities and job titles change over time, so it’s a helpful way to chart the direction of your career progress. For example, the dates of things like maternity cover promotions often become forgotten over time.
What should you update on your CV?
Personal details.
Make sure your contact details are accurate. Changes to your telephone number and email are critical but often slip under the radar.
Professional achievements.
Notable work.
Your professional achievements should appear on your CV, but it’s not enough to list them.
Specificity is important and is essential in underlining the impact of your achievement. For example, if you led a particular marketing campaign, highlight the success and impact of that campaign. Use metrics and tangible results to demonstrate the improvements your work created.
Qualifications and awards.
Also important to include are any awards, industry qualifications and promotions. Include the dates of these achievements as this will demonstrate your commitment to continuous learning and self-progression.
Career breaks.
If you have taken a career break, it’s important to include these and a brief explanation of why – especially if this was intentional and relates to continuous learning.
The format.
The structural format of your CV is a tool that can help you market your suitability for a particular role. For example, you can tailor the structure of your CV to prioritise skills or the functional aspects of your current role to ensure the most relevant information is front and centre.
For example, a graduate CV might have a different format from that of a C Suite executive.
The graduate will want to highlight their academics, professional qualifications or internships. In contrast, the C Suite executive will wish to highlight their professional achievements and career progression.
As recruitment software becomes more AI-driven, CV formatting updates ensure that your CV is compatible with screening processes.
Top Tip.
Read through the job description and highlight the keywords and the skills required. Your CV should be peppered (but not saturated) with these words. They should also appear in the personal statement at the top.
In today’s job market, recruiters receive many CVs for each job advertised. A clean, easy-to-read CV helps recruiters. Including white space and having a 1.5 line spacing with bullet points helps highlight relevant information and helps hiring managers assess role suitability.
In sum.
Updating your CV regularly is critical. Make sure you take time to update your CV with
- Notable professional work – use metrics to underline the impact of these.
- Whenever you achieve a promotion or undertake a job title change.
- Whenever you succeed in achieving an industry award, qualification or certification.
- Whenever you change your contact details.
- Whenever your career shifts its focus, such as when you seek a promotion – highlight the important skills for the job you want.
Are you looking for a new job?
The Employee Advice section of our blog has lots more CV and interview advice for job seekers.
