Professional Development Resumes & Cover Letters

Are You The Only Person on LinkedIn without a RESUME?

linkedin-without-resume
Written by Miranda Pennington

There’s no real situation where not having a resume is acceptable these days. You want to be ready to go, with a sheet of paper to back you up, if you need to let someone know about your career history and accomplishments.

There are too many steps in the hiring process now to rely on that friend you worked with one time will be able to hook you up with your next incoming gig. Practice framing every project you work on—whether you’re a copywriter or a graphic designer, a marketing consultant or a specialized salesperson—in language someone can understand. You need a position title, company, location, description of work, and dates the work was performed for every single one!

Here are some professionals who often don’t have resumes and need to get with the program:

Long Termers

People who’ve been in the same job for a while and would be willing to move on, even if they’re not actually looking. You need to be ready if the next great opportunity comes along.

Business Owners

Even if you’re an entrepreneur with your own name on the door, clients may want to see who you’ve worked with or approach you about collaborating.

New Parents

Whether you’re tag-teaming the double-earner lifestyle or one of you has decided on child-rearing full time, odds are you still have some projects filling your precious free time. Volunteer involvement, blogging, photography, project management—even if the volume isn’t what you were used to pre-baby, demonstrating continuity of work can be crucial to rejoining the workforce full-time once the kiddo is back in school.

Literally Everyone… Yes, You

Some day you will be searching for work again. Make updating or customizing your resume at 10-minute task instead of a multi-hour search and rescue mission. Keep it live and up-to-date on LinkedIn, accessible as a Google doc and pdf, and retain a copy of every version in case you need to go back for a specific bit of experience. Future you will thank current you.

 Why Everyone Needs A Resume – Even YOU

 Read More at Careerealism

About the author

Miranda Pennington

Miranda K. Pennington is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared on The Toast, The American Scholar, and the Ploughshares Writing Blog. She currently teaches creative nonfiction for Uptown Stories, a Morningside Heights nonprofit organization. She has an MFA from Columbia University, where she has also taught in the University Writing program and consulted in the Writing Center.