Career Tools - Updating Your CV

Courtesy of Elizabeth Bacchus, The Successful CV Writing Company

How Often Should You Update Your CV?

Out of 273 people polled they answered in the following way when asked, how often do you update your CV?

67% when applying for a new job

9% on a regular basis (between 1-3 months)

24% never!

Having an up-to-date, ready to send CV is a time critical factor in maximising your potential in the job market. Most people omit lots of key achievements from a current or previous role when eventually updating their CV, if they don't do it on a regular basis.

In our daily working lives we could be contributing to a key company project, increasing profitability and productivity in our departments, training other staff effectively and so on. These are just a few key things that could be included on your CV as you update it. If you are not keeping an active eye on your CV regularly, its easy to forget to add important achievements.

Trying to delve deep into your memory bank to remember why you were so great and effective in your job before the company cut staff or closed down, is not an easy task. Losing a job, impacts massively on our ability to really market ourselves well; shock sets in, we lose confidence, we are distracted with the worry at not having a regular income, we panic...the list is endless. However, losing a job doesn't have to be the end of the line, its an opportunity to reinvent yourself and make the most of your core skill-set and apply those to creating a winning CV.

Tips for keeping your CV up to date.

At the end of each week, think about what you have achieved, is there anything that would really stand out on your CV?

• Did your line manager or maybe the MD of your company acknowledge something you did well?
• How did you perform in a team task, did you manage to motivate and support your colleagues in getting the results you were all aiming for?
• Did you implement a new system that increased productivity in your division or for the company
• Did you win a new hard to reach client by applying a new sales technique?
• Perhaps you finished a project in record time and brought it in under budget

Anything positive should be listed in the key achievements within your CV. What may have seemed a small thing at the time or part of your usual week may actually be the difference of a potential new employer offering you an interview and subsequently a job.

Don't take for granted your daily duties. You are contributing everyday to make your company and department a success.

Outside work interests are a key attributing factor at making you stand out from the pile of CV's on a recruiter's desk. Perhaps you recently started some voluntary work for a local charity, maybe you are involved in some sort of team sports, possibly even an unusual sport, - this is a great indication to a recruiter that not only are you a team player, but also that you think beyond the norm.

Whatever it is that you do, remember it is valuable in its own way and may just be the difference between you and the next candidate from getting the job you want!

Author, Elizabeth Bacchus is a leading Career Coach, Change Management Consultant and founder of The Successful CV Company - providing affordable, interview winning CV's and dynamic cover letter development for candidates at all stages of their career.