By Claudine Vainrub, Principal of EduPlan

With the beginning of a new year, we make resolutions, think of our goals towards the future and hope for great things to come. One of the tools to make all things happen is a resume. It is a professional way to present ourselves and help others understand our added value to a company, an organization or any entity. It allows us to portray our assets and provide an account of our achievements. A good time to update this resume is in the new year.

Why should we update our resume? If it seems gruesome at this moment to work on remembering all our achievements for the year, imagine six months later, or a year later. Unless you have an outstanding memory, I don’t encourage you to have to remember details a year from now, when you will be recounting what you did in the last two-three years. Finding time to do this will also ensure that the work you will need to complete is just an update, or a facelift of what you used to have. When not keeping an updated resume, you risk having to redo the entire document, at a much higher time and effort cost.

Thinking on your resume also can provide perspective on what you need to accomplish this year to achieve your goals. Understanding yourself professionally seems easier when the information is written, thus, we get a better picture of where we stand currently and where we are going. Sometimes, we see how our career transgression has been not as stable as we would like it to be, and we develop new goals from this thought process.

Having something to look forward to is also important when considering to update our resume. We are ready on the go, as opposed to having to ask someone to wait until we produce the resume. During the year, you might find opportunities and will be readily available to apply if you have updated your resume.

Be prepared for positive change, be proactive and take charge of your situation, to achieve the goals this year. All this can start with an updated resume.