Resume Write & Wrong

Article Index •Resume Services • Business card • Writing Services • Cool Universe

What it is, why everyone should have one, and how it can help you find success

My standing advice to those revising their resumes is to cut old jobs and stale training, to purge all things not related to the job objective. This ‘out with the old, in with the new’ advice can seem cold-hearted...unless you understand that, though you should delete old material from a new resume, you should never delete it from your life!

Your early education, life and job experiences shaped the person you are today. You should continue to take pride in past accomplishments and fondly mark every milestone in your professional development. You won't get to do that if your old resumes get thrown away, lost in a move, drawn on by your toddler, or peed on by the cat. You'll also miss out on the opportunity to mine your past for keys to your future.

Whether you are a butcher, a baker, or a toll booth operator, and whether the job you have today is entirely different from your future goal... never throw out an old resume. Keep every one, and other documents, too, in your career file.

What, exactly, is a Career File?

A career file is a Dedicated, Protected, and Easy-to-access spot where you store old resumes, education and other job-related documents. More than that, it will become an indispensable tool for your career...and your life.

The physical file can be as simple as a clearly-marked manila envelope...for now. As your career matures, the file will grow, so I suggest you should choose a storage medium that allows room for expansion. A few ideas:

• desk drawer
• cardboard box
• portable plastic or metal file box (with a convenient handle)
• hanging file in a home filing cabinet
• loose-leaf binder with plastic protector sheets

No method is better than any other, the choice is purely personal. You can start with something simple and upgrade when you like. The only absolute is that your method must comply with theDPE Principle:

Dedicated: Only career-related documents are allowed! Don't mix in bills, photos or other papers you may be saving.

Protected: A big envelope, cardboard box, or binder must be kept in a place that's high and dry, safe from water damage or molding, and away from intense heat.

Easy-to-access: You can't put the file in a hard-to-reach attic, basement, or where it gets buried under other things. You must be able to put your hands on it seconds after a phone call from a business contact, or when you get a hot tip that the company you've always wanted to work for is accepting resumes.

You can be as neat and orderly, or as messy about your file's contents as you like. As long as everything is kept together in one place, it will work fine. And what is the ‘everything’ you should keep together?

Things to put into the career file:

• Resumes
• Job descriptions
• Performance evaluations
• Education and training certificates
• Awards, citations
• Letters of reference and praise
• Samples of work projects (an example might be report you wrote or a presentation you made)
• Company publications that mention you, other media articles or interviews
• Other: anything else that relates

Go ahead, round up the things you have around the house. When the next evaluation or training certificate comes along, you know exactly where to put it.

Now what do I do with it?

Now that you've established your own personal database (in accord with the DPE Principle), the following are three solid applications for you (and you may think of more).

Use your career file to:

• Write your next resume
• Conduct a yearly self-assessment
• Give your confidence a boost

End of Part 1

[In Your Career File - Part 2, we'll expand on techniques to use your file to advance your career goals and your sense of personal fulfillment.]