I’m not a recruiter, but because I stay in touch with good headhunters and All Stars within my network, they often contact me when they are hiring sales managers, directors and VPs.
If I know someone who might be a good match, I’ll connect him to the headhunter and let the two of them take it from there.
A few weeks ago I reached out to one of my former All Stars about a VP of Sales opportunity.
Over the past 8 years, he had worked for the same company. He’s had multiple promotions, won a bunch of awards and managed 4 different teams.
This VP opportunity would be a significant step up for him in terms of pay, responsibility, and growth. It also happened to be right down the street from where he lived.
He was interested and asked for my advice on how to best move forward. I told him to send me a copy of his resume that I could pass it on to the headhunter. I also offered to check out his LinkedIn to provide any pointers.
That’s when he shocked me by saying,
“I haven’t updated my resume in 8 years and my LinkedIn is pretty outdated too.”
I was shocked (but not so shocked that I was speechless…that almost never happens) and replied,
“Dude, are you kidding me? You should be updating your resume and your LinkedIn profile every time you get a promotion or have a major accomplishment. At the very least, you need to do this at the end of every year“
This explains why he hadn’t been getting contacted by recruiters looking to fill DIrector and VP roles. Even though he’s got years of the right, his LinkedIn profile makes it look like he’s still a sales rep!
Over the next few days, I helped him update his resume and LinkedIn profile. Then I made the introduction, sent over his resume and he began interviewing.
We all get busy with work and life. Keeping our resumes and LinkedIn profiles up to date is something that falls to the bottom of our to do list. Many people don’t update them at all unless they are actively looking for a new job.
There are 3 problems with this approach:
- You miss the “hidden” job market. Recruiters, employers, and hiring managers often search for passive candidates on LinkedIn. This is especially true for unadvertised positions in management and executive roles.
- You have to scramble to update these when an opportunity pops up. My friend above had to work all weekend to put together a decent resume and profile. Without my help, he would have sent over one that didn’t position him as a prime candidate.
- You will forget your accomplishments. Trust me, even though they seem significant today, will quickly forget the details of your accomplishments in a few months.
Here’s the Inside Sales Dude method to keeping your resume and profile up to date:
Step 1. Update your resume and your LinkedIn profile every time you get a promotion or have a major accomplishment.
Step 2. At the very least, do this at the end of every quarter or year
You don’t need to do a major overhaul everytime you make an update. Just add a few bullets that list your accomplishments, your promotions and any significant changes.
If you’re not planning to leave your job, use your update resume/profile to fill out your quarterly or annual reviews.
But don’t be surprised if you start getting calls from recruiters.
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