Are you moving to a new city? Looking to make a career change? If it’s been 10-20 years since you updated your resume and you’ve only had one job, don’t stress out. You are in the right place for some tips to help you create or write your resume.
First, get ready for a trip down memory lane. Simmer on this. Don’t try to start writing cold. Use these ideas to make a worksheet of things you might want to include on your new, updated resume. You have many years of experience and a long work history. Be proud of that and take time to honor that and remember all of your accomplishments.
I am currently helping a friend with her resume. She’s worked for a vet office for over 20 years. Some of my examples below are related to the changes she has seen in her job.
How much change have you gone through in 10-20 years?
Think through all of these change categories below and, hopefully, these ideas will help you remember all of the good things you accomplished in your current role and feed the bullets for your resume!
Change in leadership, supervisor, or boss
How many bosses have you outlasted? This probably makes you the subject matter expert on a lot of topics regarding the company or department operations. Did you ever have to train your supervisor? You can spin this on your resume. Your long tenure in the same job offers stability and continuity to the company.
My friend has been through three changes of ownership. She has observed three different management styles while providing continuity for clients and coworkers.
Change in coworkers
How many coworkers have you outlasted? Again, you are the continuity. Did you help write the job descriptions or participate in the interview process? Did you train all the new people over the years? Did you create training materials like work instructions or videos? These are all transferable skills that your future employer may value.
Over twenty years, my friend has helped hire and train over 50 staff members.
Changes in technology or equipment
A lot has changed in 20 years, especially with technology. How many different tools, systems, or apps have you used? Did you ever participate in the beta testing or implementation? Think about:
Daily productivity tools like Office 365 or Google Workspace.
Chat tools like Slack or Teams.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
Project management tools like Monday.com, Basecamp, or Teamwork.com.
What about new machinery or equipment? Who documented the process of how you used each tool? Were you responsible for training people on these new tools? What about trouble-shooting or maintenance? This might include:
Office printer/copier.
Postage machine.
Warehouse equipment for packaging, shrinkwrapping, or shipping.
Cash registers, scanners, or POS (point of sale) systems.
Change in product, service, or offering
Did your company change its product offering? Add a new product or service? How did your role change through all of that? What are the lessons learned that you experienced or observed?
A restaurant may have added catering services or a new carry-out menu/online ordering and pick-up service.
A software company may have added a new app or e-commerce solution.
Change in location
Did your company move physical locations during your tenure? Chances are, you had additional responsibilities during this time. Things like documenting office furniture needs, archiving files, or planning for expansion.
Did the new location require renovations? Who handled that? Were you involved with the logistics of the move? How were you able to minimize downtime and continue serving your customers during the move?
My friend at the vet had to coordinate all of this! She was involved with choosing the new location, coordinating contractors for the renovations, ordering new signage, changing the address on paperwork, setting up internet service, and packing and labeling all supplies and equipment to ensure it was delivered to the proper room in the new space.
Change in laws, rules, or regulations
Do you work for a company that has inspections or audits? Did a change in a law or regulation change how your company does business? This might require you to take health and safety training that you could include on your resume.
Change from a crisis
During Covid, we saw many stores and restaurants change the way they served their customers with drive-up lanes, new checkout queues, and pick-up stations. Many of those changes are still in place.
My friend who works for the vet established a process for pets and their owners to wait in their cars in a numbered parking space until their exam room was ready. This keeps sick pets away from healthy pets and helps minimize pet anxiety as they enter. This demonstrates an innovative solution and creative problem-solving skills.
Change in your role, skills or education
As your company experienced 20 years of change, how did your own skills change? Were you asked to be part of special projects or cross-department committees? Did you earn a college degree? Did you take any special training courses or receive certifications? Did your job evolve and you take on new responsibilities requiring new skills? Did your title change
Change in your personal life
What activities or hobbies have you participated in that might offer more transferable skills?
Extracurricular activities
Charity or volunteer work
Fund raising
Board positions
Coaching youth sports
General resume advice
Now that you have spent some time thinking about all the changes you’ve experienced, let’s focus on the specifics of your job. Start thinking through your daily tasks, responsibilities, skills, and projects.
Google the job description for your job
If you haven’t looked for a job in twenty years, you may have no idea about how job descriptions have changed. Google the job description for your current job. You can edit the verbiage for the bullet points on your resume. It may also trigger memories of skills and experience to add.
You don’t have to list 100% of what you did. Think about the result of what you did or the “why” behind what you did. Instead of “Built a database of competitor clients” you would explain the why. “Built a database of competitor clients including program details and links to competitor profiles for use in account planning and competitive conquests.”
Think about your potential employers and focus on skills, projects, experience related to that new job. Envision the hiring manager for your new job. What is important to them?
Show metrics if possible
Hiring managers like to see quantifiable results on a resume. Some examples might include:
Supported over X,000 customers
Increased sales by X%
Reduced errors or complaintes by X%
What makes you different or better?
Use your longevity, loyalty, dependability, and stability as selling points here. You may be competing against job hoppers so your long-term job can be positioned as a positive. .
Beyond the tenure in your last job, what combination of skills or personality traits makes you unique? How can you stand out from the hundreds of other job candidates out there?
Think about your transferable skills
You may be looking to change industries or careers so think about what skills you have that can transfer to a different role. Hiring managers will be looking for relevant experience. Consider soft skills like leadership, creativity, and communication skills. And think about hard skills like project management, copy writing, or machine maintenance.
Choose a format that is easy to scan
You may be competing with hundreds of other job seekers so make sure your resume is easy to scan.
Think about the use of all caps, bold, underline, italics. For example…
WORK EXPERIENCE
Company Name, City, State Date
Job Title
Overall job description summary.
Bullets with action verbs…
Regular resume best practices apply
Leave off your physical address and just include contact information including your phone number and email. If you still have an AOL or Yahoo email address, you might consider creating a new Gmail account to appear more current!
Start with a summary statement that sets you apart. Try to summarize your professional experience, spotlight any unique or important technical skills, and brag a little!
Use strong action verbs like developed, boosted, managed, coordinated, persuaded.
If you don’t have a college degree, then leave off the education section. Focus your efforts on your work experience section and you will be fine!
Proofread your resume. Read it forward for context. Your brain can fix typos when you read text normally so try reading it backwards. One word at a time. No context.
Save your Word or PDF file with your name in the file name. Files are easily lost when they all say resume.pdf.
Don’t be afraid to brag. You have to sell yourself and be proud of your work history!
Additional Job Search Advice
Things have changed since you last looked for new position 10-20 years ago! It’s been a long time so here are a few more tips to help you put your best foot forward to prospective employers.
Cover letter yes or no? Many recruiters will tell you to skip the cover letter. LinkedIn makes it easy to apply to jobs with just your resume. In my opinion, I think a good cover letter can help you tell your story as you look to change careers.
Nervous about interviews? Check out this post: 25 Tips to Prepare for an Interview. My tips are nerdy but they will help you alleviate your nerves and build confidence. Quick tip: Google interview questions and then take the time to write down your answers in advance. Interviewers are not that creative. You might be able to predict the questions.
“Tell me about yourself.” I would bet money that most of your interviews will begin with some variation of “tell me about yourself.” It’s a good idea to plan your response in advance. This blog will help you figure out what to say: 9 Ideas for How to Answer Tell Me About Yourself.
Try informational interviews. Have you moved to a new state? Are you looking to switch careers? Informational interviews are a great way to meet people in your desired field or company, ask for advice, and practice your interviewing skills. This post has more helpful ideas. 9 Tips to Get the Most Out of an Informational Interview.
Thank you notes yes or no? Again, in my opinion, you should send a thank you note after any interview. Many people do not make the effort. It’s a courtesy. It’s also another chance to reiterate why you are a good fit. This blog will help you create a template for the notes: How to Write a Thank You Email After an Interview.
Not on LinkedIn? After you update your resume, you should consider setting up a LinkedIn profile. It’s free and a great way to connect with recruiters. Tons of companies post their jobs on LinkedIn but you need a profile to access these. If you are nervous about how to do this, check out this blog I wrote for high school students. It breaks down all the steps: 12 LinkedIn Profile Tips for High School Students.
