Is your resume or LinkedIn profile stuck in the graveyard?
Lynne Williams, Ed.D. Candidate
ATS Resumes | LinkedIn™ Branding | Pivots & Reinventions | Keyword strategies to beat the bots | Data-driven decision-making | Strategic Job Search Tactics | Career Education | Techie Boomer Cheerleader
Is your resume or LinkedIn profile stuck in the graveyard? Let’s revive them and bring your career back to life! Brush off those neglected cobwebs!
Don’t abandon your career documents, or you may face the ominous consequences of missed opportunities.
To stay competitive in today’s job market, engaging in career management and maintaining an updated resume and an active, optimized LinkedIn profile with the right keywords is essential.
Don't let your career be a ghost of its former self!
The Graveyard of Neglected Resumes
Common Resume Issues
The shadowy monsters lurking in those menacing Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are scarier than any haunted house—if your resume isn’t packed with the right keywords and tailored to each job description, it may never rise from the dead.
Beware! An overly formatted resume can vanish into the ATS black hole abyss, never to be seen by human eyes, leaving your application as invisible as a ghost.
Outdated resume formats that still cling to "Objectives" and "References available upon request" are as ancient as mummies—it’s time to unwrap those relics and replace them with fresh, impactful content that brings your resume back to life!
Impact of an Outdated Resume
Resumes that lack the right keywords are often banished to the ATS underworld, screened out before they even have a chance to shine brightly like a candle in a jack-o-lantern.
An outdated resume will lead to fewer opportunities and missed chances to stand out in today’s fiercely competitive job market, where every word counts! Don’t go down that spooky path!
Solution for Treats, Not Tricks
Revitalize your resume by tailoring it with the right keywords to help it rise from that eerie ATS graveyard. Match the keywords and key phrases to each job description. In other words, tailor each resume from a solid base resume.
Use action-oriented language to showcase your accomplishments, focusing on measurable results that prove your value.
In every bullet point, state how you helped a company make money, save money, or save time using dollars, numbers, or percentages. Note that bullet points are not sentences, so there is no need for that period at the end.
How can you do this? Get your little friend ChatGPT to help you use a prompt like this: I am going to provide you with one bullet point from a resume. Please rewrite it to include a metric that might be a number, percent, or dollar amount. Do you understand?
Make sure you replace any ChatGPT-suggested numbers with real numbers or rewrite the bullet point with a metric that makes sense. NEVER have ChatGPT or AI write your entire resume. If you do, the results will be creepy and even frightful! You must have human interaction for content and formatting.
To prevent your resume from falling back into the crypt of neglect, set a calendar reminder to refresh it every six months. This will ensure it stays alive and ready for any opportunity, especially for year-end performance reviews if you are employed.
A “pretty” resume with a pop of color for humans and a “deconstructed” black and white resume for the bots are two separate documents, so if you need help writing a resume for the Applicant Tracking System, you will find 19 tips in this article.
Have You Ghosted Your LinkedIn Profile?
LinkedIn is The Magic Potion in Today’s Job Market
LinkedIn is more than just a networking tool for professionals—think of it as your digital cauldron, bubbling with connections and opportunities, ready to cast a spell on your career.
For recruiters and hiring managers, LinkedIn is the primary platform on which they hunt for top talent, like witches searching for the perfect potion ingredients. Keep your profile active, or risk becoming a ghost in their search results!
Recommended by LinkedIn
What Happens When LinkedIn is Inactive?
A lack of engagement on LinkedIn is like hiding in the shadows of a haunted house—no one knows you're there, leading to missed job opportunities. Don’t be a ghostly LinkedIn Lurker!
Inactive profiles become invisible to recruiters as if they've vanished into thin air. Outdated or incomplete information casts a fog over your true skills and expertise, leaving your profile looking like a skeleton of its potential!
Brush Off the Digital Cobwebs
Update your LinkedIn profile photo and headline to give your profile a fresh, lively look—it’s like putting on a new costume that better fits who you are today.
Add any new skills, certifications, or achievements to showcase the magic you’ve been working on.
Don’t be a phantom-like creature lurking in the shadows—engage with your network by sharing industry insights or posts to stay visible. Actively post, like, and comment to boost visibility, credibility, and discoverability.
When you comment, note that these will be in your feed, so don’t write with only a chilling two words like “worth attending” or “great read.” Show you are not a zombie and can write a sentence or more with at least a dozen words. Share your thought leadership, so you sound wickedly intelligent.
And for an extra boost, join and actively participate in relevant groups to connect with other professionals who can help keep your career alive and thriving! Reach out to your former, not ghoulish, contacts and expand your network.
Get Out of the Graveyard!
A polished, keyword-optimized resume ensures you make it past those sinister ATS gatekeepers. At the same time, an active LinkedIn profile keeps you visible to recruiters and hiring managers who constantly search for fresh talent.
Regularly updating your resume and LinkedIn gives your career the energy they need to stay alive, helping you seize opportunities rather than watching them pass you by like phantoms at night!
Don’t let your career get stuck in the graveyard. It’s time to bring your grim resume and LinkedIn back to life!
Take action today, by updating your resume, re-engaging on LinkedIn, or seeking professional help to ensure you stand out.
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BIO
Lynne M. Williams is the Executive Director of the Great Careers Network, a volunteer-run 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides career development and networking connections for 1) job seekers in career transition, including veterans, and 2) employed and self-employed for career management.
Aside from writing keyword-focused content for ATS resumes and LinkedIn profiles, Lynne is writing her doctoral dissertation on LinkedIn for Job Seekers. She is a contributing author on “Applying to Positions” in Find Your Fit: A Practical Guide to Landing the Job You Love, along with the late Dick Bolles, the author of What Color is Your Parachute?, and is also a speaker on career topics.
Brand to Land: Eliminating Personal Blanding™ with the Sharpest Tools & Strategies for Your Professional Success. Branding ╽ LinkedIn Profile Optimization ╿ Trainer ╽ Career Coach ╿ Speaker ╽ ⛨ Verified Profile | Testing
1moIs this what they mean Lynne Williams, Ed.D. Candidate when they talk about Post & Ghost? United We All #KeepRockingLinkedIn! Kevin On a Mission to Eliminate Organizational & Personal Blanding™
Brand Strategy, Marketing and Creative Leader | Brand Strategy | Brand Marketing | Brand Creative | Consumer Behavior | Shopper Behavior | Customer Experience | Emotional Connection
1moI love this spooky themed article Lynne! Just yesterday I was looking at a former colleague's about section, and it was completely outdated with details of his prior role in present tense. It didn't match where he is now, and has been for 4 (4) years and what he is bringing to the table at a different company.
Career Transition Consultant
1moCouldn't agree more. You get back what you put into it!