Career Success Tip: Is Your Resume Looking to the Past or Future?

Is your resume focused on your past experience and accomplishments?  Even if you tailor your resume to a specific job description you could be making a mistake in your job search. Almost every resume I have seen has focused on past accomplishments. And while this is certainly acceptable, if you really want to stand out your resume needs to talk to the value you WILL bring to the new position.

There are two components to future focusing your resume:

1. New job requirements
2. Continuously changing business environment 

Generally when applying for a new position job seekers are looking for a new challenge, perhaps a promotion or change of industry. In either case your past experience alone is insufficient to demonstrate that you will be successful in a new role.

Our world is changing continuously and at a faster pace than every. Just because you were able to successfully complete a project in the past is not necessarily an indicator that you will be able to continue to do so in the future as technology, the economy, politics and more change.  

Consider a marketing executive who was brilliant at creating television ads. As the business shifts to marketing to consumers on the internet will this brilliant professional still be able to create successful marketing campaigns?

You past accomplishments and professional success still matter, however, in a competitive global market your past success is no longer enough. You need to demonstrate that you WILL be successful in the future.

How do you make your resume future focused? You need to demonstrate how you are adaptable, that you are a continuous learner and you know how to apply your knowledge in to business situations. Try it out and if you need help, find a career coach or resume writer who can help you add this dimension to your resume, your most important marketing piece.