Keep your CV updated while employed: the six-monthly habit

Why the CV rots faster than you think

A CV goes out of date quietly. The project that seemed unforgettable becomes a vague line a year later, and the exact figures, how many people, how much money, how much time saved, are the first details to go. By the time you need the CV, you are reconstructing two or three years from memory, usually in a hurry.

Roles change too. The job you were hired for is rarely the job you are doing two years later, and the new responsibilities, tools and skills are exactly what the next employer will want to see. A CV that still describes the old role undersells you.

There is also the unplanned reason. Restructures, redundancies and sudden opportunities rarely give much notice, and a current CV turns a stressful week into a manageable one.

The six-monthly 20 minutes

Pick two fixed points in the year, such as your pay review and six months later, and put them in your calendar. Each time, work through the same short list:

• Add the two or three most important things you delivered since the last update, each with a number.
• Update your job title and the scope of the role if they have changed. If you have been with one employer for several years, a short line on how the role has grown shows progression within it.
• Add new skills, tools, qualifications and training.
• Reread the summary at the top and check it still describes the work you want next.
• Check your contact details and LinkedIn address are current.
• Remove anything that no longer earns its place.

Pulling from your wins journal

The update is fastest if you have kept a running note of your results as they happen. A wins journal, a simple list of what you delivered, when, and what changed because of it, gives you the raw material for every CV bullet. Our article on keeping a wins journal explains how to start one.

Turn each win into a bullet that starts with what you did and ends with the result: "Rebuilt the monthly reporting pack, cutting the time to produce it from three days to one." Keep confidential details out: the outcome and your part in it are what an employer needs to see.

In Your Career, part of jobtracker.co.nz, each win is recorded with the number it moved and the skills it shows, and two buttons, CV bullets from these and STAR stories from these, lay them out as CV bullets and as STAR outlines for you to finish.

Master CV versus tailored CV

Keep one master CV that holds everything: every role, every result and every skill, even if it runs well past the usual two or three pages. Each version you send is cut down from it.

When you apply for a role, make a copy and cut it down to what that employer needs, in the order that matters to them, using the words from their ad where they are true of you. The master CV makes tailoring quick, because you are choosing rather than remembering. Name each tailored copy with the employer and the date, and keep a note of which version went where, because an interviewer will read from the one you sent. Our guide to writing a CV in New Zealand covers length and layout for the version you send.

The CV Builder is free and needs no sign-up: it lays the CV out in a single column in the New Zealand style and downloads it as a PDF. Your work is saved in your browser, and the PDF is laid out on our server and not kept, so keep the PDF and your master copy somewhere safe.

Having it ready the week an opportunity appears

Opportunities tend to arrive at inconvenient times: a recruiter's call, an internal vacancy with a short closing date, or a former manager who has just moved and wants to hire. With a current master CV, you can send a tailored version within a day, while the opportunity is still warm.

Keep your LinkedIn profile in step with the CV at each update, and keep a short list of referees you have checked with recently.

Keep the record that keeps the CV current