Keeping Your UpTo Date

Whether or not you're on the hunt for a new job, keeping your CV up-to-date is important. There's nothing worse than scrambling to come up with an accurate and interesting CV when you have two days to make the submission deadline for a job opening.

It's Essential to be Prepared since you never know when you might need to submit it, you should regularly update your CV with relevant accomplishments, new job duties, recently achieved certifications, and other similar achievements instead of trying to remember critical information days, months, or even years after the
fact. This is especially true of smaller but equally important achievements that may fade in memory as time passes.

Even if you don't edit your CV regularly, you should keep good records of your stands upon which you performance will be measured and accomplishments. These will make your job easier when you finally sit down at the computer.

This may be as simple as keeping a work journal or storing emails from superiors, clients that commend you for a 'job well done' or emails which detail your role in a new project. However you want to keep your information organized is up to you. 

Here are some things you should keep track of:
Your Accomplishments
These set you apart and demonstrate your ability to be able to do the job well. These are one of the most difficult things for an individual to write. Why? Many people feel that an accomplishment has to be monumental in order to matter. In reality is that many of the things you do on a regular basis can be seen as accomplishments. These may include products, processes that you have changed for the better in the organization. Quantifiable examples are best when it comes to proving what you've done through the use of monetary amounts, numbers, quotas, percentages will greatly support the information that you are trying to show. That's what belongs in an interview-winning CV.

 
Examples of accomplishments might include increasing a company's turnover or profits, promotions, special projects, decreasing costs, or company/industry sponsored awards. What you list should be items that stand apart from your day-to-day duties. These items should be tangible, quantifiable and put your accomplishments into perspective. 

Take a look at these examples:
•    Achieved a 50% higher saving by partnering with fewer agents and streamlining the sales process.
•    Reduced stocks by adopting a new stock keeping system that allowed for stock to be delivered to the branches from the warehouse thus saving on storage, inventory and staff costs.
•    Boosted sales by repacking the company’s products and service to match the needs of individual and corporate customers. The turnover target for the year, Ksh 6 million, was attained in less than six months. 

Other, less quantifiable accomplishments may also be included, such as major accounts you landed, customer service satisfaction ratings, mergers and acquisitions, positive publicity, promotion and anything else you can think of that's appropriate to list under accomplishments.

Licenses, Degrees, Awards and Certificates
List only those which are most relevant to your career field. Include titles, dates, locations and the sponsors of any training you completed to receive certificates or licences. Remember, stay focused so the information is relevant to the job you are applying for. A hiring manager only wants to see what's relevant to the position you're applying for.

Conferences and Additional Education
Sticking with the idea of what's relevant, conferences can be an important boost to your selling power, particularly if they helped you earn continuing education credits or are substantial enough to have given you an unique skill, such as specialization in a certain area of knowledge or less obviously, the unspoken power that comes with having made high-end powerful contacts through a variety of conferences. There's something to be said about who you know. Don't forget to make note of any in-services or trainings you may have conducted with others as a result of attending conferences. These are notable accomplishments that highlight certain skills like leadership and public speaking.

Additional Skills; that are job specific
If you are seeking an office admin position that requires you to have basic administration skills, you may add technical skills such as being able to use MS Office programs and QuickBooks very well. Other, non-computer-related skills, such as operating a cash register, or using equipment such as a printer, scanner, photocopier and can make a difference in getting a job, particularly if you're just entering the job market.