[justin_vanw]

Keep your resume always up to date? That is the kind of risk free but pointless advice you see here and there, but what is the point?

Are you going to forget the highlights of the work you have done? Not really.

Does it take a lot of work to update a resume, such that upon being laid off you have to delay your job search for a significant amount of time because you have to go into full time 'resume updating' mode for a month? Not at all.

Updating a resume takes like 4 hours. If you've been at the same job for 20 years, it might take 8 hours. There is just no reason to 'always keep your resume up to date'. Not a real reason not to do it, but no reason to do it either.

It's like advising people to always wash the bottoms of their running shoes with an old toothbrush after every run. Will it hurt? Not really. Will it help? Nope. Should you do it? If you feel like it or enjoy it, shit, go for it, but it's also a waste of time.

[michaelt]

Sometimes when people say "keep your resume up to date" what they actually mean is job change preparation more generally.

Keep your resume up to date; give some thought to what you'd like your next job to be; do that learning/practice/professional development you've been putting off because it wasn't needed for your last job but might be for your next; make sure you're still in touch with your friends at other companies whom you've been meaning to catch up with but you've both been busy; consider whether there are any company perks or equipment you've become reliant on and decide what you'll do if you lose them; and look over your finances to make sure your arrangements reflect your expectations for the future.

[cheez]

> Are you going to forget the highlights of the work you have done? Not really.

I do.

I implemented a specific kind of distributed calculation in the financial industry before it was a thing. We (I didn't design the calculation) literally invented something that hadn't been done.

Totally forgot about it. It just got patented 15 years later. It's not on my resume.

Right now, I'm applying machine learning to a domain that hasn't yet had it applied and it feels similar: it's going to be awesome, going to do great things, and I probably won't remember it when I need to update my resume.

If I were to start all over, I would write down every single thing I ever did in the resume and when it came time to send that resume out, I'd whittle it down to the things that apply just for that job.

Here's to hoping I never need to send out a resume again, otherwise I'm screwed.

[justin_vanw]

I refuse to have a resume that is more than the front of one piece of paper. I generally get complimented on it. When I add something new, it means something else comes off. I can update it in about 5 minutes if I need to, which is rare, because who uses resumes anymore? They are ridiculous.

The jobs that ask for a resume are the same ones I don't ever want to have again.

[phamilton]

I just went through a round of interviews with a few companies and I didn't use a resume. They only asked for one the day before the scheduled onsite, so interviewers could have something in hand going in. I told them to just use my LinkedIn.

While you might say my LinkedIn is my resume, every single interview was the result of a referral or me reaching out to the company directly. I didn't submit a single job application. Nobody looked at my resume and made a snap judgement about whether to pursue me as a candidate.

[quicklyfrozen]

Out of curiosity, does this mean you drop older positions completely off the resume? Doesn't this make employers question the time periods not accounted for?

BTW, I've needed a resume a few times even when not looking for a job -- e.g. a potential investor or acquirer wants to see resumes of all key personnel.

[jldugger]

> Doesn't this make employers question the time periods not accounted for?

At a certain point, you take the date of your degree off the resume, and if they want a full history, they can ask for it.

The best plan is to have two documents: a career tracking document that covers everything you did, and how well you did it, and then your resume is simply a summary of the most important parts of that career document.

[quicklyfrozen]

Maybe you're thinking on a different timescale then me, but I don't find it that easy to remember all the highlights when I need to update my resume after a couple years.

I also think it would be useful to keep notes on the hard problems you've faced. I find that line of questioning difficult to answer for a couple reasons: first, most of the problems don't seem that difficult once solved, and second, the interviewer is likely to probe for details which I've likely forgotten after a few months.

[phamilton]

With average tenure in the valley at less than 2 years, most people naturally update their resume every year or so.

[eropple]

> Are you going to forget the highlights of the work you have done? Not really.

It's less about the highlights and more about the numbers. I found (when I worked FT) that if I spent a little time every month or two--and I mean a little time, maybe ten minutes--reviewing my LinkedIn and my resume and updating anything that might be useful. Like--oh, hey, I was using Ruby now, and I'd like to keep using Ruby, I'd better update those. Or I might have gotten hard numbers about the outcome of a project I worked on--HR and prospective employers love hard numbers--and could go back and update a bullet point from before.

In addition, it made me think more about the story that my resume is going to tell a future employer, and made me think about what I wanted out of my career in general. Because I was doing it on a regular basis every so often, and it became a habitual thing.

So, personally, I wouldn't be so dismissive of something that helps you be prepared and helps you be mindful.

[saidajigumi]

> Will it help?

Absolutely, because you always need to be your own best advocate, even as your current job evolves. By taking a very small amount of time here and there to note down accomplishments, skills, etc. you're also taking time out to think about and shape the ongoing story of your career. Beyond job hopping, this awareness can help you realize that you should maybe push for more recognition and reward in your current job; now you have notes in-hand to start your pitch. Alternatively, maybe you realize sooner rather than later that you're stagnating and need to change things up.