I recently read an article about upcycling, and was really intrigued. What a fun concept, and a terrific name, for a relatively simple idea. Take old things, make them better, and contribute to sustainability. Perhaps the best part of all this for me, being the word-lover that I am, is the name. 

The parallels to your resume and your career are two-fold. First of all, for whatever it is that you think you want to do, you probably have some transferrable skills you can leverage. It is unlikely that the person that you now are is so totally different from the person you used to be that the two have nothing in common. In simpler terms, you most likely gravitate towards similar things throughout your entire career so if you think about it, you are likely to find kernels of evidence to support your next move.

For some, it’s not that challenging. It’s a lateral career move or the next logical step up. But for many job seekers, careers are not as linear so we have to do a little more work to paint the picture for potential employers.

Step 1: Define your value. Answer the question: Why should I hire you?

Step 2: Differentiate yourself from the competition. Answer the question: How am I different from the other candidates.

Step 3: Support your claims. Find three supporting details, no matter how small, from each of your prior positions.

Step 4: Don’t bury the lead!!! So many resumes I see have good stuff in them…but it’s at the tail end of the sentence or on Page 2. Put the organizational benefit (the value added) at the beginning, and close the sentence with how you did it. It works!!

Step 5: Find a new way to say it. Kind of like “upcycling”. If you organized the office and saved time because you no longer had to dig through papers, you Streamlined productivity and minimized downtime by initiating document management protocols and processes. Catchy, right?

A professional resume writer can be a partner in your career “upcycling” project, but it starts with you. Dig deep, spend some time understanding what motivates you and what you’re really good at.