Have you ever wondered, why you should keep your CV up to date?

Let’s imagine the following situation; you are at a top-notch networking event connecting with influential and decision-making people in your industry. You get to talk about your experience and how you have brought value to your company. And there it is, the one question everyone wants to hear: “Send me your CV, I might have a great opportunity for you.”

Now you realize, your CV has been lying in the depths of your file folder without much attention! With a start of panic, you return home and start eagerly updating your CV! But wait, what was it you did in that position three years ago? And how did you improve again the process in your last company?

Therefore, it is time to give you three good reasons to always keep your CV up to date!

Use your CV to track your skills

So far, you used your CV to apply for jobs only, didn’t you? Well, here is some great news for you! Your CV is not only a (digital) paper to apply for jobs, it is also a tool to keep track of your skills. While you have been busy working, you might not have realized, how many more skills you have acquired on the job. It might be easy to list all the skills you have gained through university or other courses you took. But when did you check the last time, what you learned by executing daily tasks, managing changes or collaborating with others?

Therefore, take your time to review your CV on a regular basis to understand, which skills have you gained. Which skills are still important to you and which are sought after in the market. More importantly, have you got all the skills to lead your best career? The CV will help you identify gaps that you need for your next career step, be it either climbing the career ladder or moving laterally to a new role. Isn’t that a great reason to keep your CV up to date?

It’s performance review time, are you ready?

How did your last performance review go? Have you been able to present your case to your line manager? Did you impress the management with the tasks you have completed?

While we all use different kinds of internal performance management tools, most of us do not track what we have done for ourselves. So when the performance review is coming up, you might rely on the performance tool and what your manager has added to it. Therefore, we strongly recommend tracking your performance for yourself. Also in this case, we advise you to take out your CV once every 3-6 months and write down:

• What have you achieved in the past months?
• How did that influence the business or did it add value to your company?
• Have you increased your skills and expertise?

Use these questions to describe in more detail what kind of tasks and successes each of your jobs contained. Of course, these notes are just for you and your performance review. However, if you have to prepare your CV to apply for jobs, this is a great tool. Want to know a little secret? It also helps you boost your confidence if you continuously track your successes!

Your CV is your entry card for the next job

I wish I could say, the CV is dead. It is not! While more and more recruiters are using online tools to understand your skills and expertise, the CV remains to be the paper that has to be sent in when applying for jobs. So here you go, the CV is your entry card for your next job. And as our story at the beginning showed, a CV will always come in handy.

Clearly, the regular update of your CV comes in handy now. If you have followed the two reasons before, you have all the data you need to update your CV on a regular basis. And it will be even easier now given you have already all the information.

Undoubtedly, the next time you attend such a high-class networking event and are asked to provide your CV, you will be ready. Just get your smartphone out, ask for their email and let them know they have it at the very moment in their inbox. And if you need a good reason to update your CV, check out our SKILLS FINDER project that will help you get found by interesting Tech companies for your skills and expertise.