3 key takeaways
- There are several signs your resume is outdated and might need a revamp.
- Revamping your resume could lead to more interviews and offers.
- For help revamping your resume, try Teal’s AI Resume Builder.
Do you ever feel like your resume is getting lost in the black hole of online applications? A strong resume revamp can make all the difference in getting more interviews and job offers in your next job search.
A well-structured resume makes it easier for recruiters and hiring managers to understand your skills and experience quickly and creates a professional first impression. In this guide, you'll learn how to revamp your resume in five simple steps.
If you’ve updated your resume in the past but it didn’t get the results you wanted, Teal’s Resume Builder can help.
Get started with Teal’s AI Resume Builder for free.
When to do a resume revamp
Your resume is a living document that should evolve alongside your career. It deserves a refresh at least once per year, or sooner if you've experienced a significant shift in focus, responsibilities, or industry. Updating your resume means it will more accurately reflect your current qualifications and future career goals.
Here are some common signs your resume is outdated and needs a revamp:
- Outdated information: Does your resume still list your college internship (when you’re 15 years into your career) or a job you left years ago? Consider removing past roles that aren’t directly related to your current goals.
- Missing skills: Have you mastered new skills since last writing your resume? If your skillset has significantly expanded, your resume needs to as well.
- Career change: Have you transitioned to a new industry or do you want to? Tailor your resume to align with the specific skills and experience valued in your target industry or role.
- Generic content: Do your bullet points feel too weak or like they’re rehashing the job description? Consider updating your resume with strong action verbs and concrete results.
- Formatting issues: Does your resume have photos, graphics, or fancy fonts? While it may make sense to have an aesthetic document to send directly to hiring managers in a creative industry, in most cases, you want a clean, ATS-friendly resume for job applications.
If you're not sure when to revamp your resume, this guide on how to update a resume can provide some insights.
6 steps to an impressive resume revamp
Whether you're considering a career change, looking for a new role within your field, or simply haven't updated your resume recently, chances are it might be time for a revamp.
1. Review and analyze your current resume
Before you start revamping your resume, remember it’s a good idea to do a self-review to figure out what parts of your existing one work well (or not) and determine what to focus on the most.
With Teal’s Resume Analysis feature, you’ll get an instant score based on resume structure, measurable results, and keyword usage. Plus you’ll see a detailed breakdown of potential issues with your resume so you know exactly what to fix.
2. Update your resume sections
With a clear understanding of your resume's strengths and weaknesses, it's time to update the content section by section:
Professional summary
How you update your professional summary will depend on what your career goals. If you’re looking to get a higher-paying job in your field, focus on showing your technical and leadership experience along with professional achievements you can directly tie to business results. If you’re making a career pivot, adapt the language to highlight your transferable skills.
Work experience
Prioritize your most recent and relevant experience first, tailoring descriptions to highlight skills and accomplishments directly related to the job you're targeting.
Skills
Analyze the job description and identify the skills most relevant to the desired position (Teal’s Matching Mode can help with this!). Be sure to include a mix of hard skills and soft skills.
Education and certifications
If it’s been a while since you graduated, consider removing your graduation year. Add any new degrees or certifications.
For a more detailed tips, check out this guide on how to make a resume.
Use metrics and action verbs
Don’t just list your title and general responsibilities from a job description—focus on the impact and results you uniquely created in your previous roles.
If you’re not sure what verbs to use for your bullet points, check out this list of the best action verbs for your resume.
Teal’s AI Achievements are an easy way to rewrite your resume bullet points with an effective formula. When you add a new achievement to your Work Experience section in Teal, you can either write it with AI or input more details to generate a powerful bullet point.
3. Optimize your resume format and design
Clean, professional resumes helps you make a strong first impression on employers. Your resume will be more readable for both human reviewers and applicant tracking systems with a clean layout with clear headings, bullet points, and consistent formatting.
Oftentimes, you won’t get the chance to meet with the recruiter unless your resume at least passes the first stage of review in the job application process.
Teal’s Resume Builder Design Mode can assist with formatting. In this section of the Resume Builder, you get to choose from a variety of resume templates, change the styling options and layout, reorder sections, or change detailed settings, like line height and borders.
However you style your resume, you can feel confident knowing Teal’s designs are ATS-friendly.
4. Proofread and edit your resume
Proofreading is the final polish on your resume to make it shine and create a strong first impression.
To proofread your resume effectively, you can start with a free grammar and spell-checking tool to catch simple mistakes. Also, be sure to read through a few times (perhaps out loud) to see how it flows. If time permits, take a break from your resume and come back to it later with fresh eyes to see if you want to make any additional changes.
5. Get feedback and make necessary adjustments
After revamping your resume, it’s a good idea to get feedback from a third party to make sure you’ve hit the mark before sending it to an employer. You can ask a trusted friend or colleague, hire a resume reviewer, or use an online resume review tool.
For suggestions you can implement right away, Teal's Resume Analysis feature gives you instant feedback on a variety of areas and helps you make improvements to your resume.
6. Tailor to each job description
Tailoring your resume to each job description makes your resume more ATS-friendly so hiring managers can quickly search resumes for the specific skills they want. It also demonstrates your interest in the role by showing how your experience directly aligns with the job requirements.
Teal’s Matching Mode and Keyword tool make it so much easier to tailor your resume. When you create a resume, you can select a job from your Job Tracker to get an instant match score that lets you know how well your resume matches the job description. You get a list of keywords, including hard skills and soft skills, that you should include in your resume as appropriate. Aim for an 80% match score.
How to revamp your resume using AI
If the thought of rewriting or editing your resume sounds intimidating, try using an AI tool to help write and revamp your resume. Generative AI tools like Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT are great at coming up with new ideas, rephrasing sentences, or providing a starting point for your writing.
Note: Sometimes AI-generated writing sounds similar when the prompts words are similar, so always be sure to edit whatever writing you create with AI. You don’t want your resume to sound too much like the next one!
Instead of using a general AI tool, Teal is like ChatGPT specifically for your resume and cover letter. It’s programmed and knowledgeable about tailoring content to win interviews and jobs. Teal’s AI-powered Resume Builder makes the process of writing and refreshing a resume so much easier.
A resume revamp could boost your job search
To recap, revamping your resume involves reviewing your current resume, updating each section, optimizing the format and design, proofreading and editing the content, and getting feedback and making adjustments.
Did your revamped resume land you a new job? Congratulations! Here’s when to update LinkedIn with your new job.
For your own hassle-free resume revamp, try Teal’s Resume Builder for free.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to revamp a resume?
The cost of revamping a resume (or CV, for UK and European terms) varies depending on whether you're revamping it yourself or hiring someone. Professional resume writers start at $50 for a basic review to $500 or more for a full rewrite of a single resume.
How much is a CV revamp?
Revamping your resume or CV yourself can be free or low-cost with tools like Teal, or professional resume writers charge anywhere from $50 for a basic review to $500 or more for a full rewrite. Keep in mind that’s only for one version of your resume.
What is the meaning of CV revamp?
A CV or resume revamp is the process of updating your resume to make it more effective. You can tackle everything from the design to the formatting, content, skills, and more.
