How to update your resume, step by step

Updating a resume is a different job from writing one. You already have the structure; most of the work is deciding what the last few years add, and what has quietly gone out of date. A resume last touched three years ago usually describes someone a step behind you: an old title at the top, a summary about the job before, and skills that were current then.

The order below goes from the parts that change most to the parts that change least. If you are starting with no resume at all, our guide on how to write a resume is the better place to begin.

Before you start: keep a copy of the current version

Save the resume as it is now before you change anything, under a name with the date, such as “Resume before update, Oct 2026”. Two reasons:

• If you are already talking to an employer, you need to know what they have. An interviewer will ask about the resume in front of them, not the one on your laptop.
• Sometimes a cut turns out to be a mistake, and it is easier to copy a line back than to remember it.

In AlderCV this is Save version in the editor’s version history: a version you name is kept until you delete it, and Changes shows what differs between it and your resume now.

Step 1: Add your current job properly

The newest role is the one recruiters read first and longest, so it deserves the most care.

• Title and dates. Your title as your employer uses it, with the month you started. If you have been promoted since the last update, give each title its own dates; our guide to showing a promotion has layouts.
• Three to five bullets with results. Start each with what you did and end with what came of it, with a number where there is one: time saved, money, volume, people. Our list of resume action verbs helps when every line starts with “Responsible for”.
• Where to find the material. Performance reviews, project write-ups, emails thanking you for something, your calendar for the past year. People forget most of their own results within months; these sources haven’t.

Then look at the job before it. Once it is no longer your current role, it can usually lose a bullet or two, and any “Present” on it has to become an end date.

Step 2: Cut what no longer earns its place

Updates tend to add and never remove, and that is how resumes reach three pages. Go through it with the job you want next in mind:

• Old roles. Keep full detail for roughly the last 10 to 15 years. Older jobs can be one line each, or a single line such as “Earlier roles in retail management, 2008–2013”. Our guide on resume length explains where to cut first.
• High school, once you have a degree or another qualification above it. Our education guide covers the exceptions.
• An objective statement. Replace it with a short summary of what you offer; see our summary examples.
• Expired certifications and courses nobody in your field asks about any more.
• Skills that have dated: software versions, tools your field has moved on from, and basics everyone is assumed to have.
• Duties you no longer do and want to move away from. A resume is about your next job, not a full record of your last one.

Step 3: Rewrite the top

The headline and summary are read first and are the parts most often left behind. If the summary still describes your previous role, everything below it reads as out of date.

• Headline: the job you are aiming for, or your current title if it is the same thing.
• Summary: two to four sentences on what you do now, your strongest results and what you are looking for. Write it last, after the experience section, so it summarizes what is really there.

Step 4: Update skills, certifications and education

• Add the tools and methods you picked up since the last version, in the words job ads use.
• Add new certifications with the issuer and date, and remove or mark expired ones; our certifications guide shows the format.
• Add a degree or course you finished, and remove “expected” dates that are now in the past.
• Check languages: a level you wrote years ago may now be too modest, or too generous.

Step 5: Refresh the format

Formats age too. An older resume often has things recruiters and applicant tracking systems now handle badly:

• Contact line: email, phone, city and your LinkedIn address are enough for most applications. A full street address is rarely needed now (Germany is one of the exceptions, see our German CV guide), and a LinkedIn link is common; our guide on adding LinkedIn to your resume shows how to write it.
• Photo, date of birth, marital status: expected in some countries and left out in others, the US and UK among them. Our guide to resume photos by country lists where.
• Layout: tables, text boxes, text in headers and footers, and two-column templates made in a word processor can come out scrambled when an applicant tracking system reads them. A simple layout with standard section titles is the safest; our ATS guide has the details.
• Length: usually one page with less than about ten years of experience, and up to two beyond that.
• File name: “Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf”, not “resume_final_v3.pdf”.

Step 6: Tailor it for each job you apply to

The update gives you an up-to-date base. Each application still deserves its own pass: the job ad tells you which of your results matter most there and which words the employer uses. Move the matching bullets up, use the ad’s terms where they truly describe your work, and leave out what doesn’t help. Our guide to tailoring a resume to a job description walks through it, and the free keyword scanner compares your resume with an ad.

Step 7: Check it before you send it

• Dates: every job has a start and end, nothing still says “Present” that has ended, and the jobs run newest first.
• Consistency: one date format, one way of writing places, the same tense for past jobs.
• Typos: read it once on paper or out loud. Your eye skips mistakes on a screen you have looked at all evening.
• Software: run the file through the free ATS checker to see whether your sections, dates and contact details are read correctly.

Step 8: Update LinkedIn on the same day

Recruiters who like your resume often look you up, and different titles or dates on the two make them wonder which is right. Change your LinkedIn profile when you change your resume.

If you are looking quietly, know that LinkedIn can tell your network when you add or edit a position: the form has a switch, labelled Notify network or Share with network, and Settings › Visibility › Share profile updates with your network controls it for your whole profile. Anyone who opens your profile sees the changes as soon as you save them, whatever that switch says. Our guide on adding your resume to LinkedIn covers which upload is public and which is not.

How often to update your resume

The easiest time is when nothing is at stake. Updating while you remember the numbers takes minutes; reconstructing three years of results in a weekend before an application takes much longer. Good moments:

• after a promotion, a new certification or a finished degree;
• when a project ends and you know its results;
• after a performance review, which already lists what you did;
• a short look every few months, even if nothing changed.

Updating a file tells nobody anything. Only what you change on LinkedIn or a job site can be seen by others.

Doing it in AlderCV

• Version history. Save version keeps the resume under a name until you delete it, one version a day is kept automatically for 14 days, and Changes shows what differs from your resume now. Restore this version saves your current state first, so going back is safe.
• What you sent. If you track applications in Applications and choose the resume you sent, AlderCV keeps that version once the application is marked Applied. It shows in the version history as “Sent: company and role”, so before an interview you can see exactly what the employer has.
• The resume check in the editor flags much of what an update leaves behind: missing dates, jobs out of order, long bullets, a missing profile.
• An old file only. Paste its text in section by section, which works on every plan. If your last resume exists only as a PDF or Word file, Import resume can also read it with AI on Pro and the 30-day pass and split it into sections; check the result before you rely on it.

Common mistakes

• A new job added, an old summary kept. The top of the page still describes the previous role.
• “Present” on a job you have left. It is the first thing a reader checks against LinkedIn.
• Only adding. Every update gets longer until the strongest results sink to page two.
• Sending an old file by accident. Name files clearly and delete outdated copies from your downloads.
• Updating the resume but not LinkedIn, or the other way round.

FAQ

How often should I update my resume?

Whenever something worth adding happens, such as a promotion, a finished project or a new certification, and otherwise every few months. A small update is quick; a three-year catch-up is not.

Should I update my resume while I’m happy in my job?

Yes. It costs a few minutes, you remember the details, and an unexpected opportunity or a layoff won’t find you with a resume from three years ago.

How far back should my resume go?

Usually 10 to 15 years in detail. Older roles can be one line each, or left out unless they matter for the job you want.

Should I remove my first jobs as I get more experience?

Shorten them first, then remove them when they no longer support the story. A part-time job from school helps a graduate; it rarely helps someone with ten years of work.

Update it in a clean template

You can rebuild your resume in AlderCV without creating an account: pick one of the templates, fill it in and download a PDF without a watermark when you’re ready (downloading needs a free account; every template is included). Before you send it, run it through the free ATS checker.