As a professional resume writer, my perspective on great goals for the New Year is a bit skewed toward helping my clients find the jobs their talents, accomplishments and skills entitle them to. If you are already out in the job market, have a strong urge to move on to a better position or expect to be downsized, here are a few things you can do to make your transition easier:

Revise your resume. Before the need for a new resume becomes an emergency, take out your old resume and update it. Don’t have a resume? Start on one now.

Meet the right people. If you have let your memberships lapse in professional associations, the Chamber of Commerce or other business or nonprofit groups, start getting involved again. Word of mouth is an excellent way to find a new job. Your personal connections will alert you when new openings occur.

Work the numbers. Now is the time to count how many people you have mentored or supervised over the years, how much you improved your company’s profits, where you saved money, how many more widgets your department produced after you took over and so on. List your accomplishments and put some numbers on them.

Get the help you need. A job search should not be completely do-it-yourself; you cannot turn yourself overnight into a professional resume writer, career coach, social media guru, networker and recruiter. Find professionals to help you. Ask your local librarian for guidance. Go to career conferences. Let family and friends know you are looking. Stay connected.

If you need a new direction and new energy for your job search, give Robin’s Resumes® a call. Together, we will work to make your New Year a very happy one.