Quitting The Day Job

Schedule a Resume Update

I updated my resume today.  First time in years, literally.  It was painful.  Painful on several levels.

First, I didn’t WANT to update the resume.  I don’t WANT to look for a new “job”.  I want to keep my day job long enough that I can work hard on my outside opportunities and then QUIT MY DAY JOB.  I don’t want a new day job.

Secondly it was painful because it has been almost 5 years since my last update.  I had to track my time sheets down and pick through my time reporting in order to figure out what exactly I had been doing over the last several years.

While ultimately I suggest that you quit your day job, in order to make sure that you can earn the highest amount of money possible until that time, I suggest that unlike me, you keep your resume UP TO DATE.

Here are are two tricks:

1) Set a reminder on your Google, Yahoo, Outlook or whatever calendar application you use.  When this reminder goes off, don’t wait.  Simply review your resume to see if you have a need to update it with a new skill or project.

2) You might consider using Google Docs to store a “plain vanilla” version of your resume or create one there from scratch (I’ve had formatting issues with uploaded Word Docs)

In a nutshell, keep the resume up to date.  That way, especially if you learn a new skill while planning your escape, you can easily update your resume in case you have to keep your day job until your bank account hits a million dollars!