Dear SafetyXChange Members:

If you're using an old school  résumé, throw it in the trash and build a new one. If you're relying on old school ideas about what a  résumé should look like and how it should be used, throw them in the garbage and get with the modern program. This series will steer you through the process. It's designed to educate you about how  résumés have changed and what you need to do to create and make the best use of your own  résumés in the contemporary job market.

Why Résumés Need Constant Revising

When was the last time you revised your résumé? I'm asking not just the active job-seekers out there. My question is pointed especially to those of you who are not looking for new work right now.

All of you need to revise your  résumé at least every six months and sooner than that after you've achieved a noteworthy accomplishment. Why? Because in today's unstable corporate world, you never know when things at your company are going to change. So it's vital to have a ready-to-go résumé at your fingertips at all times. On the positive side, refreshing your  résumé to reflect your latest achievements enhances your prospects of being found by a recruiter.

You might think that the current  résumé you used a year back is just fine. Wrong. "Time has a way of erasing achievements, or we may have a tendency to take our strengths for granted - or we may fail to recognize what we've accomplished that's worth noting," says Mark Freedman, managing director of The Resource Planning Group. "It has often been my experience that upon "coaxing" noteworthy achievements from a client, they tell me things that are stunning, yet the client mentions them in an 'Oh, by the way' manner."

The internal career evolution that most safety professionals (and other managers) experience is reason enough to keep your  résumé constantly updated. "Your value statement is ever-changing and evolving, day-by-day, month-by-month and year-by-year based on unique experiences you move through and marketplace conditions you address," says Jacqui Barrett, president of Kansas City, Mo.-based Career Trend. "So it makes sense to continually revisit the language you use to communicate your 'sell' and 'market value'."

Conclusion

I hope I've persuaded you to exhume your old  résumé from its electronic crypt and bring it up to date. But before you set fingers to keyboard, we need to talk about the overall look of the  résumé. We'll do that next week in Part 2 of this series.

Wishing you career success, happy Columbus Day and, if you're in Canada, a wonderful Thanksgiving,

Lauryn Franzoni

ExecuNet, www.execunet.com

A HOCKEY TRAGEDY

The Story of Brittanie Cecil

By Glenn Demby

The parents of Brittanie Cecil decided to take their daughter to an NHL hockey game for her 14th birthday. It was March 16, 2002 and Brittanie's favorite team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, were hosting the Calgary Flames at Nationwide Arena. The Cecils had terrific seats  - rinkside, behind the goal about 15 rows up.

About eight minutes into the second period, the Blue Jackets' talented Norweigan center, Espen Knutsen, intercepted an errant pass at the left faceoff circle and launched a slapshot. At the last moment, Calgary defenseman Derek Morris deflected the shot. The puck, traveling about 100 miles per hour, sailed over the glass and into the stands. It struck Brittanie in the left temple causing her head to snap back in a violent motion. For a while it looked like just a scare. Brittanie walked out of the arena at game's end. But the sudden movement of her head had damaged an artery in her neck. Brittanie would die two days later.

It was a freak accident. But the NHL learned its lesson. The League mandated a series of changes at all its arenas to protect fans including the installation of protective nylon netting behind both goals. The black nylon nets are secured to the top of the high glass (In case you're unfamiliar with hockey rinks, the ice surface is surrounded by shatterproof glass which is at its highest point at the area behind the goals). The League also increased the height of the low glass to a minimum of 5 feet.

The NHL has been around for about 90 years. Brittanie Cecil was the first and only fan fatality in the League's history. But hers was also a preventable death. The danger of flying pucks to fans was well known. Tragically, it took the death of an eighth grade girl to persuade the NHL to do something about it.

Equally tragic is the fact that not all of the professional sports leagues have learned the lesson of Brittanie Cecil. Batted baseballs don't travel as fast as hockey pucks. But they're still potentially lethal. May God prove me wrong, but I can't help but feel with certainty that one day a baseball fan will suffer a fate similar to the one that befell Brittanie Cecil on that awful 2002 night in Columbus, Ohio.

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