The start of a new year provides the perfect opportunity to take stock of your career goals and aspirations. As 2024 gets into full swing, now may be an ideal time to dust off your resume and update your LinkedIn profile to accurately capture your most recent accomplishments and skillsets.

After all, you want any employer or connection viewing your credentials to see your best and most up-to-date self. An outdated or sparse resume or LinkedIn could cause hiring managers or colleagues to make unfair assumptions about your ambition, abilities, or work ethic.

Even if you are not actively job hunting at the moment, optimizing these career tools positions you for future growth. You never know when an exciting new position may become available or when an unforeseen layoff might leave you urgently needing a polished, interview-ready resume.

Follow these five key tips to showcase your best career-boosting self in 2024:

1. Detail Any Recent Career Wins: Pay special attention to bulking up details around major projects you contributed to or new skills you have added in the past year. Quantify accomplishments with hard metrics.
2. Freshen Up Your Branding Materials: Update your profile photo, background images, fonts, and colors to give you an energetic, relevant, and professional look that matches where you currently are in your career.
3. Spotlight Transferable Abilities: Even if you have switched industries, pull out universal skills like leadership, relationship building, and communication and highlight how these make you a culture and team asset.
4. Showcase Your Personality: While remaining professional, infuse your materials with a human voice and passion for what you do to help hiring managers see what makes you tick.
5. Streamline For Scannability: Most employers spend less than 30 seconds looking at a resume or profile. Structure information clearly with enough white space to allow for easy skimming.

As you freshen up your online presence and put yourself back out into the job market, I wish you the best in landing interviews and offers that meet your skills, interests, and salary needs. With the right preparation, 2024 can open new doors for your career.

However, even during strong job markets discrimination still persists. No matter how qualified you are, poor treatment because of protected characteristics like race, gender, or disability is unacceptable under federal law.

If at any point during 2024's job search, you face illegal harassment or discrimination, immediately document details. Then connect with an employment lawyer to discuss your rights. They can provide expert guidance in addressing the issue through internal channels or formal filings to help you get back to chasing your career goals.

The beginning of a new year brings optimism about what we can achieve. Just remember, capable employment attorneys have your back if unfair barriers ever impede your professional pursuits. Here is wishing you success as you showcase all you have to offer to the workforce in 2024!