A couple weeks ago, I was asked for a current résumé by a colleague of mine. To clarify: I’m not looking for a different job, rather this person was asking for another purpose. I had to tell her I didn’t have one.

The last time I updated my résumé was in 2009 when I was looking for a job after graduating. Since I’ve been happy with my job and what I’m currently doing, I haven’t felt the need to update my résumé. But could I be putting myself at a disadvantage by not keeping an updated one?

After I told her I didn’t have an updated résumé, she told me that I should always have one ready to go. I thought about that comment for a while. She was right. What if something comes up and I need my résumé quickly. My résumé is more than three years old. All my accomplishments, job duties, and skills are outdated. Updating it is going to take a lot of time and effort.

I took a look at my résumé and was so frustrated with how outdated it was that I gave up on trying to revamp it. So it sits. Still outdated.

A lot has changed over the past three years. I’ve grown a lot professionally since I graduated college. Because I haven’t updated my résumé regularly, when I actually take the time to do it, I might forget something important.

The one bright spot is that I have been updating my LinkedIn profile somewhat regularly, although when I looked at it, I realized I had left out quite a bit there as well.

How often do you update your résumé? How do you determine when you should update it and what you should include?