Article Reference Code: NAMAS.08.08.2025
Updating and Maintaining Your Resume
Written by: Sarah Ragan
Maintaining an updated resume is a smart move in these troubled days, especially considering how long it can take to hunt for new jobs. Gathering past employment data and showcasing accomplishments is essential. This is a goal to tackle BEFORE you are unemployed.
- Gather Relevant Information: Compile your work history, job titles, and descriptions to accurately reflect your history, accomplishments, and tasks. If you are not sure about the job descriptions, you can Google or utilize an AI program to clarify the job descriptions. I have found that many of us downplay the work which we have accomplished in the past or even forgotten the tasks we did. Now is the not the time to be humble…you are in the business of selling yourself. Know your worth!
- Choose the Right Format: Schedule a good chunk of uninterrupted time to start your template. Opt for a simple, straightforward resume template with easy-to-read fonts and avoid complex designs that may not be recognized by tracking systems. Your Microsoft Word program has fine template choices, or you can start from scratch. Black font on a white background is perfect. For the sake of people reading your document, do not use a small font. Consider an easy-to-read font like Aptos or Helvetica in a size 11-12 for easy reading.
- Leave Nothing to Chance: For those of us in coding and billing, be sure to list your credentials after your name, at the very top of your resume (which is also called a header.) Our AAPC and AHIMA credentials are valuable, and we need to highlight these!
- Include Key Sections: A solid resume will have five basic sections; a header (name, credentials, email, phone number, city with state, and LinkedIn profile), a professional statement, your employment history, your educational background, and your skills section.
- Take Your Time: If you have decided to write your resume by yourself, do not rush through the process. This is not a document that can be hammered out in an hour. It requires careful thought, finding optimized key words, specific formatting, and several revisions. Let a friend or trusted colleague proofread it for you, even after you run it through spell check and grammar check. Those tools will not catch incorrect dates or correctly spelled words which do not belong.
- Be A Valuable Volunteer: Detail volunteer events as well! Have you been an officer for your local chapter? If you have not, have you ever helped at an event, like proctoring an exam, picking up food for a meeting, or booked a speaker? These can go on your resume to let people know that you are willing to take those extra steps.
- Education and Skills Go Hand-in-Hand: If you have secondary education, such as college or certificate programs, make sure to add that here as well. Be sure to include honors you have received, such as high GPAs, Dean’s List, fraternities and sororities, and internships or externships. Skills are an essential addition to your resume. Skills can be divided into two categories: hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills include the knowledge of computer programs, additional languages, specific coding specialties, public speaking, creation of education, training, supervising, or mentoring people, and writing skills. Soft skills are usually more abstract concepts such as time management, attention to detail, quick learning, and customer service, although these skills can cross over both hard and soft descriptions.
- Keep It Concise: It may be difficult but try to keep your resume to two pages or less. Imagine your career as a movie, but your resume is the trailer. The trailer shows the best part of the movie to catch the attention of patrons; this is the same concept.
There you have it! While creating a resume can be a daunting task, especially if you are new to this exciting career, do not despair. Organizing your thoughts and supplies, devoting special time to creating your document, and being truthful about your employment history, skillset, and goals will result in a resume which will make you proud to be a coder and biller.
About the Author: Sarah Ragan
Sarah is a dedicated medical coder with eleven years of experience analyzing patient charts for clean billing and a total of twenty-four years in the revenue cycle field. She is now channeling her passion for coding into a new chapter as a virtual speaker and instructor, with a strong commitment to education, training, proficiency, and compliance—all fostered within an encouraging environment.
In addition to her work in coding and education, Sarah is the owner of Caffeinated Career Creations, a resume writing business focused on helping both new and seasoned coders craft standout documents tailored to land the right job. Her motto? Caffeinate, educate, dominate. Rinse and repeat.
