CIOs may have learnt the hard way how vital it is to continually sell IT and its services to the organization, but the vast majority seem to have failed to absorb the lesson when it comes to the ongoing need to sell themselves.

On the principle that the day you started looking for your next job should have been the day you started the job you're in now, given the relatively short tenure of most CIO positions, CIOs need to lose some of their tunnel vision for the job they're in and keep at least one good eye on new opportunities. They should be networking relentlessly, and will ideally forge a good relationship with at least one, and preferably more, executive search firms. And they should be selling their virtues at every opportunity.

Yet an executive recruiter I spoke to recently insists the quality of most of the CIO resumes she sees are pretty unimpressive. "Rarely do I see a quality CIO resume which clearly presents and translates the technologies that the CIO has worked with into measurable business outcomes," she said. "This is not the area to cut corners or try and put this important document together yourself."

This recruiter urges CIOs to seek professional assistance when developing their resume, and to bear in mind that the audience who will typically read this document is focused on business outcomes and achievements, not technology and technical jargon.

CIOs should prepare a professional looking resume that properly describes their technical and business background. It simply isn't good enough to dig out and dust off a resume from years gone by, filled with technology buzzwords and which neglects to even indicate what you contributed in previous positions.

So consider setting aside some time to update your resume, focusing on projects overseen, impact on the business, dollars saved, and transformation effects. Put the technology stuff at the bottom.

There's a host of Web sites out there full of sound advice on how to do it, and plenty of professionals willing to help. Why not do it now?