One size does *not* fit all: tailoring your resume

A lot of my job-seeking clients want to share their resumes with me at the onset of our coaching engagements. As job seekers, they're eager for feedback and want to dive right into improving their application materials. 

And I get it; we all know how important resumes are to being successful in the competitive job market, and we also all know how challenging they can be to write. (You want me to summarize my entire professional life? In one to two pages?! With bullet points?!?) It’s a lot of pressure to find the best way to position your experience to maximize the odds of landing an interview.

So they’re usually surprised when I (a career coach, for crying out loud!) tell them that I don’t give a hoot about their resume until they’re using it for a specific job. I can't offer a meaningful perspective until I know what the document is trying to accomplish. Is the client looking for a similar position to the one they currently hold? Are they looking to apply a specific skill set to a new career path or industry? Without directional purpose, determining the effectiveness of a resume is premature.

When evaluating the effectiveness of a resume for a specific opportunity, it becomes much easier to view that resume as a recruiter or hiring manager might. 

A truth that many job seekers want to ignore is how critical it is to tailor one’s resume to the job description that they’re targeting. 

Here’s why:

• You want to demonstrate to the employer that you understand the requirements of the specific job

• You don’t want to rely on the reader to extrapolate your fitness for the role – you want to do it for them 

Job seekers: I know you don’t want to hear this. You’re thinking: “Anna, I’m applying to dozens of jobs. I don’t have the bandwidth to tailor my resume to every single job.” 

I know it’s tempting to apply to a bazillion jobs in one sitting; we crave ACTION. The siren songs of “Easy Apply” and daily job alerts on LinkedIn can keep one on the hamster wheel for hours on end.

But I want to posit that producing fewer higher quality applications will yield better results than the alternative. By tailoring your application materials, you increase your chances of highlighting exactly what employers want to know about you. This is a competitive job market, and reviewers are not spending a huge amount of time on each application. You get a few seconds to make a great impression.

Using one resume and expecting it to get you multiple job offers is like using the same fishing lure for every type of fish—it might catch something, but it won't be as effective as using the right bait for each cast. (I’m not a fisherwoman...fisherpeople, let me know if this analogy works.)

Let’s dive into how you can put your best foot forward and make each application count:

Step 1: Read for detail

The first step in tailoring your application materials is to thoroughly analyze the job description. Really, really read it. Look for key qualifications, skills, and responsibilities that the employer is seeking. For each bullet, ask yourself:

• What of your experiences demonstrates your ability to perform the task or skill identified in the job description? 

• What did that experience result in for you, your team, or your employer? Any impact that you can quantify numerically is always a bonus. 

Step 2: Outline your resume and cover letter 

Your resume is an important tool, but it’s not the only one you’ll use to communicate your competencies. The next step is to consider which skills or experiences you’d want to highlight in your resume versus your cover letter. Keep in mind the following basic rule of thumb:

Your resume is for objective facts. This is where you explain what’s gone down in your career as if it were observed by a camera. Describe what you worked on, who you partnered with, what technical skills you possess, and if applicable, the quantitative outcomes of your efforts. 

Your cover letter is for stories. This is where you can describe to the reader how you embody the qualitative traits that they’re looking for. For instance, if a job description asks for “clear and empathetic communication skills, both face-to-face and in writing,” you can use a cover letter paragraph to describe a time when you needed this skill, how you applied it, and how this competency impacted a project or stakeholder. (I know that a lot of folks think cover letters are overrated, but I’m not one of those folks. I’ll talk about this in a future post!)

For each of the experiences and skills that you identified in Step 1, label them “story” or fact.”  

Step 3: Compare and revise

Review your list of facts from Step 2. Ask yourself:

• Are each of these facts represented in your resume? 

Better yet – ask a partner to do this step for you! Fresh eyes are invaluable, and can help you understand if you’re meeting the needs of the job description directly or not.    

After all the pre-work that you just did to understand what’s important to the employer and how you want to communicate these qualifications, this part is easy:

• Add any that are facts that are missing

• Revise any facts that only indirectly speak to the employer needs   

Prepping the all-important resume requires more than just checking for grammatical errors or polishing formatting; it's about customizing your materials to match the specific needs of the role. By following these relatively simple steps, you can increase your chances of catching the attention of hiring managers and landing a job. And if you want support developing your application materials, hit me up! I’m here to help. :)