Tips and Tricks to Tailoring your Resume

Do you want the best results with your resume? If you are working with a recruiter/headhunter, they should be able to help you with these services. If not, then you need to tailor it by fine tuning your resume and paralleling keywords and phrases that you can use to better speak to your relevant experience.

When tailoring your resume, you are tested with, “where do I begin?”  As a professional in the industry, I have the answers you need. First and foremost, you must always remember that even though we are in a technical age where you will receive emails with notices telling you jobs that you qualify for that you should never click apply all to them without viewing each job description.  Please remember throughout your job search and the higher up the job title it is quality over quantity.  Here are some tips to customizing your resume:

1. Read and examine the job posting/description: Thoroughly read through the job posting and grab a highlighter or pen and circle the key areas, requirements and any key software programs or certifications. After you will need to correlate and write down which one’s best tie-in with your abilities. Many large companies have systems they use as the initial sorter for resumes which focuses on certain “keywords”.
2. Rework your qualification summary: Now that you have identified key areas that the potential employer is looking for, you can reword and organize your bullet points to include the key items at the top and add or eliminate as need be.
3. Edit your career experience: Once you have re-worked the summary area and weaved key words from the post into your experience your goal is to highlight key area in your resume that tie-in with the post that will excite the hiring manager once they read your resume. You need to remember that you do not want to over use or use too many words as the hiring managers time is very valuable and they only have a few minutes per resume, so you want to be eye catching.
4. Ask a friend or trusted advisor: Mentors in your industry are key. They can keep you grounded but still assist you in advancing in your field. Please reach out to your mentor or friend to review and give feedback on your resume.
5. Are cover letters optional? NO! You should always include a cover letter and not a template where you simply change the company name and job title. The cover letter should be customized to fit the job that you are applying for. You should do your research and due diligence on the company and add items about yourself and how you would work within their culture. You want the hiring manager and their cohorts to know that you have visited their company’s website and are not just blindly sending a blanket cover letter and resume.

I have seen more times than not individuals and/or recruiters try to place and oversell candidates that are not qualified for the role in order to make a sale. It does not work in the short or the long game for the client or the candidate

Do you need professional help with your resume?

If you need professional resume help, please do not hesitate to reach out. We know what employers are looking for on resumes and can help you tailor your resume to best fit the jobs you are applying for. I look forward to helping and hearing your stories.

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