How to Tailor Your Resume to a Specific Job Description

If you’ve come across any resume advice online, chances are you’ve encountered numerous recommendations emphasizing the importance of tailor your resume to specific job description.

Now, you might be questioning its necessity. Is it truly essential?

It may seem tempting to bypass this step, considering the additional time and effort it requires.

However, tailoring your resume can genuinely yield remarkable results in terms of the number of companies reaching out to you and inviting you for an interview.

We’re talking about a significant surge in callbacks, not just a minor increase. I’ve personally experimented with both approaches, so you can trust my insight.

The process of tailoring your resume is not as daunting as it may initially sound. Allow me to guide you through it step by step. But before we delve into the details, I urge you to read this next section carefully, as it holds crucial significance…

The Problem With Not Tailoring Your Resume

Many individuals seeking employment tend to craft resumes with the intention of presenting themselves in the most impressive manner possible.

However, this approach does not align with what a hiring manager seeks, particularly during the initial stages.

The hiring manager’s primary focus is not to assess your level of impressiveness or intelligence, but rather to compare your resume with the job description and determine if you possess the necessary skills and experience for the specific role.

Their objective is to find evidence that you can seamlessly step into the position and perform exceptionally from the very beginning.

When you develop a generic resume aimed at showcasing all your remarkable experiences, it deviates from what the company is actually seeking. This issue results in a lack of callbacks.

The underlying problem stems from the fact that you have centered your resume around YOURSELF.

Conversely, when you tailor your resume to a particular job, it becomes centered around the company’s requirements. This approach is key to securing an interview!

Find out: Bad Resume Examples: The 6 Mistakes You Definitely Should Avoid

How To Tailor Your Resume to a Job Description

1. Identify what’s most important to the company

Crafting a compelling resume that captivates the attention of a prospective employer hinges on customizing it to align with the job description.

If you utilize the job description as a compass, you can discern the company’s objectives and preferences, allowing your resume to reflect those intricacies.

Consider these factors while analyzing the job description:

• Observe the order in which responsibilities are presented. Identify those highlighted at the forefront versus those mentioned further down, potentially indicating varying levels of importance.
  
• Pay attention to specific requirements and qualifications outlined by the company.
  
• Take note of any recurring themes throughout the job description, such as leadership, multitasking, organization, or similar attributes.
  
  

2. Match your resume content with the job description

Now that you have gained some insight into the company’s preferences, take a moment to analyze your resume.

The objective is to customize your resume according to the job description, starting by aligning the most crucial aspects mentioned in the job description with the prominent sections of your resume.

Ensure that the initial bullet points beneath each previous job on your resume are as relevant as possible.

Recruiters and hiring managers often focus on your resume employment history, making it a key area to tailor!

If you are seeking your first job, you can adapt your education and other relevant experiences accordingly. The same principle applies.

If the job description emphasizes leadership, prioritize mentioning any instances of leadership in a bullet point, rather than highlighting your individual accomplishments first. This could involve taking the lead on projects, training, or supervising others.

Regardless of how small the leadership role was, find a way to showcase it!

Subsequently, you can proceed to list your individual accomplishments.

Even if the previous role heavily emphasized individual contributions (around 90%) and leadership played a minor role (only 10%), it is essential to mention leadership first, mirroring the job description.

Customize all your positions if you have multiple ones listed on your resume.

If your resume includes an objective or summary section, tailor that as well!

Examine how the company describes the overall role and ensure that your summary aligns with that description.

3. Reorder, add, remove

Reorder, add, remove—achieving the desired outcome can be accomplished through various methods.

To begin, you have the option to rearrange the existing bullet points and information. Place the most pertinent experiences at the forefront of each section, while moving less relevant details further down.

This approach is the simplest as it involves only cutting and pasting without the need for additional writing.

Next, you can introduce new bullet points. Upon reviewing the job description, you may realize that certain aspects of your experience, not previously mentioned on your resume, align with the requirements. In such cases, it is advisable to include them.

Finally, you can eliminate or delete information that has become redundant due to the newly added bullet points or if it is entirely unrelated.

A useful criterion to determine whether something should be removed is to ask yourself if the provided information may confuse the hiring manager.

If you anticipate the question, “Why did they think it was necessary to include this information?” then it may be suitable for removal.

Alternatively, if you require space or need to make room, you can delete some of the old bullet points to accommodate the tailored information you are adding.

As a concluding remark, consider that you can also rearrange entire sections of your resume. For instance, you can move your “Education” section above or below your “Employment” section.

In most cases, placing it below is preferred. Typically, hiring managers are keen to see your most recent experience without much effort.

However, certain positions, such as nurses or pilots, may require specific educational qualifications as a prerequisite for consideration.

In such instances, placing your education section at the top might be worth considering.

Make an informed decision based on the job description. Did they emphasize these qualifications from the start, or was it mentioned as an afterthought towards the end?

4. Present compelling evidence

Not all bullet points possess equal impact.

Imagine you come across the information that multitasking poses a significant challenge in the job you’re seeking, prompting you to customize your resume accordingly.

Will the simple phrase, ‘excellent multi-tasker,’ in your career summary suffice to impress or persuade?

Will a solitary bullet point stating, ‘frequently required to multitask,’ beneath your most recent position captivate the hiring manager?

Certainly not!

You must offer specific details: concrete facts, tangible figures, vivid examples, or engaging stories.

Something that unmistakably demonstrates to the hiring team that you can swiftly step into this role and excel.

Consider this alternative bullet point for the aforementioned scenario:

‘Successfully managed 4-5 concurrent projects, overseeing all timelines, objectives, and outcomes. Regularly adapted schedules to accommodate new initiatives.‘

That’s truly compelling!

Here are some additional suggestions for incorporating facts and figures:

• Percentages (e.g., contributed to a % increase in sales, facilitated % growth)
  
• Dollar amounts (e.g., managed $___ worth of customer accounts, supervised $___ worth of projects, allocated $___ to advertising or team budget)
  
• Number of individuals (e.g., trained 4 new employees, maintained daily interaction with up to 10 suppliers)
  
• Geographical scope (e.g., handled work for diverse clients spanning 4 continents)
  

I wrote a full article on “The Power of Keywords in Your Resume: How to Make Sure You’re Being Found by the Right Employers” you can check it out here.

5. Thoroughly examine every aspect

Once you have ensured that you have encompassed all the relevant aspects mentioned in the job description on your resume, take a moment to adopt the perspective of the hiring manager…

Compare your resume side by side with the job description and quickly evaluate.

Does everything align and convey a coherent message?

Will the company easily comprehend your reasons for pursuing this position and your genuine interest?

Or will they ponder, ‘I wonder what motivated this individual to apply here?’

Steering clear of such ambiguity is precisely what you should strive for!

Find out: 7 Signs Your Resume is Making You Look Old

Tailoring Your Resume to a Job Description Will Also Help You in the Interview

By adhering to the aforementioned steps, you will significantly enhance your preparedness compared to other candidates during the interview process.

You will possess a superior comprehension of the job requirements and the employer’s expectations, enabling you to craft interview responses that are precisely targeted.

For instance, when faced with the question, “tell me about yourself,” instead of merely stating arbitrary facts or listing work experiences, you will be capable of emphasizing the aspects most relevant to their specific position.

You can highlight experiences and achievements that effectively illustrate your potential to excel in their role!

Consequently, you will receive a multitude of job offers as a result.

Therefore, investing time in learning how to customize your resume for a particular job will not only increase your interview opportunities but will also elevate your chances of transforming those interviews into actual job offers.

Final Thoughts

Here’s a fantastic approach to kickstart your job search: Begin by locating a job description for a position you’re interested in applying for.

Look for something that represents a typical and moderate level role within your desired field. This step is crucial as we’re about to craft a “master copy” of your resume.

Follow the aforementioned steps and customize your resume to align with the job description you just found. Save that file as your master copy for this specific job search.

When you apply for other jobs, utilize that file as your starting point.

You’ll be surprised to find that often you’ll only need to make minor adjustments from one job application to another!

Of course, there may be situations where more changes are necessary, but trust me, it will be worth the effort in any case.

Now, here’s a valuable tip: If you’re applying for different types of positions, create a master copy for each one. I found myself in a similar situation a few years ago when I was considering a path in either recruitment or corporate sales. My general resume wasn’t yielding any responses because it was tailored halfway for both areas.

I must confess, I was being lazy. I attempted to create a single generic resume that would appeal to employers in two completely different fields of work! I thought I could strike a balance and impress everyone just enough.

It was a terrible idea. It didn’t work. I pleased no one.

The truth is, if you try to make your resume suitable for every job out there, it won’t be impressive enough for any job! You need to tailor it specifically.

I only started seeing results in my job search when I created two separate resumes. And after further refining my tailored approach as described above, things really took off… I went from receiving no callbacks to getting 10+ in the following week.

By the way, if you’re looking for professional assistance in crafting your resume, I highly recommend CEOMichaelHR Professional Resume Writing Service. Our expertise in creating tailored resumes that capture the attention of employers is unparalleled. We have a proven track record of success and can help you stand out from the competition. Give us a try and see the difference it can make in your job search.