Instead of just sending out a generic resume, today’s job candidates need to take the time to tailor their resume to fit every job being applied for. While this may make the application process take longer, it will be well worth the effort in the long run. Here are a few tips to tailor your resume and help make the application process go faster:
Keep the information on your resume up to date. Just got a new cell phone? Change the contact information right away. It is easy to forget to change such a small thing, but you shouldn’t wait until you’re applying for a new job. An out-of-date phone number can have big, negative consequence (such as not being contacted for your dream job).
Read the job qualifications and duties carefully. Add the same keywords to your resume so that it will make it through the recruiter’s software scanner.
Use separate resumes for experience in different industries or a functional resume for two or more closely related industries. It makes it easier to add crucial keywords to your resume when tailoring it to a specific position.
Learn to be a cut and paste, toggle expert. Not all job application databases will let you upload a resume into different information fields. Become familiar with Control+C and Control+V to copy and paste. PCs use the Alt+Tab keys and Macs use the Apple+Tab keys to toggle between screens. Copy text from your resume first, then toggle to the job application page and paste the text into the information boxes.
Name your resumes generically and modify the name each time you upload it to an application database. For example, label your updated resume “Edit512” for the industry it addresses and the date you updated it. Do not name your resume with a company name. It is too easy to upload your Xerox resume for an IBM position, and forgetting to change the name will count against you as a job candidate.
Following these easy tips will help you to be more prepared for your job search.
If you are writing your own resume, it is easy to concentrate on the text and content over everything else. You know that your resume needs to “sell” you to potential employers and you need to list your skills, experience, and achievements to do this effectively.
Although the content and listing your selling points is essential for any resume, it isn’t the only thing that you need to give consideration to in order to give yourself the best possible chance at being successful when applying for jobs.
When a job is advertised, there will be a large number of applicants, especially if the job is a good one and pays well. To stay on top of the competition, you must have a resume that stands out above the rest.
If your resume looks dull, messy, or boring, then the likelihood is that the person in charge of processing the resumes received won’t even read it. Your resume should have a clean, crisp layout that will catch the reader’s eye, prompting them to select it from the stack. How your resume flows and reads to potential employers is as important as the content itself.
If you feel that you don’t have the skills to create a layout that will highlight your value, then it may be worth looking into hiring a professional resume writing service. Professional resume writing companies have writers on staff who will help you design a resume with a layout that flows well and showcases your skills in the most strategic manner.
The facts on your resume may get you an interview and even a job offer, but even these facts must still be verified before you start a new job. You should keep legitimate documents that back up the information on your resume. Some of these documents include:
College and High School Diplomas: Degrees are being checked with regular frequency before a job offer is finalized due to the fact that many people lie about their education credentials on their resumes. Diplomas are also a good way to verify education when a school no longer exists.
W-2/W-4 Tax Documents: The W-2 tax form is issued by your employer. It is an official record of taxes on the state and federal level that were taken from your paycheck. As such, it is also an official record of which company you were employed by. If a company fails to respond to background check inquiries, at least you have one legal document that shows you worked there. The W-4, which lists your tax exemptions may work as well.
Job Offer Letters: If you receive a verbal offer, either in person or over the telephone, you should also request that the offer be put into writing on the company’s letterhead. You then have an official document that at least illustrates the job offer and proposed starting date.
Most of these documents may be hard to get your hands on, especially if you were not thinking about education and employment verifications needed for future employment. Pay stubs, however, should be relatively easy to keep and pull out if you need them. They serve two purposes: to verify employment and wages. Wage verification may be needed to negotiate a higher salary rate at your next job.
Certain art and design careers such as graphic design, automotive design or illustration may require a portfolio. The portfolio, whether online or a physical book, gives interested viewers an idea of the artist’s or designer’s skills. This does not mean, however, that a resume is not needed. The resume gives a potential employer an idea of how this person’s professional career has played out so far. It may list apprenticeships, internships and jobs that the artist or designer performed to enhance his or her natural skills. The resume illustrates experience while the portfolio illustrates talent and how it has developed.
Artists and designers have found clever ways to integrate their resumes within their portfolios, or to add them as extra print to mini portfolios or smalls, the small postcards given away to potential employers by artists and designers. Although it may seem expensive to produce postcards with a designer’s work on one side and his resume on the other, it is still cheaper to do so than to produce mini portfolios of his work. The smalls are given away at design shows and exhibitions that are open to the public, including potential employers.
Resumes that list a designer’s positions and past experience are often mounted inside a regular-sized portfolio or minimized to fit into a mini portfolio. Some designers such as graphic designers have included their resumes inside a piece of their portfolio work. The resume is turned into a work of art as well as an informative document, all in one piece.
While you are cautioned to check your resume for factual errors, sometimes inadvertent errors get introduced. This can happen, especially when someone else is editing or critiquing your resume. The information on your resume is used for more than assessing whether you’re fit for a position. Once you are hired, this information may find its way onto a Web biography, into a company brochure or even on a SEC filing, as Yahoo’s CEO recently discovered to his dismay. Career information accuracy starts with the content you share on your resume.
Your resume will go through several incarnations over the development of your career. As you progress to higher level positions, it may be tempting to leave the proofing and fact checking of your CV, resume or career portfolio to a personal assistant. Do not make this mistake. Personal assistants come and go, but the inadvertent errors they may introduce into important documents such as your resume stick around. These errors can create career havoc for you, calling into question your credibility and your attention to critical details.
Check everything that is published about you and your career. It starts with your resume, but you also need to check the copy on the program that introduces you as a guest speaker and outlines your credentials. Make sure if you are being introduced at a conference or lecture that the host has your facts straight. This may not seem like a big deal until you realize that your lecture was taped and put on the internet with inaccurate details. People often assume that the “facts” they find on the internet are accurate, and they do not bother to do verify those facts on their own. An impeccable reputation is critical to your career success. Make sure that any information that is out there about you, starting with the content on your resume, is accurate.
Very few people stay in one career or even one job for decades anymore. Moving from one job to the next is one way to acquire skill sets relatively quickly. Once you acquire those skill sets, you may feel as if it is time for a career change. Your resume can help you reach that next career target in a couple of ways.
The career objective on a resume is sometimes a long, run-on sentence that doesn’t really say a lot about who you are or what you are looking for in a career. However, using a career objective effectively can help you when you are looking to change careers, but do not have experience in the career you are targeting. Succinctly state which skills you do have and how you want to use them. For example: I want to use my design skills to present museum exhibits.
Look carefully at job descriptions for your next targeted career and pick out the skills you have now that will transfer to this career. For example, while you may never have designed a museum exhibit, your art gallery event planning and exhibit design are both assets in your targeted career because they are also skills used in planning and designing museum exhibits. Environmental design skills are also a plus in staging a 3D exhibit where foot traffic patterns and how people interact with the exhibits are important. Highlight your transferable skills in a skills summary and show how you used these skills in an Accomplishments and Experience summary on your resume.
When you have a strong resume that clearly states the position you want, you have a greater chance of capturing the attention of the reader and moving on to your next big adventure.
If you are like most people who have been job searching during this recession, you have sent out hundreds of resumes. It takes a lot of time to do this, but it may only take one interview to give you the opportunity you need. Organization is key to cutting down on the time it takes to apply to jobs.
Create two folders on your desktop. One is for resumes. Name it “Resumes2012.” The other folder is for job descriptions. Name it “JobDescr2012.”
Use a uniform way to name each resume you create. You should be tailoring your resume to match the skills/qualifications in each of the jobs your applying for. Even if you only tweak a few words on an existing resume, you should still rename it.
Create names each resume keeping in mind your word processing program’s file naming protocol. Use something like SmithIBM0512, where Smith is your last name, the company to which you are applying is “IBM”, and follow that with the date. Make sure you change the company name on each resume you send in, even if you decide not to edit the resume. A hiring manager at IBM, for example, will not appreciate receiving a resume labeled Xerox and may see this as a lack of attention to detail. You may think it is not a big deal, but it is a major mistake, just like if you have a job and send one client’s paperwork with their name on it to a different client by accident.
Save a copy of each job description to which you apply. Do not rely on the description to still be online when you get an interview call 3 months after you’ve applied. Name the job description file something like IBMauditor0512, with IBM as the company, auditor as the position and 0512 the date on which you applied.
If you are diligent about organizing your job application files, you should even be able to pull up a job description when a recruiter calls you out of the blue, in response to your resume submission. Having the job posting information at your fingertips will show recruiters and hiring managers that you are organized and ready to take on a new job.
If you have worked full-time for only one employer at a time, the Employment History section of your resume is going to be pretty standard. You list the names and locations of the companies you’ve worked for, your job titles, and a description of your duties. It is pretty straightforward to write and easy for a recruiter or hiring manager to see your career progress.
However, writing your employment history when you’ve been contracting and freelancing is a bit different from full-time, permanent employment and can be tricky. If you are a contractor through an employment agency, while you may work at Company X, you are actually an employee of that employment agency. Some contracts specify that you cannot list Company X on your resume, which means you must list the employment agency and a description of your duties that also describes the company. So, for example, if Company X is a software design company, you may list one of your duties as software testing for a software design firm without specifying Company X. Other contracts may allow you to list “Company X contract through ABC Employment agency.”
Freelancers often compile the Employment History section of their resumes by listing a title such as “Freelance Website Designer”, the dates during which they have been freelancing, and something along the lines of: “Client list includes: Companies A, B, and C. However, you must be careful. If your freelance agreement specifies that you cannot list an individual company for which you have done web design, then don’t do it. Also, do not misrepresent your work and state on your resume in separate entries that you worked at each company as a web designer. Listing the companies this way can be construed as you were a full-time employee when you really were a freelancer. You must make it clear that it was freelance work and not ongoing work.
Before you start writing, know what your contract and freelance agreements allow/do not allow you to publicize on your resume. If you’re really struggling with the format and word choice, consult with a professional resume writer who is skilled in creating resumes for contract/freelance clients.
