Customizing your resume to match each job opportunity will result in more interviews and offers. But is the potential return worth the time investment? By utilizing a few resources and creating a vast experience inventory, resume customization can be as easy as research, edit and submit.
Create an Inventory
Instead of building your resume from scratch before each submittal, create a warehouse of personal information, so you can peruse your choices, make appropriate selections and copy the information into your resume after reading the job description and researching the company.
- Keyword buckets. Candidates are initially screened by how closely the keywords in their resume match the keywords in the job description. Keywords include job titles, hard and soft skills and industry buzz words. Read several job descriptions for each position and industry you’re pursuing; then create keyword buckets which can be copied into your resume to comport with each opportunity.
-Experience buckets. Create an inventory of your previous achievements by company and position. Then explain how you attained each one through accomplishment statements which illustrate how you applied your knowledge, skills, experience and competencies (be sure to include keywords). Customization is faster when you copy and paste your experience, allowing more time for research and the strategic alignment of your background with the opportunity.
-Objective and summary statements. Write experience summaries for the jobs and industries that interest you. Sell yourself to the reviewer by emphasizing opportunity-specific experience, skills and traits.
Customize on the Fly
The human review of your resume determines whether you’ll have a chance to interview for the position. Reviewers will interpret your information and make judgments about your potential fit, and since most candidates have a plethora of experience and success, deciding which experiences to include or exclude is critical.
“Even though you may be really proud of an accomplishment, sometimes you have to...