As you build your resume, you’ll begin to have an extensive repertoire of work and volunteer experience. Although having a lot of experience is awesome, you don’t always want your resume to include everything you have ever done and achieved…Employers don’t look for the person with the most work experience, they look for the person who best fits their job description. In other words, an employer will put your resume next to their job description and evaluate whether or not you have the skills and experience to do the job. You want them to immediately see how you would fit into the role when they look at your resume, and if you have 3 pages of irrelevant experience, this gets difficult. Tailoring your resume to the jobs you’re applying to is important, and it’s not as hard as it sounds.
Step 1: Carefully Analyze the Job Posting
What responsibilities does it include? What skills do you need to succeed in the role? Should you be proficient in any specific software? Before looking at your resume, you want to have a clear idea of what the employer is looking for.
Step 2: Match the Job to Aspects to Your Application
Do you have a cover letter that highlights your intentions? Match this to the job. For example, if the job you are applying to is a marketing position, your cover letter should indicate your interest in the marketing field, and highlight any relevant experience you have. Have you done any of the tasks mentioned in the job posting or description in your work and volunteer experiences? Make these into bullet points under each of your jobs on your resume.
Step 3: Reorder and Remove
Reorder the sections and points in your resume so the most relevant jobs and skills are at the top. Remove anything that is irrelevant to the job. Make sure your resume looks good in many electronic formats, for example, as a document or if you have to submit it online. Editing out parts of your resume that don’t relate to the job helps to ensure that your employer continues to read your resume. Hiring managers typically only spend a few seconds looking over resumes, so you want to catch their eye with what you do include.
Step 4: Act as the Employer
Review your resume next to the job description and make sure you’ve included everything you can. Can the employer clearly see that you’re fit for the job?
In my experience, customizing my resume to the jobs I am applying for has definitely helped me land more interviews than having a general resume with all of my experience on it. I hope these steps make tailoring your resume a little easier.