7 Tips on How to Tailor Your Resume to a Specific Job Description
Finding an attractive job announcement and landing the opportunity is a serious challenge. First, finding an inspiring job is challenging. Second, writing a perfect resume is stressful, as every detail matters in an application. Recruits that receive and evaluate resumes are tasked to scrutinize every part of them.
Hence, it is crucial to make the first impression before you even talk with the said recruitment manager. Furthermore, if you want to increase your chances of getting invited to the interview and getting employed eventually, tailoring the resume to the job description will help with the chances.
Why It Is Important to Tailor the Resume to a Job Opening
Here, the principle is simple: the better one matches the job description, the more sense it makes for the employer to hire the applicant. Yet, here are some other reasons to make it your career improvement habit.
- It proves you are eligible for the job. When the application rhymes with the description, the recruiter will see a perfect match. This is important to make the right impression when a resume is viewed.
- It demonstrates your interest in the position. Nobody will think that such an uncanny match is a coincidence. The recruiter will notice that the applicant dedicated time and effort to their particular position.
- It keeps the employer’s interests in the focus. A tailored resume puts the employer’s needs first. Such a perspective is very appealing for companies to pay attention to such details.
- It helps to pass the ATS. Many companies use applicant tracking systems and bots to filter the relevant applications. If a resume has keywords that match the description, it has more chances to pass the tracking system.
Suppose you need professional assistance tailoring your resume to a specific job description. In that case, you can always get help from experienced writers at Skill hub to make the right impression with the next opportunity.
Tips on Tailoring the Resume
Follow these simple tips to make your resume a perfect match to the job description that caught your eye.
1. Pay Attention to the Work Requirements
Naturally, before tuning the resume into a job description, one must be familiar with what the opening offers and expects from the applicant. In fact, it means paying attention to the company’s benefits, the qualities it expects from its employees, and the words it uses to describe its perfect applicant.
When working on the resume, use similar wording to the announcement. It will help to make a matching impression.
2. Compare Your Current Resume to the Job Description
As a common practice, people usually keep the draft of their resume and update it with a note as they progress through the corporate world. If you have such a document at hand, compare
the draft to the job description to aim at. Usually, if the opportunity clicks, one just needs to adjust the wording in accordance with the tip above.
If you are working on your resume from scratch, you can just craft it to the job description.
3. Point It Out in Your Summary
One’s matching with the opportunity must be the first thing the recruiter will notice. So add this to the top of your resume and elaborate on your aspirations in the summary section. Usually, the space for this section allows you to tell what you do, why you like your profession, and what motivates you to grow in the chosen direction.
There is no need to turn the resume into a cover letter. Usually, two or three sentences are perfectly enough to articulate the summary, leaving all the emotional details in the motivational letter.
4. Adjust Your Work History to the Description
If you have a work history previous to the aspired position, you will need to adjust its description to the aimed job description. Write the earlier positions from the perspective of the experience that is relevant to the job you are applying for. Even if you switch from a different field or industry, you can find relevant experience in previous jobs. Those bullet points will be about the soft or possibly managerial skills that helped you or the teamwork skills you improved.
5. Add Evidence of your Achievements
If you have some measurable results of your previous work to demonstrate, they will look great on your resume. Try putting your accomplishments into numbers. If your work positively impacted the company you worked for, be sure to add it to the resume as well.
The numbers will make a professional and responsible appeal since they work much better in the corporate world than words and impressions.
6. List Your Skills Accordingly
Every person develops their professional and interpersonal skills daily, and such achievements are worth noticing. However, when adjusting the resume to a particular job, be sure that the skills you list relate to the responsibilities and requirements the announcement explains.
No need to add hobby skills or personal interests if they do not demonstrate a professional for a particular job behind the application.
7. Make Sure the Resume is Error-Free
This tip is universal for any type of resume one may write, as it is impossible to re-make the first impression. However, in the case of a tailored ATS-bot-oriented resume, the opinion of the recruiters is not the only thing at stake. Errors and typos in the keywords that applicant tracking systems look for reduce your chances of moving to the next stage of the hiring process.
Proofread your resume and use spellcheckers to ensure no minor avoidable errors can ruin your dreams.
To Wrap It Up
If you take time to adjust your application and resume to a particular opening, the employer will notice it. Customization of the resume naturally goes beyond changing the job title in the
document. Next time you see an opportunity that is impossible to miss, use these tips to increase your chances of landing an interview and, consequently, the job itself.
Avid music fanatic. Communicator. Social media expert. Award-winning bacon scholar. Alcohol fan.