Your successful job search depends upon your ability to communicate your value to potential employers. While you know that your skills are transferable and your personality would be a good fit for any organization, recruiters/hiring managers do not know that. They're looking for a particular candidate who possesses every skill set that they have outlined in their job posting.
If you want to stand out from the crowd, you have got to present that picture to them, and a generic one-size-fits-all résumé cannot do that. A customized résumé can.
Creating a customized résumé is not that difficult, but it does require some thinking. To begin, pull out your generic résumé and follow these steps:
1. Read, read, and read -You have to know your audience before you can speak to them. Read the job description thoroughly and make note of all the skills, experience and certifications that are needed. Identify keywords and phrases that you can use throughout when customizing your generic resume.
2. Research –If you are submitting your resume to an employer who does not have an advertised opening, research everything you can about the company in order to find out how you can benefit them as an employee. Once you determine this you can begin to customize your resume to this employer.
3. Rewrite -Adjust your résumé to use language that compliments and supports the company's initiatives and the skills/cultural requirements of the position. Some examples are:
*.Objective –If you are using an objective statement in your resume, you should leverage this to show how you are perfectly suited for the open position. Make it as concise and targeted as possible, using the keywords and phrases that you highlighted in your research/reading of the job description.
*.Title –Target your title. Do not leave it generic. If possible (and appropriate) use the exact title listed in the job posting. Many people do the exact same tasks in the workplace, but because they work for different companies, they just have different titles.
*.Quantify –Instead of just listing your job skills, describe the benefits and results of your performance. What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them? How did these actions benefit the company? Quantify, quantify, quantify. Most companies value workers who enhance profits and save time and money.
*.Job Descriptions –These need to be edited so that they are relevant to the posting for which you are applying. Look through the tasks that you have highlighted on your generic résumé and highlight only the ones that correspond to the job. A hiring manager/recruiter will only be interested in those that are relevant to his/her job posting.
4. Review –Are there aspects of your experience, skills and certifications that you can further emphasize or clarify? Have you used all the keywords and phrases that you identified? Look for things that will clearly convey to prospective employers that you are a strong candidate for the open position.
5 . Feedback -It's time to get a little help from your friends. Ask people, who you feel will provide honest feedback, to review your résumé for grammar/punctuation/spelling errors as well as content.
Culled from Snelling.com , By Christiane Soto.
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