How to Tailor Resumes for Specific Companies

From a recruiter's perspective, I've noticed that many job seekers apply to positions on job boards as they discover them. While the enthusiasm is great, a structured approach can be more effective. If you're setting aside a specific 3-hour block just for applying to job postings, here's a strategy to consider: 1. First Hour: Scan through job postings. Instead of applying immediately, bookmark or save the ones that align with your skills and interests. 2. Second Hour: For each of the shortlisted postings, create individualized versions of your resume. Adjust each version to emphasize experiences and skills that are most relevant to that specific job's requirements. By the end of this hour, you should have a unique resume tailored for each job you intend to apply for. 3. Third Hour: With your tailored resumes ready, proceed to submit your applications. Use the corresponding resume for each job posting. After each submission, note it in your tracking system or spreadsheet to stay organized and facilitate follow-ups. By breaking down the application process in this manner, you ensure that every resume you send is not only relevant but also showcases your best fit for the position. Best wishes on your applications! #JobApplication #RecruitmentTips #CareerAdvice

As someone who has personally experienced a layoff due to a company re-org, I am no stranger to the emotional rollercoaster of feelings that can range from shock and frustration to anger and embarrassment. Navigating the intricacies of a job search after a layoff can be a daunting challenge, but with the right tools anyone can succeed. Just as a skilled tailor crafts a garment with precision, here are some tips you can use to tailor your career approach for success, even in the face of unexpected change. 🔍 Assess Your Professional Wardrobe: Just as a tailor carefully measures and hones their craft, take stock of your skills, experiences, and accomplishments. Craft a compelling resume and LinkedIn profile that impeccably showcase your unique value proposition. Highlight the fabric of your professional journey, emphasizing key skills and achievements that make you stand out. 📏 Measure Twice, Cut Once: Before diving into applications, take the time to define your career goals and aspirations. What are your non-negotiables in a role? What skills and experiences do you want to acquire? Tailoring your job search strategy requires a clear vision, helping you avoid unnecessary detours and focus on opportunities aligned with your long-term objectives. 🧵 Stitching a Network: Just like a tailor relies on a network of threads to create a seamless garment, building and nurturing your professional network is essential. Leverage LinkedIn to connect with professionals in your industry, attend virtual networking events, and seek informational interviews. Networking is the fine art of relationship-building – a crucial aspect of any successful career. ✨ Personal Branding – Your Signature Stitch: What sets you apart in a sea of candidates? Your personal brand! Just as a tailor’s signature stitch distinguishes their work, your unique skills, values, and personality should shine through in your professional brand. Consider what makes you memorable and weave that into your narrative. 🪡 Tailor Your Approach for Each Opportunity: While mass-producing may work for garments, it's not the case for job applications. Tailor your resume and cover letter for each role, emphasizing the skills and experiences most relevant to the specific position. This personalized touch demonstrates a genuine interest in the opportunity and increases your chances of standing out. Remember, the process of tailoring your career path requires patience, precision, and a commitment to continuous improvement. Your journey is uniquely yours, and every stitch contributes to the masterpiece of your professional narrative. If you have any questions or insights to share, let's connect! Wishing you all a tailored path to success. 🌟👔 #CareerCoaching #JobSearchStrategy #ProfessionalDevelopment #TailorYourCareer

Notes from a Recruiter, Day 2: Resumes 📜 I get lots of questions centered around resumes. Having evaluated thousands of resumes as a business/sales recruiter, here are some key insights from the resumes of the top talent I've recruited at Ramp and in past roles: - Simplicity is 🔑: I've seen resumes that are one page, and I've also seen resumes that are 7 pages 😅. If you have a lot of relevant experience for the role, it doesn't have to be exactly one page, but it certainly shouldn't be a novel. Use bullet points to make it digestible, and highlight any quantitative performance metrics/improvements you've made to processes at the company. - Triple-check your spelling 📝: Meticulously spell-check your resume; attention to detail is crucial when applying for a role (I see too many simple spelling errors). No one is perfect, but that's one small thing you can control that can significantly impact your chances, especially in a competitive job market. There are so many tools out there to help with this - Grammarly, ChatGPT, and standard spell-check. - Make it relevant: Customizing a resume to the position/company you're applying for can help set you apart. Whether it's the skills needed for the role or the company's mission and why you support it. Also, double-check the resume copy you're submitting - I review many resumes that include a different company than they are applying for in their summary/objective section. - Get creative💡: Creativity doesn't mean your resume needs vibrant colors or a photo of you - unless it's crucial in that industry. Instead, communicate your WHY—why do you want to contribute to this business and support its mission? Showcase your passion for the product and industry. I don't see enough of this! I'll be sharing more resume tips and tricks in future posts. Feel free to comment with your ideas or questions, and let's elevate your resume game! 🚀 #resumes #resumesuccess #notesfromarecruiter #careersuccess

"Why does my Resume never get a callback?" This is what a client of mine asked on a call. He was depressed from the constant rejections. I saw his Resume, the problem was clear. 🚫 His Resume was too generic, did not stand out at all. "But Rohit, how do I make it stand out?" Well, let me tell you how. 1. Use a Unique Value Proposition (UVP): ↳ Start with a headline that encapsulates your professional identity and unique value. ↳ Make it memorable and specific to your strengths. ↳ This UVP sets the tone for your entire resume. 2. Quantify Your Achievements: ↳ Numbers speak louder than words. ↳ Use numbers to demonstrate your accomplishments. ↳ Whether it's sales increased, costs reduced, or projects led, quantification makes your impact clear. 3. Leverage Keywords Strategically: ↳ Identify and use keywords from the job description. ↳ This ensures your resume aligns with what the employer is seeking and passes ATS scans. ↳ Keywords bridge the gap between your skills and job requirements. 4. Highlight Transferable Skills: ↳ Clearly identify skills that are valuable in many contexts, especially if changing industries. ↳ Show how these skills apply to the position you're applying for. ↳ Transferable skills demonstrate versatility and adaptability. 5. Use a Professional Design: ↳ Opt for a clean, professional layout that makes your resume easy to read. ↳ Avoid excessive ornamentation but consider subtle design elements that reflect your personal brand. ↳ A visually appealing resume can make a strong first impression. 6. Focus on Problem-Solving: ↳ Highlight specific problems you've solved in previous roles. ↳ Describe the challenge, your action, and the outcome. ↳ This approach shows your ability to think critically and achieve results. 7. Customize the Resume for Each Job: ↳ Tailor your resume for each application, emphasizing the experience and skills most relevant to each job. ↳ Customization shows you've taken the time to understand the role and company. ↳ This effort can set you apart in a crowded applicant pool. ✅ Do this and your Resume will stand out in this competitive job market. --------- Follow me for daily content to 10x your Job Search! #Resumewriting #resume #resumetips #resumewriter #resumewritingservices #jobsearch

Struggling to hear back from recruiters? Boost your chances with these 10 game-changing tweaks! What if I told you that the challenge lies in the one thing that connects you to recruiters? Your RESUME! Having conducted numerous resume review mentorship sessions, I've spotted common pitfalls. Here are my top 10 suggestions to overcome them: 📜 Trim the Fat: Keep your resume concise and skimmable. Recruiters dedicate an average of 6 seconds to skimming it. Your aim must be to captivate them with a single glance. 📜 Power of Bullet Points: Swap paragraphs for clear, concise, and impactful single-line bullet points. If they become lengthy, consider splitting them into two. 📜 Show your Impact: Utilize the 'STAR Method' to quantify your impact. Space on your resume is limited, so use it judiciously. Employ tangible, quantifiable metrics to showcase your actual impact rather than just listing responsibilities. 📜 Keywords are the Key: Incorporate role-specific skills and keywords aligned with the job. The more your keywords match, the higher your chances of getting noticed. 📜 Tailor your Resume for Every Role: Align your skills and experiences with the job description and requirements. Employ Word Cloud apps to extract essential keywords from the job description and integrate them authentically into your resume. 📜 Transferable Skills Matter: Highlight your versatile skills and unique experiences, even if they don't precisely match the job requirements. These highlights make you stand out. 📜 Simplicity Speaks: Forego fancy formats and fonts. Opt for a clean, standard .doc format. Pro Tip: LaTeX templates work wonders for maintaining a consistent, clean format. 📜 Structure Matters: Place your best projects at the top and other achievements in reverse chronological order. Recent graduates should prioritize their education and showcase their GPA. Ensure you provide clear start and end dates, organization names, and locations for each experience, whether personal projects, education, professional experience, or volunteer work. 📜 Master the One-Pager: Aim for a one-page resume if you possess less than a decade of professional experience. 📜 Narrow your Field to Improve your Chances: Craft a laser-focused approach that stands out in a competitive job market. Remember, your resume is a highlight reel, not your life story or a thesis! Keep details minimal and impact maximal! Pro tip: Optimize your LinkedIn profile and include as many details as you'd like. (Stay tuned for my LinkedIn Optimization guide!) ⭐ Bonus tip: Get a referral! That's the best way to get noticed and hear back from recruiters. What other resume tips do you swear by? #ResumeTips #CareerAdvice #JobSearch #ResumeWriting #GetHired #AmazonJobs #AWS #CareerSuccess #LinkedInOptimization #JobMarket #ProTips #hiring #recruiters #opentowork #mentorship #beavailable

Let's dive into the world of resumes! Recently I helped out one of my good friend’s parents to review their resume. What caught my eye the most for improvement was their bullet points outlined the general scope of the role but didn’t list the specific details of what they did in that role. Picture your resume as a delectable cake; you want each bullet point to entice the reader to take a satisfying bite. Here’s my Recruiter Tip: When crafting your bullet points try to aim for 4-5 per role, delving into What you did, How you did it, and the Results. Take a Program Manager resume, for instance: Original: "Manage multiple client programs throughout their lifecycle and across multiple sites." Reworded: "Managed the end-to-end lifecycle of 5 client programs spanning various sites, ensuring alignment among stakeholders which resulted in a 96% on time delivery exceeding customer needs.” Recruiters want to see what you did specifically in that role! Bonus Tip: Personally I didn’t customize my resume per application. I maintained three main versions, each tailored to emphasize my unique strengths for specific roles. For instance, I had a dedicated full-cycle recruiter resume, a talent sourcing resume, and one geared towards general HR roles. The HR resume highlighted how my recruiting background seamlessly translated into broader HR responsibilities. If you're interested, I can delve deeper into this in a follow-up post. Stay tuned for more "Tips from a Recruiter" as I share insights with the community that has given so much to me! 😊 Drop a comment if there's a specific topic you'd like me to cover next. Remember, you've got this and Happy Friday! #recruitertips #jobadvice #resumetips #yougotthis

Your resume has 6 seconds to grab a recruiter's attention. Whenever I see a resume starting with "a seasoned professional seeking a challenging career," I die a little inside. 😱 This is your chance to shine, so make it count.  We all have short attention spans, so show recruiters compelling information in the top 1/3 of your resume. Here are 4 things you need to capture a recruiter's interest. 1. Start with a strong summary. ↳ Highlight top skills and accomplishments. ↳ Keep it short – 3-4 sentences that grab their interest. ↳ Weak example – Accomplished professional seeking career growth. ↳ Strong example – Accomplished marketing manager who developed award-winning campaigns for Fortune 500 clients that contributed to a 50% increase in sales. 2. Quantify your accomplishments. ↳ Show numbers, percentages, and metrics. ↳ Weak example - Managed customer accounts. ↳ Strong example - Increased customer satisfaction scores by 25% in six months. 3. Create a custom/targeted resume for each role. ↳ Use Jobscan, ChapGPT, or Teal to score/customize  your resume to a job  description. ↳ Emphasize skills and achievements. 4. Be specific and concise. ↳ In a big pile, resumes look alike. ↳ Your unique success is what sets you apart.  Too many resumes look like a one-size-fits-all, filling the space with buzzwords. Be niche and be you. A well-crafted and concise resume shows you value the recruiter's time and makes you stand out.  Clean white space is your friend when creating resumes. There are millions of templates and formats for resumes. Your unique value proposition will make you stand out. I've worked with many clients who narrowed down their unique skills, targeted them toward the job they were applying for, and received interview requests. What other tips do you have for creating an attention-grabbing resume? If you agree, consider resharing ♻️ and follow me @ruth smith for more content like this. #resumes #careers #jobsearch