The Importance of Tailoring Resumes

“𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞.” A client said this to me after spending 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠 rewriting her résumé, with no results. Here’s the truth: - The internet is filled with conflicting advice. - Bold your keywords. - Don’t use buzzwords. - Add a summary. - Remove the summary. It's noise. What actually works? - 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭. Recruiters don’t want to “guess” what you did. They want proof. Think: “Cut onboarding time by 35% by redesigning training flow,” not “Responsible for onboarding new hires.” - 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞. Tailoring isn’t about stuffing keywords. It’s about mirroring the priorities of the job description with actual results you’ve delivered. - 𝐍𝐨 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟. 𝐍𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫. Every bullet should earn its place. If it doesn’t show how you made money, saved money, or improved performance, cut it. - 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. Use bolding 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 to guide the eye to scope and impact. Avoid walls of text. Bottom line: If your résumé feels like a creative writing project, it’s probably not working. Here’s what to do: - Pick 3 bullets per role that show scale, complexity, and measurable results - Rewrite them using the formula: what you did + how much impact it had + how you did it - Ask yourself: “Would a recruiter reading this understand my value in under 6 seconds?” You don’t need everyone’s opinion. You need clarity, strategy, and a résumé that speaks the language of business.

An insider look at what hiring managers (and ATS systems) are REALLY looking for in your resume 👀: After years in Talent Acquisition, I can tell you — it’s not about having the fanciest format or the most buzzwords. Here’s what actually matters: 🔹 Clear Relevance Hiring managers spend seconds skimming resumes. If they can’t quickly connect your experience to the role they’re hiring for, they’ll move on. Tailoring your resume isn’t optional — it’s critical. 🔹 Impact Over Activity We’re not just looking for what you did — we want to know how well you did it. "Led a team of 5 to deliver a project 3 weeks early" > "Responsible for project management." 🔹 Keywords Matter (Especially for ATS) Many companies use applicant tracking systems to pre-screen resumes. If your resume doesn’t echo the language of the job posting, it might never even reach human eyes. 🔹 Simple, Clean Formatting Forget the graphics-heavy templates. ATS systems can’t read fancy designs well. Stick to clean fonts, logical sections, and traditional formats. 🔹 Growth and Progression Hiring managers love to see a story of development: promotions, expanded responsibilities, bigger projects over time. Your resume should quietly tell that story without you having to say it outright. ✨ Bottom line: Your resume isn’t just a document — it’s a marketing tool. It should make someone WANT to learn more about you. If you want to get past the robots and impress the humans, keep it relevant, impactful, and easy to read. Curious: What’s one question you wish you could ask a recruiter about resumes? Drop it below — happy to answer a few! 👇 #TalentAcquisition #HiringTips #ResumeAdvice #CareerGrowth #ATS #JobSearchStrategy

There was a time when I applied to every job with the same resume, thinking that if I cast a wide enough net, something would stick. Not surprisingly, I rarely heard back, and I started to wonder if I’d ever find the right opportunity. It wasn’t until I learned to tailor my resume for each specific role that I started seeing results. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝗽: Before hitting “submit,” take a few minutes to tweak your resume so it matches the job description. Highlight the skills and experiences that are most relevant, and use action verbs to show what you’ve achieved, not just what you did.💡 Example: Instead of “Worked on a team project,” try “Led a team of 4 to develop a marketing campaign that boosted engagement by 30%.” See the difference? It’s specific, it’s clear, and it gives employers a sense of what you can do for them. Your resume isn’t just a list of jobs; it’s a story that shows why you’re the right person for the role. Give it a try, and you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes! 🙌 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆?

During my time at Meta, I reviewed thousands of resumes. This is exactly how I did it (doing this will set you apart from the majority of applicants): I pulled up two windows - 1 with the candidate’s resume and 1 with the job description. Bullet by bullet, I would compare the candidate’s resume against the minimum qualifications listed. The reason why so many people say to tailor your resume and add keywords is because resumes are compared against the job description and minimum qualifications listed. If you’re mass applying with one resume, there’s a greater chance your resume isn’t hitting upon all of the minimum qualifications listed and as a result, will be rejected. If I were applying for a job right now, I would create a baseline resume (so I wasn’t starting from scratch each time) and then make slight adjustments to it before applying to ensure it encompassed all minimum qualifications required. Remember, the purpose of a resume is not to list out everything you have ever accomplished. It’s to demonstrate that you have the specific skills a company needs to solve their specific problems. Do you take the time to customize your resume? - Found this helpful? Follow Brenna Lasky for more posts like this and like and share to help your network.

This is what I do if I had to apply for a Product Manager job like this one. 3 things I do to stand out in my applications 👇 The most important thing about your job applications is that your resume and LinkedIn are not for you. It is to help recruiters and hiring managers see that you have the experience and skills they need. 🔵 Relevant accomplishments on your resume >> Anything else Every job description has "Required" qualifications. This is EXACTLY what hiring managers are looking for and you should prioritize writing accomplishments related to, ideally, every single one of them. Adding keywords in a skills section is not enough. Saying that you have skills in "Leadership", or "Roadmap" without context is meaningless. Instead, use the X-Y-Z formula: "Accomplished [X], as Measured by [Y] by doing [Z]" to show that I have the experience they need. For example: "Increased the usage of [feature] by n%, by leading a team of engineers and designers to develop, A/B test, and launch a new user onboarding flow." In a single sentence, I mix multiple concepts and PM keywords that I find in the job description: → Launching → Leadership → A/B testing → Developing a feature → Working cross-functionally The more tailored your resume to the job description, the higher your chances of getting a call for an interview. 🟠 Required Qualifications >> Preferred Qualifications >> Everything else Have you applied to a job that has REQUIRED 2+ years of experience in PM but you don't have any and wonder why you didn't get a call for an interview? Yes, not meeting the required/basic qualifications may be a strong reason to not get an interview. When you tailor your resume to a job description, make sure that you are prioritizing in this order: 1 → Basic / Required qualifications 2 → Preferred qualifications 3 → Responsibilities 4 → Anything else Showing that you have the required qualifications in the form of accomplishments on your resume should be your top priority! 🟢 Tailoring for every job can be exhausting, here's a different approach Tailoring your resume is not easy and can quickly become overwhelming. I divide my experience into types of PM jobs for which I can be a good fit. For example, I may want a marketplace 0 to 1 job... but I don't have that experience so it'll be hard to tailor my resume to that. So, I focus on my strengths: → AI/ML for either consumer or Enterprise → Consumer Growth → B2B Platforms (a bit of a stretch) Instead of tailoring my resume to every job I apply for, I create one resume for AI&ML, a second one for Consumer Growth, and a third one for B2B Platform. 🚀 Networking, networking, networking Needless to say, I don't rely only on applying for a job. I spend as much time networking with recruiters and hiring managers on LinkedIn. I focus on a key message: → Why am I reaching out → Which job did I apply to → Why am I a good fit --- 🚀 Need help with your PM resume or interview? Check out my comment below!

As a hiring manager, and a manager of hiring managers, I've probably reviewed close to 1,000 resumes in my career. Here are the biggest mistakes I see people make over and over again (and what to do instead): ❌ Focusing on responsibilities rather than impact. If your title is "e-commerce editor," someone reading your resume can probably guess at what your basic duties were—so don't waste a lot of space listing them out. ✅ Emphasize the accomplishments you had in each role. What impact did you make to the team or the business? Did you increase traffic to your vertical by X%? Contribute to the highest-ever Black Friday/Cyber Monday revenue sitewide? Streamline the publishing process? Tweaking your bullet points to highlight impact will help you stand out from the crowd. ❌ Not tailoring your resume to the job you're applying for. When I was hiring a Director of SEO Content at Policygenius, it was shocking how many resumes I got from very experienced editors that did not include the words "SEO" or "search" at all. They might have had the relevant experience, but how could I know that? ✅ Take the time to make sure your bullets match up to the job description. Don't force the hiring manager or recruiter to guess at your qualifications; make it easy for them to see that you're a great fit. ❌ Overstuffing your resume. I'm not strict about the one-page rule (though if you have less than 5 years of work experience, stick to one page!). But I once saw a resume where the person used four whole pages (!) to cover the last four years of their career. Unless you're creating an academic CV, a resume is meant to be a synopsis of your career, with emphasis on the last 5-10 years—not an exhaustive accounting of everything you've ever done at work. ✅ Be ruthless about highlighting your biggest accomplishments in each role, and keep it to two pages or less. Once you've got 10-15 years of experience under your belt, your early career roles should start dropping off your resume altogether (let's face it, they probably aren't relevant anyway). Bonus note: A big contributor to overlong resumes is summary statement bloat. If your summary statement is 3/4 of a page, that's not a summary! Try for 4-5 lines—1/4 page at most—and put those big accomplishments under the relevant role instead. I could go on at much greater length about each of these—which would you like to hear more about? And what are your favorite resume tips?

After reshaping 200+ PM resumes, I’m finally checking my work against the Internet’s wisdom (and the results are surprising)! Here are the top 6 pieces of advice for improving your resume, gathered from multiple sources across the web. This is all great advice! (And aligns with my approach.) But the list leaves out the MOST important tip, which I'll share at the end. (Oh, and point #5 is not totally wrong, but it's misleading and tends to lead to BAD resumes.) 1. Start with a Strong Summary – Your resume should open with a brief, compelling summary that highlights your key skills and qualifications. This helps grab the hiring manager’s attention right away. And entices them to read more. 2. Use Action Verbs – Start each bullet point with strong action verbs like "developed," "led," or "implemented" to make your achievements stand out and show proactivity. 3. Tailor Your Resume to the Job – Customize your resume for each position you apply to by a) making it clear that you *are* the role they are looking for, and b) if necessary adding keywords from the job description into your Skills section. The keywords help pass applicant tracking systems (ATS) and reassure HR recruiters that you're qualified. (Note: The Internet doesn't know this, but the hiring manager doesn't care much about keywords.) 4. Focus on Achievements, Not Responsibilities – Don’t just list what you were responsible for. Instead, emphasize what you accomplished in each role and how it benefited the company. (Good, but not enough - refer to point #7.) 5. Keep It Concise – Stick to one or two pages, focusing on the most relevant experience. Hiring managers typically spend only a few seconds scanning a resume, so brevity is key. --> (#5 is actually wrong. That five second scan is only focused on the first half page. *If* they like what they see, they'll spend a lot more time on your resume.) 6. Use a Clean Format – Stick to professional, easy-to-read fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Georgia. Avoid overly flashy design elements, like multiple columns, that could confuse ATS systems and readers! And no typos - usually instant disqualification! A pretty good set of tips, especially if you take them the right way (e.g., #5). What's missing? Something that relates to #4: 7. Show Your Impact - Achievements are often boring. But put your achievement in the context of a problem worth solving and a meaningful transformation, and suddenly it's not boring. ** Before: Saved the company over $1.2M by renegotiating with suppliers. ** After: Renegotiated supplier contracts, reversing rising supply chain costs and saving $1.2M (10%), while improving supplier relationships, enhancing product quality, and reducing time-to-market. --- Want some "Internet approved" help with your resume? I can make sure you apply all these tips, especially #7. Click the "Make your resume amazing!" link on my LinkedIn profile page to learn more.

Many resumes get rejected before reaching a recruiter! Why? Here’s how I made mine stand out. When I began job hunting, I didn’t realize the importance of keywords. My resume had all the right skills, but it was too vague—teamwork, resilience, the usual. I thought that would be enough. But it wasn’t. ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) filtered me out. Fast rejections showed: no human saw my resume. Companies now use bots to screen applications. They need something quick and relevant—something tailored, not just buzzwords. Generic skills won't work. You need job-specific keywords. That’s what helps you get past the bot. Your takeaway? Tailor your resume. Use keywords from the job description. Google them if needed. A well-placed word can make a big difference. Are your resumes aligning with the job description, or are you sending the same one repeatedly? Stop waiting for luck—find the right keywords and get noticed! Type a YES if you find this helpful #ResumeTips #JobSearchHacks #ATSOptimization #CareerSuccess #GetHired

“How do I get my resume noticed? 📜” 👀 It’s one of the most common questions I get in my LinkedIn inbox—and trust me, I get it. Everyone deserves there “Pom Pom” moment” and before I became a Recruiter, I was on the other side, feeling the anxiety of not hearing back and wondering if my resume ever even got seen. Now, I’m one of the many behind the screen, searching through hundreds of profiles, and want to share what I’ve learned to help job seekers stand out and land their dream role 💯. 👀 As a Sourcing Recruiter, many like to call us headhunters. Meaning we are proactively looking for talent—before jobs are even posted. That means we’re scanning resumes and profiles, searching for keywords & experiences that match the job’s skills and responsibilities. Here are a few practical tips and heartfelt insights I wish I knew earlier ⬇️: 💙 Tailor Your Resume Every Time I know—it’s tempting to use the same resume for every job. But tailoring your resume to match the specific role is key. Each job has different language, expectations, and focus areas. Take the extra time to align your resume with the job description. Will it take more work? Yes. Will it increase your chances of getting a phone screen or interview? Absolutely. ❤️ Save Job Descriptions Job descriptions often disappear once the role closes. Save them. Screenshot them. Keep them in a folder. This will help you compare future roles and tweak your resume when similar opportunities arise. 💛 Use “Buzzwords” Thoughtfully In Your Resume When I’m reviewing a job description, I write down impactful verbs and industry-specific terms like “automate,” “develop,” or “transform.” These words matter. If your resume mirrors the language in the job description, it’s more likely to get noticed—both by humans and “applicant tracking system” (ATS). 🩶 Join Talent Communities At Southwest Airlines, we search not only on LinkedIn but also within our own talent network. If you sign up and upload your resume, you’re not just getting job alerts—you’re giving Sourcers like me a chance to discover you before a job is even posted: https://lnkd.in/gbYtQGrk 👀 These are the kinds of things I wish someone told me during my own job search. It’s easy to feel like you’re sending resumes into the void—but the truth is, there are people looking. We’re here. We see you. We’ve been you. And now being on the other side, we want to help you ✈️ #recruiting #networking #jobseekers #letsconnect #sourcing #aviation #jobs #hr #LifeAtSouthwest

Have you been applying for jobs lately? This post is for you. Yesterday, I attended a resume prep session organized by the AWS Skills Center in Arlington, VA. I gained some valuable insights that I believe can help anyone looking to enhance their resume and stand out in the job market. ----- Here are some key takeaways ----- 1️⃣ Tailor your resume to each job Carefully read the job description and align your skills and experiences to the requirements. Use keywords from the posting to get past applicant tracking systems (ATS). -> Whatever you put on your resume, be ready to discuss it. 2️⃣ Quantify your achievements Include strong metrics that will show the amount of impact, the number of people, etc. For example, Instead of saying "Improved customer satisfaction," say "Increased customer satisfaction scores by 20% through process improvements." -> Numbers speak louder than words. 3️⃣ Keep it concise and relevant Recruiters typically spend just a few seconds scanning your resume. So, ensure your most relevant experiences and achievements are easy to find. A well-structured one-page resume (or two for more experience) is ideal. -> Everything you put in your resume should be relevant to the job you are applying for. 4️⃣ Highlight transferable skills Even if you’re transitioning into a new role or industry, focus on the skills that apply across domains such as communication, leadership, problem-solving, and adaptability. -> You can include an experience that is not directly related to the role you are applying only if it demonstrates leadership skills. 5️⃣ Professional formatting matters A clean, professional layout with consistent fonts, spacing, and bullet points makes your resume easier to read and leaves a good impression. -> Using fancy fonts will distract recruiters from important information on your resume. 6️⃣ You need more than one resume Keep a primary CV that includes everything you have ever done (DO NOT SHARE THIS WITH ANYONE). Then, create multiple resumes from it when applying.  -> This will save you a lot of time. 7️⃣ Hyperlink wherever possible If you have a chance to hyperlink something on your resume, do it. It will be helpful to the recruiter. -> Keep it simple and avoid long links. For example, for your LinkedIn profile, write it like “in/your_name” and hyperlink it. 8️⃣ Proofread your resume Get someone to proofread your resume. A second eye to your document will always spot something you missed. Besides, anything you see as negligible, could be a big deal to the recruiter. I would like to thank the AWS Skills Center for hosting us. A big shout to the organizers of that resume prep session for their dedicated time and input. It was an invaluable moment for me and I am sure for everyone present. Have you recently updated your resume? What are some tips you would like to add to this list? Let’s discuss this in the comments section. Found this helpful? Please like ❤️, comment 💬, or repost ♻️ to help others.