Tailoring Doesn’t Always Refer to Your Wardrobe

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

He has been a friend and client for many years, has heard me talk about it for at least a decade, and still made the mistake that kills more resume submissions than anything else.

For my search firm readers, how often do you receive a resume that causes you to scratch your head and wonder what the person was thinking of who sent their resume? With me, it used to happen more than a hundred times a day.

Almost every resume I received did not show the skills required to do the job even when I make it clear in my advertising to send their resume in Word ONLY IF YOU HAVE THE REQUIRED SKILLS.

And if you thought I had time to call everyone and ask them about the experience they have that fits the position for which they forwarded their resume, you’re wrong. I didn’t. If I called everyone who emailed, waited for them to get back and qualified them for the missing part of the fit, I would never have had time to do the marketing that helped people land the jobs I get for them.

So here is the simple solution–stop flipping the same resume to job ads like they are burgers at a fast-food restaurant. Tailor your resume to the position.

Pretend a six-year-old is going to read it. Would your son or daughter at that age be able to figure out that you are qualified to do the job?

Yes, that means you will have 50 or 100 versions of your resume and you will need to track which version you sent to whom.

So what?

A broken watch is right twice a day and a generic resume will get you some interviews.

You will get more and better interviews if you tailor your resume to the specific job description, rather than sending the same one over and over again.