I Hate Tailoring My Resume. Can I Skip This Step When Applying?

If there is a part of the job search process that job seekers really hate doing, tops on this list must be tailoring a resume for a job.

Many people see it as a time-consuming and repetitive process that often doesn’t even yield any results.

I get it.

No one wants to do extra work if they don’t feel there is any payoff.

And believe me, when I was looking for work, I grumbled about it, too.

But I did it.

Why?

Because I have read thousands of resumes, I know how little time recruiters spend when first glancing at your resume. You want to quickly provide the information the hiring team needs to decide whether you are qualified for the job.

Tailoring your resume for each job can help you provide the needed information quickly. 

So Why Do Job Seekers Hate Tailoring Their Resumes?

After working diligently on writing your resume to make it impactful, it seems counter-intuitive to rework it for each job. The biggest issues I see that many job seekers feel when tailoring a resume are the following:

It is time-consuming. When you are submitting multiple resumes a day for open roles, this can take from minutes to multiple hours, depending on how much editing the resume needs.

Confusion about requirements. Understanding the specific role requirements and how they align with the job seeker’s experience and skills can be challenging.

Limiting flexibility. If you want to be considered for more than one role at an organization, tailoring your resume for a specific position can limit those opportunities.

Repetitive. Because you are doing this with every application, it quickly becomes a dull and repetitive activity.

What is the impact? There is no guarantee that you will get an interview if you do this work.

So many job seekers decide that it isn’t worth the effort.

But I disagree. Here is why.

How Tailoring A Resume Got Me The Job

Though I disliked tailoring my resume, I did it every time I applied for a role. I wanted the recruitment team to find my relevant qualifications and experiences easily.

Let me explain with a specific example from my past. 

I was looking for HR Director roles. I had written my resume to highlight the broad range of experiences I had in my present and previous roles that were important for the vast majority of these roles. 

I saw a role that looked interesting because it matched my industry background. One thing that came through from reading the job description was the emphasis on HR compliance. I had HR compliance in my background but had not emphasized it in my resume. I edited my resume for this role to put my compliance background front and center and even added more bullet points around this activity. 

I was selected for an interview and ultimately hired. During the interview, I learned this employer had paid a hefty fine for being out of compliance, so they wanted a person in the role to ensure that did not happen again.

Had I not tailored my resume for this role, I am sure I would never have been selected to be interviewed.

Why Tailoring Your Resume Is Important

You are writing a resume for two readers: the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and the recruiter/hiring manager. Both are basically looking at the same thing—whether you are a fit for the role. Tailoring your resume makes a more compelling case for each of these “readers.”

Addresses Specific Skills, Qualifications, and Experiences. What if the position requires experience with a specific software? Or do they want specific industry experience that you have? Addressing this on your resume will increase your chance of being seen as a strong match.

Highlights Only Relevant Skills, Knowledge, or Experience. As a former recruiter, I read many resumes with irrelevant information about skills, knowledge, or experiences that had nothing to do with the role I wanted to fill. I remember a resume highlighting the person’s sales achievements for a strategic sourcing role. The position did not involve sales, so this information had no bearing on whether the person was qualified for the strategic sourcing role. Information like this is just noise to a recruiter. Tailoring your resume allows you to eliminate it from your resume.

Ability To Address Pain Points. You can address a pain point that you see in the job description. For example, a Marketing Specialist job description could emphasize customer acquisition. When you take the time to tailor your resume, you can address customer acquisition in a bullet point to show that you have this experience and provide an example with a specific result.

Gives You A Competitive Edge. Many job seekers do not tailor their resumes for each role (and, in some cases, for any role). By doing so, you differentiate yourself from other job seekers who will be submitting more generic resumes. 

A tailored resume for each role can help you score higher if the organization uses ATS matching to rank candidates for review. It also helps the human reader better identify you as a well-qualified candidate.

Best Practices For Tailoring A Resume

If you start with a well-targeted resume for the role you are interested in, tailoring your resume should take less time. It can be challenging to use one resume to target multiple positions. It may be easier to create separate resumes for each targeted role to minimize the amount of editing you will need to do.

So here are the best practices when it comes to aligning your resume to a role.

Reread the job description. Understand the critical qualification, experience, and skills asked for. What is needed in the role? What is preferred? Highlight everything required in one color and what is preferred in a different one.

Identify relevant keywords. These will be the specific words or phrases used in the job description to explain the job requirements. You want to jot these down, as you will want to include all you possess in your resume. If you use a skills list, concentrate on hard skills, not soft skills like communication or multi-tasking, as recruiters are skeptical when you only state them. Note the specific words (“strategy” or “strategic”) and if acronyms are used (M&A).

Write the title of the position at the top of your resume. It will be a match for the ATS and tell the human reader you are interested in this particular role. 

Customize Your Professional Summary. Highlight the most relevant requirements you possess. This can be industry experience, special knowledge, education, etc. Highlight how you are an ideal candidate.

Highlight your relevant skills. What are the core skills that are required? Incorporate specific examples of how you successfully used these skills.

Metrics are powerful. Whenever feasible, highlight results. This can be numbers or percentages. This will provide context, making your resume stand out from your competition.

Tailor and Reorder Bullet Points. Are the bullet points you have the best examples of the knowledge, skills, and experience desired in the role? If not, bring other examples or edit the bullet points for better alignment. Reorder your bullet points so the most relevant to this job are at the top of your list.

Be careful with titles. Sometimes a title you have does not convey the full scope of your job or is a non-common title that can be confusing. You can add the equivalency to your resume: Example-New Title (Old Title) or VP of HR (VP of People).

Education and certifications. Prominently display any relevant education or certificates for the role. This can be in your professional summary or an education/certification section. If applicable, you can add relevant coursework, published papers, patents, presentations, etc.

And it goes without saying you must proofread your changes before submitting your resume.

Hiring managers are inundated with resumes. By taking the time to tailor yours, you're demonstrating your genuine interest in the role. It's an opportunity to make the best case for how you uniquely fit the employer’s needs and can solve their challenges.

It's all about strategically emphasizing your most relevant experiences, skills, and accomplishments. Trust me; it's worth the extra effort. You'll increase your chances of getting noticed, landing interviews, and ultimately securing your dream job.

My Career GPS can help job seekers put their best foot forward by providing the tools for a successful job search. If you need career coaching, resume strategy, interview skills assessment, or LinkedIn profile assistance, she can help. Schedule a 15-minute no-obligation consultation.