How to Customize Your Resume for Each Job Application

How to Customize Your Resume for Each Job ApplicationHow to Customize Your Resume for Each Job Application56customizing your resume has become just like brushing your teeth a necessity that ultimately welcomes the prospect of meeting and interacting with someone face-to-face.So what is this customizing and how can you be sure youre doing it right? Weve developed five simple ways you can custom tailor your resume and impress a potential employer.Here are five ways you can customize your resume for each job applicationCustomize your title Most professionals resort to creating an objective section at the top of their resume, but this is a resume faux pas. Its now considered best practice to start out your resume with a title and summary of qualifications that reflect your areas of expertise in some way.Your top header can be as easy as writing your current job title or you can directly insert the title of the position youre applying for. If youre feeling extra ambitious, you can try bot h The header should be centered and bold at the top of the resume (under your name and contact information) and resemble something to the effect of Project Controls Engineer Senior Planning Scheduling SpecialistCustomize your value statement/summary of qualificationsAfter your title, include a brief summary of qualifications that can be easily tailored by inserting key terms and phrases from the job posting. Is there a particular qualification or responsibility listed in the job advertisement that resonates with you? Include it You can even go as far as copying the phrase directly to really hit the keywords like you mean it.If youre a marketing manager, for example, include the fact that you have 5+ years of experience in a marketing management role with a proven ability to develop innovative strategies to achieve desired market positions for various brands. I wrote that by combining phrases from the minimum requirements and essential functions sections of a job posting. To amplif y your chance of getting an interview, back up each statement in your summary of qualification with a brief, measurable example.Print out the job advertisementYoull be surprised at how having a hard copy of the job description can really help you. Once printed, read the document closely and highlight every verb (action word) you see. When finished, youll have a highlighted document with key terms like managing, implementing, and analyzing. Now use a pen to underline all nouns, such as marketing campaigns, operations teams, and budgets.These highlighted and underlined words are terms that you need to include in your resume. To make life easier, include a core skills and competencies section and mix and match the verbs and nouns by creating a bulleted list that looks something like thisCustomize your professional experience to reflect phrases and terms in the job postingSince you need to do this for every job you apply to, its best to keep one generic resume saved on your desktop that you can add relevant responsibilities to. Remember to save your changes as a new document so that your original, generic version doesnt get lost.This process is as simple as adding a key phrase from the job posting and offering a brief highlight or accomplishment to quantify your ability to perform the task. Example Provide exceptional ongoing service to customers, as evidenced by two consecutive years of 100 percent customer satisfaction rating.Include company information or evidence that you did research on the organizationThis is a direct indication that you created a custom resume just for the employer. You can go to the companys website to research their mission statement, read recent news coverage, and review annual reports.Tie in the fact that youre excited at the prospect of working in an environment that rewards creativity, strategic thinking, and the willingness to go the extra mile for every project and youll really impress the hiring manager at Apple. (This phrase was t aken directly from the Apple website and took less than 2 minutes to find.)The goal is to show that you align directly with the companys values and overall culture. It may seem daunting and time-consuming at first, but with a bit of practice youll be shooting off resumes and scheduling job interviews in no timeReaders, what do you do to customize your resume for each job application? Share your tips with us in the comment section belowResumeTarget.com provides professional resume writing services for clients of all career levels across North America. We are the only resume writing company that offers a professionally written resume- coupled with the guidance of recruiter- to guarantee that your resume will get results. Tweet us with any resume questions you have at www.twitter.com/ResumeTarget, were here to help