Always Use Several Versions of Your Resume

First of all, I know it’s a major pain to custom-tailor each resume but you have to remember, not all companies are the same. You have to emphasis certain areas of your background for some companies and totally different areas for another.

So make sure you read the help wanted ads carefully and then emphasis your specific experience the company wants. Believe me, if you do not clearly state that you have the experience the company is looking for, chances are, they won’t find it!

HR managers and recruiters within companies get a lot of resumes and they scan them fast, so don’t expect them to dig for your qualifications. You must clearly spell out your qualifications in your resume up front and often. And don’t be afraid to change the order of your resume to fit the specific position. The key is to highlight your qualifications.

As with your resume, you should use different versions of your cover letters and custom-tailor them to each position. Again, you want to highlight your qualifications in the first sentence of your cover letter. Hopefully I am getting the point across that you need to clearly point out that you have the qualifications the company is looking for, because if you don’t, they won’t know you’re qualified. Crazy? Yes it is, but it’s also true. I hope this helps.

Good luck to you!