So you’ve found the perfect company or industry you want to break into. You know you’d be great for the role – you’re smart, personable, and you’re confident you’ll rock the interview. Congrats! How do you make sure you’ll be considered for the job?
Your first task is to get past the resume screen and land that call or in-person meeting. The single best piece of advice I’ve learned about resumes: know exactly what the recruiter is looking for. Know the description, skills, and qualifications needed for the role (conveniently, they’re listed right in the job posting) and know how to explain why you fit those qualifications perfectly.
Put yourself in the position of a recruiter for a heavily sought-after employer – whether in consulting, PR, banking, nonprofits, or whatever industry of your choice. She receives hundreds of resumes for any position needed. Her job is to work with internal business partners and provide them with the best pick of candidates who have exactly the skills and competencies they want. If you’re lucky, she’ll skim your background for 20-30 seconds and something will catch her eye to put you in that small “Yes” pile before she moves right along to the next resume in the batch. With your resume, you’ve got one shot to convince her you are the perfect candidate she should bring to the team.
Your goal is not just to impress her. Your goal is to convince her you have just the skills and experience she is looking for to fill the role. You might be a stellar candidate with an amazing background, but if she sees your application and thinks, “Wow, Jen is really smart and has done lots of interesting stuff – she studied abroad in Argentina! However, I’m not sure how that’s relevant to position XYZ,” then you’re out of luck.
But here’s the catch. If you know this job’s the one for you, you do have exactly the skills and interests necessary to do great in this position. Now all you need to do is sell it.
The main point is this: Don’t let a recruiter paint her own picture of who you are from what she can piece together in your resume – past job titles, descriptions, and other tidbits. You should always be in control of what that picture is. Here are a few tips on how to:
#1: Write a professional summary
Start your resume off with a summary that highlights the general skills, experience, and interests you bring to the table (which just so happen to align perfectly with this open position). Or for those starting off from college, a career objective statement also works well. This is the easiest way to control the image that recruiter has of you from square one.
Instead of reading first about your education (“Hmm, so Liz majored in Government, but now she’s applying for a role in marketing?”) or your previous job, she sees:
“A dedicated team player with three years of sales experience seeking a position in marketing, advertising, or PR. Has direct experience managing projects and working with clients in industries XYZ. Fluent in Spanish.
Bingo. It’s easy to tailor and the first impression the recruiter has of you speaks just to what she’s looking for. There are plenty of good resources online for how to write an effective professional summary. The key to remember: Don’t make a recruiter work to read through your resume and figure out how your past experience is relevant to this new role. Lay it out plain and simple – right at the top of the page.
#2: Create customized resumes for every different type of position or industry you apply to (or even better, for every individual job)
I know it sounds like a ton of work, but it really isn’t. 90% of your resume content will generally stay the same, but tailoring that last 10% (your professional summary and a few quick changes to your past experience or college coursework) will make your resumes much more convincing to the recruiter that you’re a shoo-in for the role.
Say you’ve set your sights on a PR firm, but you’re open to starting out in whatever role will get your foot in the door. Depending on what position is available, the skills you want to play up are different if you’re applying to be an Administrative Assistant versus an Accounts Manager. The recruiter knows exactly what skills are needed for the role that’s open, and you’ll be much more successful in getting that interview offer if you’ve tailored your resume accordingly.
Tip: Stay organized if you have multiple electronic versions of your resume. Keep a master folder of resume templates that you can easily refer back to, and store customized versions in subfolders categorized by industry or type of position. Use whatever works for you to stay on top of everything so you don’t send the wrong resume out to the employer!
#3 Be mindful of how the rest of your resume fits into the narrative you build about who you are
This is particularly important if you’re looking to enter a new field. Maybe all your experience to date has been in healthcare work and you’re looking to expand broadly into business. That’s OK – you know you have the skills and potential to make the switch, so just make sure you can communicate that convincingly. Don’t let a recruiter pass over your resume thinking you can’t find a job in the area you really want and you’re just wildly applying to new fields. Once you get that interview, you can explain in more detail why this industry is the natural evolution for your career – yet you still have to get past the resume screen.
This doesn’t mean every past position you list needs to fit perfectly into the job you’re applying for. It’s great that you bring a unique set of experiences to the table, but don’t pigeonhole yourself by only highlighting experience applicable to the field you’re trying to leave! Wherever possible, play up skills and accomplishments relevant to the position you want. Use buzzwords that are applicable to the industry and emphasize general, transferable skills you bring. Don’t let it sound fake, but where it works, make tweaks to your professional summary and to the bullets or descriptions you list for each job.
The bottom line is this: once that recruiter’s picked up your resume, you’ve got 30 seconds to sell yourself. Make sure every item on that page is impressive, interesting, and relevant. Then start preparing for your interview!
