6 Steps to Tailor Your Resume – for maximum impact
Research shows that employers consider culture fit to be a key selection criteria when choosing staff. Yes, a BullHorn Reach study revealed that 57% of recruiters would strongly factor in a candidate’s personality fit with the hiring company in their selection decision.
As well as this, one of the top 5 ways to annoy recruiters, cited by 30% of those surveyed in a BullHorn Reach study, was candidates applying for jobs which they are not qualified for or which are simply not relevant to their resume/CV.
Are you tailoring your resume/CV to every role?
It is vital therefore that you do not simply scatter gun employers, and apply for numerous roles, without closely checking your fit to both the role and the company. Why? Because research suggests this approach will not be effective.
Rather, the most effective way to approach your job applications will be to find companies where you have a good cultural fit which offer jobs where you have an excellent skill/qualification fit. This more selective approach is likely to yield a much greater return on investment than the scatter-gun approach.
Having adopted a more selective approach to maximize your chance of interview, you should also tailor your resume/CV to suit each company and job to make it clear to the employer that you are a good fit. So how does one go about tailoring their resume/CV for a specific job?
Well, there are 6 steps to tailoring a a CV and these are shown below.
1. Research the prospective employer’s website, its social media profiles and updates and and using these sources you should gather the following information:
- Name, title and email address of interviewers and relevant contacts
- Job description and person specification
- Company values and culture
- New plans and strategies
- Current products and services
- Clients and competitors
- Current industry trends affecting their business
Having completed the research above, you are now in a position to tailor your resume/CV by following the steps shown below.
2. Name the key contact person in cover letter and personal email
Having acquired the details/names of the interviewer/key contact, make sure to address that person by name in the cover letter and e-mail.
3. Name drop; mention any people you know in the prospective company
Make sure to reference friends/contacts within the prospective employer’s business in your cover letter. According to a Bull Horn reach study, 29% of recruiters thought being referred by a friend or colleague would carry a lot of weight when considering a candidate for suitability to a job. In fact, many companies have a preference for employees who have been referred.
4.Tailor your profile section; this is about culture fit
Your resume/CV profile should contain a short and highly promotional summary of your personality, values and defining characteristics. It is a chance for you to demonstrate your culture fit. Make sure that you emphasize values and characteristics which are most relevant to the employer as you have deduced from your research in step 1. Make sure that your values mirror those of the employer. For example, if the employer value’s accuracy above all else, this value should be clearly reflected in your profile, assuming of course you possess this quality.
5. Key Skills and Achievements
I recommend that you include a key skills and achievements section in the first half page of your resume/CV just below the profile. This should be a bullet pointed list of your most outstanding 2-4 career achievements. However, you should tailor this, so you include those achievements which are most relevant to the role. For example, if the company is going through an intense period of change you might include achievements which demonstrate your change management skills.
6. Employment section
Make sure that you emphasize responsibilities and achievements which are most relevant to the role, as in step 5. For example, if the role requires an ability to help with team management make sure you emphasize past responsibilities relating to delegation, supervision and organization.
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