Why You Shouldn’t Tailor Your Resume to Every Job
Y'all still crushing your New Year's resolutions?
You know what resolution I wish every job seeker would have this year?
To stop tailoring your resume to every job posting!
Y'all 👏🏾 stop 👏🏾 doing 👏🏾 this!
It's such a big misplacement of your time and energy.
Does this scenario sound familiar: You spend a whole weekend tweaking your resume and preparing a cover letter for a particular job you are really excited about.
Then you go apply and submit your resume, only to find out the role has been filled or they are no longer accepting applications. 😩
You feel sad and angry you missed out on this opportunity and get frustrated that you spent so much time on tailoring your materials.
We've all been there and it's annoying AF.
But there is a better way. A more effective strategy.
You see, while you were spending your precious time perfecting your resume, other people already applied to the role, emailed the hiring manager, got forwarded to the recruiter, and booked their first interview.
All while you were still tweaking your resume. 😳
Maybe you're like "cool I hear you, but how do I stand out as a candidate then?"
The answer is there are a lot of things you can do to stand out - namely everything I teach job seekers.
But the main point I want to drive home today is this: Build speed and execution into your job-hunting process. Go Go Go.
You must move faster and learn where to consistently apply your energy to be more effective.
The faster you take action the more data points you'll get back and the faster you can refine your approach.
If you spend a lot of time on the wrong actions you'll get bad results and a lot of frustration.
Endlessly tweaking your resume is one of those time consuming actions that won't move the needle in your job search.
It's much more effective to build a single master resume for your next career move and spend the majority of your time on other job-hunting activities that move you forward in the job search.
The truth is people scan resumes for 6 seconds, y'all. So all the tailoring might not even be noticed.
Craft your resume toward the single next role you want, and make sure it's clear and compelling in all ways.
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Pro Tip: Make sure your resume bullet points are focused on achievements.
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You’ve got to prove you’re the top candidate right from the jump.
Your resume is the beginning of your career story and the trailer or highlight reel of your career. It should be curated and targeted.
The main goal of your resume is to help you to get more interviews. That's it.
If it's doing that, you gucci. 😎
But if you aren't getting callbacks for interviews, then you gotta examine your resume, LinkedIn, or your application strategy.
Likely one or all of these needs improvement.
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Sidenote: For jobs in tech your LinkedIn profile is likely the first place people will see you so make sure your profile is on point too.
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Many people get stuck because they aren’t clear on what job they want next and therefore communicate a confusing professional brand.
This leads to candidates spinning their wheels while applying to 3-4 different kinds of roles without much success.
If that's the case for you, take a step back and figure out what role you truly want first.
Then get targeted AF.
Target your resume and LinkedIn only toward this specific role and career.
Focus on finding open roles and building a targeted pipeline of jobs.
Then as you begin interviewing you'll be able to curate and master your interview narrative so it gets stronger as you interview.
Getting TARGETED in all aspects of your job search will shift your outcomes.
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Bonus tip: Sprinkle keywords from job descriptions of your target role throughout your resume. Talk the talk of your role.
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Every job seeker wants to find their next role sooner rather than later.
The key to getting job offers faster is learning where to focus your energy consistently and what levers to pull that will move the needle for you in the job search.
Tweaking your resume non-stop and applying to a lot of different job titles seems like a good strategy on the surface, but it's not homies.
Change up and rethink your strategy. Also, ask for help if you need it.
Don’t give up, you’re a talented mofo and companies would be lucky to have you!
Tired of getting rejected in your job search?
Learn a more effective job search process in this workbook 👇🏾
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