Feb 20, 2014

I have mentioned in at least one previous post that the days of cookie cutter résumés are gone. With most big companies doing their initial hiring online, computers are doing much of the initial grunt work sorting through résumés submitted online, the use of keywords is becoming increasingly important. But what about when your résumé gets in front of a human?

Once you’ve passed the computers, it ultimately comes down to another human reading your résumé and feeling like you would be a good fit for the job they are trying to fill before evening meeting you. How can you do that? Be unique!

Having something unique to pique someone’s interest is key to getting noticed, but you also have to make sure that you’re qualified for the job and can contribute something to the position. That means making your résumé fit the job. A teacher applying for a position as a team manager could focus on her experience training people and working with very diverse groups. A former police officer applying for a position as a quality control operator on an assembly line could point to experience making split second decisions.

It simply comes down to two things:

Promote your unique abilities

and

Focus each résumé submission on the specific job you are applying for

With both of these in place, you will not be wasting the recruiter’s time looking at résumés that may not fit the position.

I am curious to hear from you what kinds of tweaks you make to your résumé when you are applying for jobs. Post in the comments below.