I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your resume should always be a work in progress. Otherwise, it represents an unfinished bridge – like this picture – that does not connect what you offer and what your targeted employer seeks. I teach my clients how to review and tweak their own resumes to apply for different types of jobs. Hopefully, you’ll have a target in mind when you write your resume, but things change, opportunities change and you need to change (your resume) with them.

It is worth the time to tweak your resume. (I write resumes with “moving parts” that make it very easy to adjust and adapt for each opportunity.) Of course, the headlines and highlights sections may change depending on the job and the job’s requirements. Other points throughout the resume should also be adjusted, if only to change the order of the bullet points within each job description. 

The more time a job seeker spends on targeting the resume for the job, the more likely he or she is to land an interview.

Of course, you don’t have “time” to adjust your resume for each job. It would be so much easier to send the same exact document to every employer! Yes, but doing so could also extend your search. No one wants to sign up to be hunting for a job any longer than necessary!

Have you been unemployed and/or looking for work for a long time? Longer than you thought you would be? Remember, this is not a “come as you are” job market. There are fewer jobs and more people looking. You must do whatever you can to give yourself an advantage over the competition if you want to be gainfully employed anytime soon. For some, this just means looking more carefully at job descriptions and targeting their resumes accordingly. For others, it means hiring a professional to help them identify and outline all of the great skills they have to offer.

Remember – your job search is in YOUR hands. If you are driving your own career bus, you want to be sure you have both eyes on the road! Move forward by taking the right turns to end up where you want to go!

If you are ready for a change and could use some help with your search and materials, follow THIS LINK to learn more about me and how we can work together!

photo by mateoteh