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RWCA
E- Book Sample Chapter
GENERIC
RESUMES - DOES ONE SIZE FIT ALL?
Lori Norris, CPRW, Get Results Career Services, LLC
You
have worked long and hard on perfecting your resume and now
it is time to send out that one generic resume to every employer
in your city, right? Think again! In today's society of resumes
created on word processing programs, the employer knows how
easy it is to customize or tailor a résumé, and expectations
have changed. A generic or cookie-cutter resume will get you
in the "no" pile faster than a typo or misspelled word.
It
is a proven fact that you will get less interview phone calls
from sending out 100 generic resumes than you would from 20
resumes targeted and focused to the specific job posting and
company. When you target or customize a resume for each job,
it takes more time so you may have to change your job search
strategy. Start with those positions where you are confident
that you can give concrete examples and accomplishments that
demonstrate your skills and abilities.
The
first step in customizing your resume is to find out what is
important to each employer and / or job posting. This can be
done through research of the company and its values. Most simply,
thoroughly read each job posting. Take the time to highlight
the keywords of what the employer is seeking. Ensure that your
resume includes accomplishments or statements that demonstrate
your previous use of the skills or traits desired by the hiring
manager.
The
powerful combination of a targeted cover letter and resume will
ensure even more success. Simply customizing a cover letter
and sending the same resume each time is no longer enough. Cover
letters and resumes addressed to the specific hiring manager
are always much more effective.
Although
writing a targeted resume takes more time than a generic resume,
your success at the end of the day will be more than worth it.
Targeted resumes are much more likely to entice employers to
pick up the phone and call YOU for an interview.
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