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Tips on tailoring your resume

From PD: I enjoyed your column on applying for jobs for which you lack experience. As an IT Director, I see hundreds of resumes each week, and the biggest fault I see is that too many job seekers use the same resume for every job they apply for.

I may receive 250 plus resumes for a job as a Web designer, for example. I have about an hour to reduce this pile of 250-plus resumes to 10 or 12 that I can read at leisure and select three or four for an interview. So, in effect, I have 15 seconds to scan each resume for Web design experience. Probably 90 percent of the resumes highlight network, programming, or technician experience, and the words “Web design” do not appear anywhere, although they may have designed their own Web page.

Please tell your readers to tailor their resume for each job they are applying for, or they simply don’t stand a chance in competing for the interview.

From. MW: Thanks, P.D. I fully agree. Not only should an applicant tailor the contents of the resume to fit the needs of the employer, if the applicant knows the name of the open job, use a one-line “Objective” at the top of the resume to nail down their interest and fully use that 15-seconds of scan time that “P.D.” refers to.

Don’t just photocopy and “shotgun” your resume to as many employers as you can, then sit back and blame everyone else that no one responds! Do a little work for yourselves. Show initiative. Do what others fail to do. That’s what you will be expected to do if you get hired for a new job!

In the March 6 issue of U.S. News & World Report, it was reported that the CIA receives about 2,800 applications per week, most sent online. How many of those, do you think, are sent to specific people by name and title, and how many do you think get read and the applicant contacted for an interview?

No one ever said that job searching is easy. It’s probably the hardest job you’ll ever have, and the most important. Do it right and show your next employer how you can tackle a difficult problem and work it until it’s solved!

(Marvin Walberg is a job search consultant based in Birmingham, Ala. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 43056, Birmingham, AL, 35243. E-mail mwalberg(at)bellsouth.net.)