After the mighty effort that you’ve already put into updating your resume and really making it shine, the idea of creating a separate resume for each job applied for might seem like overkill. However, making certain that your resume directly addresses the required job qualifications for each position can increase your chances of landing an interview and, ultimately, the job you are seeking.

Suppose you wish to apply for several office manager positions with different companies. Although the job title is the same, the position descriptions may vary widely, depending on the particular needs of each individual company. One company may emphasize their need for an office manager who has experience training other employees, another may want an office manager with financial expertise, and a third may want their office manager to perform human resources functions. Even if you have all of these job skills, the resumes submitted to each of these companies should be different, so that each potential employer receives a resume that highlights the skills which that company especially needs.

It may seem like unnecessary extra work. After all, if a hiring manager reads your resume from top to bottom, they should be aware of your skills even if you haven’t created a separate resume for each job. However, a hiring manager may not have much time to review resumes and decide who will be interviewed and who won’t. To optimize your chances of landing an interview, it’s worth your while to make sure the information is laid out so that the most desired job skills are easy to see, even at a quick glance by a harried hiring manager with little time to spare.

Although your resume may include all of your pertinent job skills, the simplest way to highlight the skills that will impress each particular potential employer is to rearrange the order of the job skills listed in your work history. If a potential employer is especially interested in someone with financial acumen, for instance, your experience in reconciling accounts or handling payroll should be first in your list of skills, with your other job skills presented lower down on the list. If, instead, a potential employer is looking for someone skilled in training employees, your previous experience assisting new employees in following office policy should be listed ahead of your other accomplishments.

Another way to optimize your resume is in the section describing your education. Although it would be inappropriate to list all of your coursework from each educational institution, it can be useful to list any advanced classes you attended that pertain to skills most desired by a potential employer.

Additionally, if you have one-time accomplishments that will be most impressive to the targeted employer, this can be included either in your work history or in a separate “Selected Accomplishments” section. For instance, if a potential employer is interested in someone with human resources experience, the fact that you reduced personnel turnover by 50% or developed a new employee handbook for a previous employer should be included in the resume you send to that company’s hiring manager.

When optimizing your resume for each potential employer, be sure to carefully review the job description provided by the company, and then design a resume that responds as completely as possible to each job skill the potential employer is seeking. By taking the time to tailor your resume for each potential employer, you can greatly increase the likelihood that a hiring manager will invite you for an interview, and give you a chance at landing the job you’re hoping for.



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For some excellent examples of well-written resumes, check out Resumes That Get Jobs on Amazon.com.