Ready, Set, Revamp Your Resume!
By: Molly Mularoni
As a business student, I’m sure that you have heard time and time again how important it is to have a strong resume. This one page document is the first impression an employer has of you, and of course you want to make that impression a great one. Depending on your major and the type of job you are applying for, what constitutes a strong resume can vary. However, every resume should include a description of your past experiences. Below is a list of a few techniques you can use to tailor your experiences to advertise your skills and position yourself to be the ideal candidate for the job.
Use the Job Description
The goal of a resume is to make the employer see why you are the right fit for the job. Your resume is an incredibly important tool to showcase you have the skills they’re looking for. The best way to do this is to take components of the job description and see how you can tie them directly to what is on your resume. For example, if the job description says “Collaborate with other members of the media team and work well together” you would want to use action verbs in the descriptions of your experience that show you can work well with others. Let’s say you had an internship where you worked with several departments throughout the office. On your resume you could say that you “Collaborated cross functionally with various departments to streamline business processes”. This shows an employer that you have experience working as part of a team, which is a skill they expressed they are looking for. With this technique, you can use the same experiences to show off different skills you have, simply by adjusting the action verbs you use.
Think Like an Employer
Of course resumes vary from person to person, but one person’s resume can also vary depending on what job they are applying for. There is not a “one size fits all” resume, and it is important to tailor yours based on the job you are seeking. If you are trying to get a marketing position in the fashion industry, a part time job as a server in a restaurant might not be necessary to include. However, if you are looking to go into sales, the customer service skills you gained while serving are very valuable and you would want the hiring manager to see that. This is just one example of how one person’s experience might fit great for one position and not for another. When tailoring your resume, try to look at it through the lens of the employer and focus on experiences you have had that will make you a valuable asset to their company.
Include What is Most Relevant
Your instinct might be to include every job, internship, and volunteer experience you have ever had to show off all of your accomplishments, but sometimes this hurts rather than helps. As I have previously mentioned, a resume should be geared toward a specific position. One way to do this is to keep a general copy of your resume and add or delete elements as necessary. Don’t be afraid to remove some of your experiences and expand upon others! It’s better to have 2-3 experiences that are relevant to the position, instead of 5 that don’t really illustrate the skills the hiring manager is looking for. These “extra” experiences could distract from the ones that clearly illustrate how you are fit to fill the position you are applying for. Remember that a resume is only one page long, so you want to utilize what little space you have as efficiently and effectively as you can.
At the end of the day, the most important thing to consider when tailoring your resume is “How can I use my experiences to stand out to this employer?”. From there you can use the techniques mentioned above to accomplish this goal and get that interview!
Additional Resources
Check out the links below for more information on how to create great descriptions for your experiences!
https://careers.gatton.uky.edu/resources/car-model/
https://careers.gatton.uky.edu/channels/writing-resumes-and-cover-letters/
