Tailoring Your Resumes: Why Every Career-Driven Professional Needs More Than One Resume
The purpose of resume writing is to create a first impression that leads to a first interview with a potential employer. You want your resume to generate a positive response, secure a phone or in-person interview, and give you the opportunity to explore whether or not the position and the employer is a good fit for you. You are not sending your resume out into the universe so that others can be awe-inspired by your professional life filled with kudos, accomplishments, and education. You can save all that for the interview. Resume writing is done to generate an interview. Period.
So, what does it mean if you apply to a position that you know you are qualified to do, yet your resume writing does not land that all-important first interview? While there are several variables that you have no control over (the company already has a candidate in mind before they even post the available job or the company has decided not to hire someone after all), the most common reason why qualified professionals do not get responses from their resume writing is because their resume was not fine-tuned for the particular job. The company can readily tell that the exact same resume you sent to them in response to their pharmaceutical sales consultant job is the same resume you undoubtedly sent to another company’s advertisement for a contract administrator, or a marketing director, or a regional territory manager. Though you may have real-world experiences in all of these disparate roles, you did not take the time to make your cover letter, your resume’s objective, your resume’s highlights section, or your experience clearly show how and why you are a perfect fit the job to which you are applying.
It’s the difference between getting snail mail addressed to you, personally, and a letter sent to your home addressed to “occupant” or no one in particular.
With literally thousands of professionals competing for the same one position in which you are also interested, you have neither the luxury nor the time to waste on sending out the exact same resume to each and every potential employer. No two positions or companies are exactly alike. The resume writing on your professional profile must be designed and presented in such a way that they reflect your particular experiences and talent that fit the role to which you are applying.
While the resume should not be written as if it were created just for that one job, it should be crafted as if your qualifications, experiences, and skills naturally fit that role. There is a fine line between those two distinctions and, typically, only a professional resume writer–like the ones at the comprehensive job-matching service, Blue Flamingo Productions–know exactly how to present a candidate’s qualifications for each job.
Resume writing is an art; it is a profession; it is a skill that, when left to the professional resume writers at Blue Flamingo Productions, enables you to focus your time and energy on honing your interviewing skills, preparing (aloud) your responses to typical interview questions, practicing a strong handshake while looking the interviewer in the eyes, and selecting just the right tailored outfit so that your professional image in person mirrors the tailored resume they have of you.
Customizing the resume writing on your professional profile for each and every job is the key to landing that all-important (and mutually beneficial) first interview. The more interviews you secure, the more selective you can be regarding the path your career takes. The professional writing team at Blue Flamingo Productions can help you do just that.
Tags: more than one resume, why you need more than one resume