From the course: Finding a Job

Tailoring your approach

From the course: Finding a Job

Tailoring your approach

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- If there's one piece of advice you take away about resumes and cover letters it should be this. You have to tailor each one to each job. Cookie cutter resumes you dash off and expect to get calls from are really a thing of the past. Tweak each cover and each resume you send to populate keywords from that job posting and mix with a company's mission and vision. This means you're going to need to be really tidy with file naming conventions on your computer so that the resume you send, say, to Facebook doesn't get confused with the one you send to Microsoft. Something like Jolie Miller resume dash month and the company name is a really good way to go, and that way you can always look back and see what information the company has from you. You won't have to guess. In the substance of the documents, show you've done your homework and that you put time into the submission, just like you're going to put the time to be thorough when you actually are working there. Update the wins you include to show relevant experience for that job and tailor the education you mention to topics relevant to leadership, if it's a leadership role, or to marketing if the position requires you to do SEO. Check carefully that you've eliminated typos and messages that are off-brand for the employer you're targeting. What do I mean by off-brand? Well, if you're tailoring your materials to a hip tech company in Silicon Valley, you might start a resume bullet with, rocked weekly sales meeting with none out of 10 satisfaction scores, or you might have a more conservative approach if you're targeting a family business that's looking for humility in leadership. Know your audience. Look to the company's own branding for queues on how to adapt your materials. Is their copy fresh and fun, or laid back and casual, or stiff and professional? The more you can tailor your tone to theirs, the better. You know this is going to take you some time, time you feel you don't have in the crush of a job search. Plan to spend at least one to two hours per submission. I promise you it's time well-spent and you need to do this kind of work to stand out and get that interview set up.

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