Eight Timesaving Resume Tips to Land (and Stand Out) on the Decision-Maker’s Desk

Going nowhere is a hard worn-out road. 

It’s lonely even though companions fear and shame are bumping up next to you each day. “You should have landed already” and “You don’t know what you’re doing” drum in your head like a marching beat.

The map to reach your career goals? It’s confusing. You find yourself turning it every which way to make sense of it. And your not-so-encouraging buddies are no help in the matter either. 

And you thirst. Oh, you thirst to take the right step in the right direction at the right time.

Tired career sojourner: If your resume and job search are wearing you down, take heart! Prioritize your path and master the resume edits you need to go from lackluster to landed.

It starts here…

The process of customizing your resume starts with well, a resume. You need a modern career document that drips with your value and showcases your wins in a compelling way.

One targeted resume that speaks to one to three complementary roles (or job targets) is all you need. No more long-form resume reinventions for each new opportunity. You’ll customize the same keystone resume for similar target roles.

Rank Your Job Leads

Resume customization all comes down to your priorities (and time).

Know what roles are good, better and best for you. That way, when opportunity knocks (through a networking contact or a job ad), you know just how much you want it. And how much you want it indicates the time you spend on your application materials. For example:

Rank #1 Heck Yes!

This is your hands-down dream job. You’ll do whatever it takes (the customization, research, networking, etc.) to get in the door.

Rank #2 – I’ll take it.

You can see yourself being happy and fulfilled in this role. It doesn’t seem to be the perfect fit, but you want to learn more. You put in a good amount of effort toward application and locating the decision-maker.

Rank #3 – Meh.

This is the role you apply to because put plainly, it’s for the paycheck or you see growth potential once you get into the company. You don’t spend much time on this application but do apply *just in case.*

My recommendation for sending on your resume? Prioritize quality over quantity.

Instead of sending the same resume to apply for 50 jobs, take the time to research and customize your resume for 10-15 roles. You’ll be submitting fewer resumes, but you are increasing your chances of landing the interview … and the job.

Strategic Edits

If the thought of customizing each resume stresses you out, don’t worry! Choose your job lead rank and decide your effort: a little, a middle or a lot. 

A little

These are the barebone basics to fine-tune your resume for an opportunity of interest.

File save as.

Your first and last name plus the job title are great for the document name. Now, you are ready to make edits, not losing the original content of your keystone resume.

Headline. 

This is the job title you are applying for. You list this center stage on your resume underneath your contact details. It not only lets the reader know what position you are interested in but places your name next to the job role (a strategic branding move of word association).

Branding statement. 

A quick tweak of your branding statement to speak to company pain points is a win. One simple way to do this is to bring up a couple of career wins from your experience section that showcase how you’ve triumphed in their area of challenge. If this is a foreign concept for you check out the Resume Branding Workbook here.

Skills section. 

Note the skills needed in the job advertisement that you have. Put those in your skill list to show you speak their language and understand what they need.

A middle

This takes a further analysis of the job posting (or reflection of a networking conversation) in addition to the “a little” steps. Remember your resume isn’t about you, but the reader. Write your resume in a way that matters to them. 

Language swap.

To speak their language, you must know their language. Mine the posting for position requirements and repeated themes. The company website, social media and podcasts are a treasure trove of language, too. 

If you need help seeing keywords and important phrases in a posting, use a free word cloud generator like Wordclouds.

Customization is as easy as swapping out words and phrases like “customer experience” for “customer success” throughout your career narrative (and your wins). Remember to use the exact keyword (and phrases) listed in the job posting.

If you need more ideas on how to leverage language in all of your career materials, read 13 Hot Tips To Sweet Talk Employers This Summer: Clues Every Job Seeker Needs To Know To Write High-Performing Career Documents.

A lot

Everything from “a little” and '“a middle” is included here as well as intentionally positioning your experience to exact company pain points and cultural values.

Address company pain points.

Use the job advertisement to your advantage. Pose a qualification from the required skills list as a question. Then use your answer on how you’ve done it in your resume. For example:

Job Requirement: Establish and implement a best-in-class sales operating system with key metrics to drive accountability.

Question: How have you established and/or implemented a best-in-class sales operating system with key metrics to drive accountability?

Resume Bullet Point: Slashed product schedule changes by 70% in 2019 through the formulation of and tracking within the Customer Scorecard.

A T-Chart also works well here. Put the job requirements on the left and your correlating wins on the right. Then, snap them up into bullet points with your results in the front end of your statement.

Order your bulleted lists in a way that highlights your wins in their most challenging areas first. When your resume is scanned (rather than read at first), the reader is catching what they care about in the first 1-2 bullet points.

Heading Changes. 

You can also change the Professional Experience section header to match the role, as it matches up with your professional experience. For example:

•       Teaching Experience (or Relevant Teaching Experience)

•       Sales Management Experience

•       Project Management Experience

Integrate values.

Review the company website and LinkedIn company page to gain insight into the company’s values, mission, and culture. Read the company’s “About Us” page. If the organization is a publicly-traded company, look up its annual report. What values do they highlight? Identify specific keywords and translate cultural fit in your resume like teamwork, communication, initiative, honesty, etc.

Also, look at your affiliations and associations and identify activities and organizations that might be a signal of cultural fit with the target company. 

Remember, the magic isn’t all in the resume. Your career documents are just one of the many tools you wield in an effective job search along with your new roadies, confidence and strategy.

Shame and fear – Take a hike.