tailoring resumes to jobs

Stephanie, 28, believes a mistake many jobseekers make is to use the same resume for every job they apply for. She has two basic resumes -- one upmarket and one downmarket -- and alters them slightly for each position she applies for according to the particular requirements of the employer.

"I'm not only looking for the job I want but also a bill paying job to tide me over," says Stephanie. "I use the basic upmarket resume for the jobs I want, and the basic downmarket resume for the bill paying jobs. Once you've got these two basic resumes, it's really not too much of a hassle to tailor them to particular jobs."

Right now, only two of Stephanie’s roommates have a job and they are carrying her and two more unemployed girls until they get a job. Stephanie is hopeful of getting the job she wants, but if that doesn’t happen within a month then she is willing to take on an immediate bill paying job.

Her job seeking knowledge and skills are excellent and she enjoys helping the other two unemployed roommates target jobs in a more professional manner.

For the type of job Stephanie wants, her basic upmarket resume accentuates her educational qualifications, skills and experience in that order. She puts her qualifications at the top of the body of her resume and makes them bold. She makes them jump out at the person responsible for doing the culling of job applications.

For those who are not good at presentation formatting, Stephanie suggests getting a professional to type their upmarket resume.

"For the type of job you want - especially if it was advertised on the Net - there are going to be hundreds if not thousands of applicants and from all over the world, too," says Stephanie. "You need to make your resume stand out from everyone else's and while the number of degrees and diplomas you have may not necessarily get you the job, it might just give you the edge in the selection process. Take advantage of that edge."

"Unless you were required to do so," warns Stephanie, "do not spoil the impression of your upmarket resume by including your academic results. That is far too much information. If your degree or diploma was conferred recently or a long time ago, this may go against you, so I think it’s a good idea to omit the year. Use your judgment."

"The same goes for the name of the institution conferring the qualification," says Stephanie. "If it is a well-known university or college, play it up. If it isn’t, then use your judgment on whether it might be better to omit its name."

"For the basic upmarket resume," says Stephanie, "you also need to place your most upmarket skills first (eg managing, analyzing, etc) and omit your downmarket skills (eg typing, telephone skills, etc)."

"It is also a good idea," says Stephanie, "to omit any short-term downmarket jobs you have had recently, or play them up so that they do not sound as downmarket as they really were. And do not be too specific about the dates either!"

"Saving space on a resume is important," says Stephanie, "so drop what might be used against you and highlight what employers need to know."

Following is an example of what Stephanie means by strategic placing on an upmarket resume that will help you get the job you want:

Stephanie Duncan

Qualifications: BA, MA (UCLA)

Skills: Project Management

Recent Employment History: Resources Officer, Acme Products, Oct - Nov 2006

Compare the information given in the upmarket resume with that given below for Stephanie’s downmarket resume. It is the same person, but you would never guess!

For the bill paying type of job, Stephanie uses a resume that accentuates her skills. She puts her skills at the top of the body of her resume and makes them bold so that they jump out at the person reading the resumes.

"For this type of job," says Stephanie, "your resume presentation is really not going to be as important as your skills, so don’t waste money getting a professional to type it unless, of course, you have money to throw around."

"The mistake many job seekers make when applying for a bill paying job," says Stephanie, "is that they include their qualifications. You will be considered over-qualified for the job and rejected outright if you do this. I appreciate that it’s tempting to show off - after all, we all worked hard for our qualifications - but the job you need in order to pay the bills wants a hands-on worker, not an Oxford Don."

"The aim of a downmarket resume is to get an interview for a job to pay the bills. In order to do this," says Stephanie, "you need to downgrade yourself. But only on paper. Nobody wants to employ a smarty for a downmarket job, but as soon as you are in the job, anything can happen. They could love you and promote you to a managerial position if you are lucky - so it's silly to get too hung up about downgrading yourself."

"One small thing," warns Stephanie. "With downmarket resumes for bill paying jobs, prospective employers like to see exact dates of previous employment so even if you were employed for two weeks somewhere, put that in and make sure you state the exact date you started and finished."

Following is an outline of the strategy Stephanie uses on her resume for the downmarket job she needs to pay the bills:

Stephanie Duncan

Skills: Typing 35 wmp, Customer Service, Team work

Recent Employment History: Mail Room Attendant, Acme Products, Oct 19 - Nov 9 2006

"Remove the name and if you can tell it's the same person then you are mighty smart," laughs Stephanie. "And if you can't then it just goes to prove that a little fudging can get you what you want. And I don't think I am being unethical with my two resumes. I am not lying, I am fudging. there's a difference."

job ad buzzwords

Priscilla is a single mom who, like a lot of women, was introduced to the Internet by her young son. She is currently looking for a job and thinks that the Internet is fantastic for refining a job search and researching buzzwords.

"My son nagged me for ages to get online at home," laughs Priscilla, "and I finally relented when I realized how useful the Internet is going to be for my job-search."

"I still read the newspaper ads, of course," says Priscilla, "but the Internet is so much faster. My main problem, though, with both newspaper and Internet job advertisements, is that I'm overwhelmed by all the jargon and buzzwords.”

She has simplified her job-search by finding out exactly what some of these buzzwords really mean.

"On the Internet I can refine my job-search by excluding certain buzzwords that I know are misleading," explains Priscilla, "and you can't do that with newspaper ads."

"A popular buzzword is team player," says Priscilla. "Unfortunately, just about every workplace these days seems to be run on team principles. If you are not willing to sacrifice your individuality for the common cause of the team - as I am - then you will not make a good team player. I don't apply for such jobs but I bet some really nasty people apply for team role jobs and actually win them."

“The trick for them is to pass the interview, get the job and then make everyone on the team miserable,” laughs Priscilla.

When Priscilla sees the team player buzzword, she reads a menial job, a job unsupportive of your well being and advancement.

"The only people who thrive in team environments are the manipulative types who get everyone else to do their work, and the sweeties who effectively have the same motive," says Priscilla. "So when a job advertisement includes the buzzword team player, I know they are looking for someone submissive and easily bossed around."

What about attention to detail? In the publishing and banking profession we are required to be hawks, but Priscilla wonders why it is required so much of other professions. And how does one gauge whether one is good at paying attention to detail?

"Everyone makes mistakes," says Priscilla. "and most workplaces have some sort of quality control in place to pick up errors before they cause major trouble. So why is it necessary to advertise for a hawk-eyed person?"

Priscilla believes that either they are discriminating against people with poor eyesight or the work is so boring that previous employees have fallen asleep on the job.

“Of course, recruiters these days cannot be blatantly discriminatory in their advertisements,” says Priscilla, “but if you look closely at advertisements you can read between the lines about the type of person they want, such as young environment or recent graduate. Nobody over 30 is going to want to answer an advertisement geared towards a younger applicant.”

Conversely, mature person turns off the under 30s although maturity, per se, has nothing to do with age.

Leadership skills is a buzzword that often describes a tough person, someone capable of firing their own mom. So, someone with the quiet leadership skills of a Nelson Mandela wouldn’t stand a chance.

“And that’s a shame,” says Priscilla, “because that’s the type of leader workers do admire.”

”I don't enjoy working late," says Priscilla, "so I avoid any job advertisement using drive, initiative and deadlines as buzzwords."

"Smoking is prohibited in all workplaces and public venues so I wonder about advertisers who feel it necessary to add non smoking workplace to their spiel," says Priscilla. "I think it could be a disincentive for social smokers to apply. The employer hates smokers!"

Priscilla admits that she spends more time surfing on the Net than using it for job-hunting, and this is probably true for anyone who uses the Net to find a job.

"I'm mixing business with pleasure," laughs Priscilla, "or should I say 'background researching' the job-market."