Resume Tailoring in a Down Economy

Resume tailoring is simply the art of tailoring your resume to the job you are applying for. I thought I'd post briefly about this because a lot of people just need A JOB regardless of what it entails. Some people may think of this as immoral because you may be competing for a job that someone else genuinely wants, but when times are tough everyone has to do what they can to survive.

• So obviously the first step is to have a resume if you haven't already put one together. There are a lot of resources out there for putting one together but the basic idea is to present yourself as clearly and concisely as possible. Remember to make it sound professional and accomplished without going over the top. Stick to action words like "Managed, Organized, Maintained, etc" as the start of your job duty bullet points under each job. Make sure you have an appropriate email address preferably using your name like First.Last@gmail.com. Avoid potentially offensive addresses unless you think it will actually give you a better chance of getting hired lol.
  
• Refine your job duties and eliminate those that do not apply to the position or industry. Focus on duties you may actually be performing for that specific job. You risk sounding over qualified if you boast about your management experience for a job that requires no managing. But don't over simplify it or downplay your valid experience either.
  
• Don't limit it to strictly your work experience either. If you have done a lot of maintenance work but never held an official job title or worked on a lot of side-jobs, simply use the name of the person you worked with as a company name and add the type of projects you worked on. Bob Smith Auto Repair, Bob Smith Carpentry, Plumbing, etc. You can even put your own name if you were working alone and use that to your advantage as an experienced entrepreneur.
  
• Research the company, the industry and the job if you aren't sure what the job would entail. You can do even better by targeting your resume to one specific company and make it stand out that much more, but this process takes a lot of time and research (which you may have a lot of if you don't have a job!). By tailoring your resume to the job and industry you already have an advantage over your competition, why not add more?
  
• Last but not least, don't give up! Take your resume a step further and call in or stop by the company offering the job! You will stand out in their memory when they are looking through resumes. You may even get offered the job on the spot (I've seen it happen). Don't take no for an answer and if you do get denied, ask them why! Then use what you learn and change your resume/behavior for the future! Don't let failure defeat you, learn from it and improve yourself!