Cornell Bowers College of Computing and Information Science

Tailoring your Resume

Why Tailor a Resume?

If you do little else, make sure your resume is targeted toward a specific job description.

Select a job description first before crafting a resume for a job. One resume often can't be used for all jobs you are applying for.

Your resume will need to reflect your skills and experiences as they relate to the position you are applying for. Include soft skills that the employer is looking for.

Often there are disconnects between three key areas:

1. what is in your brain (those skills and experiences you have)

2. what is on your resume

3. what the employer is looking for

Often we read a job description and say to ourselves, "Oh, I have that skill, I can qualify for this" and we send our resume.

A resume often does not have those skills we recognized having when reading the job description.  We know we have those skills but they are not on the paper. We send the resume and wonder why we did not hear back from anyone because we know we are qualified.

Analyze the job description

then re-read your resume (from the employer’s perspective)

without updating the resume, it is usually apparent that there is no way the employer can know that we have what they need. 

It takes time to update the resume each time but it is worth it and usually necessary.

Understand applicant tracking systems.

Read the following articles.  8 Things You Need to Know About Applicant Tracking Systems and 

Ask A Resume Writer: Do I Need to “Game” Applicant Tracking Systems to Land Interviews?

Another disconnect occurs because:

when we write a resume we typically include in the "experience" section those skills we were tasked with and those we are most proud of, however often times the future job we are seeking is not looking for the skills we listed.  You will need to read the job description and truly understand what skills the employer is looking for and then edit your resume to include examples,of those skills the employer is looking for, if you have them.

How To Tailor A Resume For A Specific Position

Find a job description and read the whole thing.  We usually only glance to see if we have the education, experience, and required skills then we apply. Read the whole job description. Read the "about us" section, read the "about the job" section, the whole thing.  Often you will find it say, “the person in this position will be an adjective” (adjectives may be: go getter, entrepreneurial minded, teamwork centered, client centered, user centered, whatever adjective that is important to the company.  You will find these adjectives and clues to what the employer is looking for in other sections of the job description beyond the "requirements" section.  Read the whole thing is repeated because people often don’t do it and it can provide clues as to what the company is really looking for. 

"How To Make A Resume To Land Your Dream Job" is one article from Vault you may find helpful.

Underline or highlight the soft skills the company is looking for in addition to the technical skills.

If the company is looking for presentations to clients or strong communication skills make a key word note such as communication. Make hash marks next to the key word or otherwize note how often or how many times the company mentions something in the job description related to the key word.  

In this way it is possible to almost prioritize the soft skills.

If you have had any experiences in your past or have skills related to the soft skills then make sure to include these soft skills along with your examples in your resume.

Often MPS students find a functional or combination resume instead of a chronological resume works better for them. See the Career Guide for an example. You could include sections called Related Experience, Related Coursework, if these are where you can best highlight your skills and experience. 

Chronological resumes work best if you are staying in the same field you have always been in but remember to remove skills you have or things you have done in your past if they are not what the employer is looking for.

A functional or combination resume will assist you when you are changing fields to better display those skills you have that the employer is looking for.  Remember to include soft skills in addition to the technical skills.

Could it be your resume was not tailored specifically enough to the position?  Often times we think our resume is tailored yet when reviewed by a fresh pair of eyes there are skills (particularly soft skills or transferrable skills) that could have been added.  You may be able to tell which items should have been added when seeing the job description.