Knowing how to tailor your resume to a job can increase your chances of success!

With the rise of online job search tools, it's easier than ever to submit your resume to multiple employers in just a few moments. However, if you're sending out the same resume to all those different companies, you're probably going to struggle to get the attention you deserve. To prevent your resume from getting lost in the crowd, you need to know how to tailor your resume to a job.

In this article, we'll explain why it's vital to know how to customize your resume for a job and provide the key tips you need to create a tailored resume that makes a powerful impression on employers.

Related reading: Make the Perfect First Impression With Your Resume

Why should you tailor your resume?

Before we explore the simple steps that you can take to learn how to tailor your resume to a job, it's important to understand why you need to customize your resume for each new position you're seeking. This tailoring process can help you:

  • Illustrate how your qualifications match the job's requirements

  • Ensure that your resume is focused on the employer's needs rather than your own goals

  • Demonstrate your understanding and interest in the position

  • Improve your odds of getting past the applicant tracking system

Learn how to tailor your resume to a job using these simple steps

1.      Research the job description and align your qualifications

Your resume tailoring efforts should begin with a thorough review of the job description and the company. This research can help you identify the core qualifications your resume needs to convey to show you're a great fit for the position. Make a list of any needed skills, education, and experience the company is looking for when examining candidates, and take note of the specific keywords and phrases the company uses to describe those requirements.

Once you've identified those qualifications, match them to your own skills and experience. The goal here is to make sure your resume includes all of those required qualifications so that any hiring manager can instantly see you meet their expectations.

2.      Customize your resume headline and summary

You can now begin to tailor your resume by including those keywords in specific areas of the document. The first areas of concern are the resume headline and summary. Since the resume headline and summary are the first things any hiring manager will see, you'll want to make sure they capture the right kind of attention.

Customize your resume headline to include some of those keywords along with your desired job title. If you're applying for a position as a Sales Manager, you might use job description keywords like “dynamic” or “customer-focused” to add flavor to that job title: 

“Dynamic and Customer-Focused Sales Manager”

The resume summary should also be customized to align with the job you're seeking. Here, you'll want to include your job title, experience, and key skills, along with a sentence that details a measurable achievement that showcases the type of value you can provide as an employee. For some great examples of these accomplishment statements, check out the article, 47 Accomplishment Examples for Your Resume: Expert Picks.

Related reading: 27 Great Resume Summary Examples to Get Hired

3.      Focus on your skills section

Remember all those skill qualifications you identified during your review of the job description? You'll need a core competencies or skills section to effectively highlight any of those abilities that you don't showcase in the other sections of your resume. If you've ever created a resume skill section, then you should have an easy time learning how to tailor this part of your resume to the job you're seeking. 

  • Simply create a bullet point list of those required skills. 

  • Use the exact keywords you identified in the job description to ensure any applicant tracking system can find them during the automated screening.

You should also add any other relevant skills you can think of, with an emphasis on abilities and competencies that help present you as uniquely qualified. Your goal here is to illustrate the type of value you can add to the company and differentiate yourself from rival candidates for the position.

Related reading: What Are Skills? (With Examples and Tips on How to Improve Them)

4.      Tailor your work history and achievements

Next, you should spend some time on your work experience section. This is a vital step in learning how to tailor your resume to a job since the employer will want to see that you have the right kind of experience for the position. 

  • Start by focusing on the most relevant roles you've held over the last 10 to 15 years. 

  • List those positions in reverse chronological order, and include the job title, company name and location, and employment dates.

  • Below each of those job listings, add four to six bullet-point achievements that highlight your results. 

Include keywords from the job description to help align those accomplishments to the open position and use real numbers to demonstrate the value that you provided to those employers. To learn how to create these brief but powerful achievement statements, check out our article on using the STAR method:

Related reading: How to Create an Effective STAR Method Resume (With Examples)

5.      Remove irrelevant and outdated information

If your overall objective is to highlight the career moves and accomplishments on your resume that best fit the position you are applying for, then you'll need to eliminate any irrelevant or outdated details. 

  • Remove or minimize older jobs that may have little to no relevance for the desired position. 

  • Omit any skills or achievements that don't have immediate relevance to the job you're seeking. 

The goal is to make sure your resume presents a clear and coherent message about your qualifications to any hiring manager who sees it.

6.      Edit and proofread

Even after you've customized the various sections of your resume, your job is still not complete. Before you even think about sending that resume to the employer, you'll need to take time to review the document several times to ensure it delivers the intended message. Check your use of keywords to make sure you've properly aligned your resume to the job description and role. Edit for grammar, spelling, word choice, and tone.

It's also wise to review your skill bullet points, work achievement statements, and summary. 

  • Do they present the right message about your experience, abilities, and accomplishments? 

  • Are they delivered in a way that adds to your resume narrative? 

  • Do they highlight your unique value proposition and fitness for the role?

Learn how to tailor your resume to a job and make the right impression!

While it might seem easier to just use the same old resume for every job application, that approach is rarely the best option. In a competitive labor market, you need a way to make sure your resume stands out from the crowd. Learning how to tailor your resume to each job you're seeking can be one of the easiest ways to capture that attention. When you customize your resume to align with the job you want, you can more effectively demonstrate that you're the right person to fill that position.

Need more help learning how to tailor your resume to a job, or simply want to see if your resume has what it takes to earn you an interview offer? Get your free resume review from our team of experts today!

This article was originally written by Tyler Omoth and was updated by Ken Chase in December 2024.

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