Tailor Your Resume, Land Your Dream Job
Five years ago I began an exciting journey to
find a new career after exiting the military.
What I thought would be an experience that would provide endless
opportunities and bountiful employment offers was anything but that. At this
point in my life I was two years in to receiving a bachelors degree in computer
science, had developed a well put resume that translated all of my military
experience and training into relevant skills for the job I was seeking and had
spent hours practicing responses for interview questions. In my mind I had done
everything I could to prepare myself to secure my dream job. But instead I found myself working part-time
for an Internet service provider making minimum wage and answering customer
service requests day in and day out.
I wanted more. This was not the future I had
envisioned for myself after serving five years in the Army. I was tenacious and
driven. I had a solid background and compelling achievements. Even so I spent
the next year daydreaming between customer service calls of the career that I
wish had. The career I should have.
Beginning a job search and finding a new
career is a major undertaking for any job seeker. I found transitioning into
the civilian workforce after leaving the military to be especially challenging. Employers
are inundated by hundreds of resumes for
most job openings. Therefore, recruiters rank applicants by matching keywords
and you may be overlooked if important skills and qualifications are missing
from your resume. Your
resume must contain the keywords employers are looking for and demonstrate the
value you would bring to the company through your accomplishments.
When I began job
hunting I wasted countless hours analyzing jobs for skills that aligned with my
resume and comparing my resume to job descriptions. I
studied each and every job posting and sent numerous resumes out weekly with no
response. I just kept sending out the same resume to employer after employer
without making any changes and as a result never hearing anything back.
What I ultimately discovered is that your
resume is THE most important document in your job search. Customize your resume
to stand out. If you want to grab hiring managers' attention, you must take the
time to tailor your resume to
each job posting. Tailoring your resume
to a job description is essential to stand out as the right candidate. Your
resume must be focused, tailored to the job posting and professional. You need
a great resume, targeted EVERY TIME to the position you are applying for. The effort
you put in up front can make all the difference to whether you actually get the
job you want.
Eventually I learned how to tailor my resume
and align my qualifications to the position I wanted, and landed that dream job
at a top-notch software company. My experience inspired me to create
SkillSyncer, a keyword optimization tool designed to help job seekers optimize
and tailor their resume. SkillSyncer is powered by machine learning that
intelligently compares your resume to a job posting and identifies skills and
keywords that are absent from your resume.
Don’t
let your dream job get away. Visit SkillSyncer.com to learn how to tailor
your resume today.
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