Tailor

Step 1: Read the job description.

Step 2: Highlight key words and phrases in the job description.

Step 3: Insert key words and phrases into your resume where appropriate.

Structure + Formatting

• Keep existing sections like Education, Skills, Work Experience, Volunteer and Leadership Experience.
• Adjust existing section headings based on industry specifics. For example, if research is part of the job posting, “Work Experience” may become “Research Experience,” while another section could be “Additional Employment Experience.”
• Focus on the primary skill(s) you want the employer to see based on the job or internship opportunity you are applying to.
• Edit your accomplishment statements to include skills and key words mentioned in the job or internship posting.
• If you’ve added a summary statement, make sure it aligns with the job posting as well.

Must Dos

• Review the job or internship posting closely for key words and skills.
• Keep a copy of the job or internship posting (save as a PDF versus just bookmarking) to ensure future accessibility.
• Adjust your action verbs to highlight the skill(s) that overlap and align with the job or internship posting.
• Identify helpful transferable skills. For example, leadership is a common, highly valued skill. Showcase your leadership skill in your accomplishment statements (bullet points) even if the job posting does not directly state leadership as a required skill. See the example below:

Transferable Skill: Lead/Leadership/Leading
Adjust Action Verb: Led the Business Oriented Women (BOW) recruitment process by marketing to potential members; resulting in an increase in applications from 70 to 114.

Avoid

• Submitting a generic resume. Ideally, each application you submit has a tailored resume.
• Repeating action verbs. Use this list of strong action verbs to help you select a varied list.
• Deleting sections that you think aren’t relevant. Consider the transferable skills involved.

Tips

• Get familiar with transferable skills.