How To Customize Your Resume For A Captive Audience

The cold, hard fact is: you only have six or seven seconds to capture their attention and stand out from the crowd . So, what’s a hopeful job candidate to do? Here are six tips on how to write a simple, yet customized resume that’ll help you land your dream job:

1. Highlight your most relevant skills up front. Companies are willing to help develop certain skills within their employees—things like job-specific software abilities, processes, services, and other aspects unique to the company itself. However, they’re not likely to teach you how to do your job. So, be sure to showcase all your most valuable, unteachable skills—those very specific to the particular job at hand—front and center, in the top third of the page. Not sure how to get started with the layout? No worries. There are plenty of free resume templates out there to choose from.

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Remember—less is more. It’s best if you limit your skills almost entirely to what’s shown on the job posting. So, make sure to read through it thoroughly and identify the top skills required for the position. This is especially important since many companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to narrow down pools of potential candidates. If the keywords don’t match, the algorithm will likely skip over your resume before any human even has a chance to lay eyes on it.

2. Stay focused. If your resume makes it past the algorithm, and beyond the initial six or seven seconds it takes to capture someone’s attention—make it worth their while. Stay focused on the task at hand by not only highlighting your past skills, but also demonstrating what those skills can do in the future. Include previous employers and job titles, as well as accomplishments and achievements. Each should demonstrate something about the value you can provide to your new employer now.

3. Keep it simple. It’s easy to want to go over the top and include everything you’ve ever done on your resume. Maybe there are odd jobs you worked to help fill employment gaps, or college jobs that helped pay for school. Unless there’s a skill you learned that’s relevant to the position you’re seeking—leave it out. The same is true when it comes to the design of your resume—less is more. Extravagant, hard-to-read layouts can be distracting and downright confusing when someone is trying to find pertinent information quickly. Of course, there’s always an exception to the rule, like for those applying to more creative and artistic fields. Demonstrate your craft by putting together a creative version of your resume—but be sure to make it as easy to read as possible.

4. Remember chronology.

It’s typical to arrange the order of your work history from the most recent downward. However, descending order isn’t always the best solution. Keep in mind that your most relevant experience should stand out to a prospective employer. In other words, if it’s not going to benefit you, chronology takes a back seat. For example, someone who worked in both health care and marketing would need to prioritize their experience based on the job they’re applying for. If it’s in marketing, it may be best to put the marketing experience toward the top of the resume, even if your last job was in health care.

5. Include experience that shows off your personality.

You don’t have to limit your resume to your professional experience. Volunteer work, side projects, and hobbies can help to display those all-important soft skills, while also offering a little insight into your values and personality traits. If your volunteer work coincides with the job at hand—even better! For example, say you’re applying for a job as Director of Communications for a large pet retailer. Showing any experience working with animals, even in a volunteer capacity, can help up your chances of getting hired. So, be sure to create a dedicated section on your resume (toward the bottom) where you can showcase this additional information.

6. Make your location work for you.

It’s not uncommon for employers to consider your location when making a hiring decision. While this has changed considerably thanks to the recent work-from-anywhere trend—local candidates may still be prioritized over out-of-towners for several reasons, ranging from relocation costs to feeling guilty if it doesn’t work out for you. If you are local, make that apparent in your resume or cover letter, as it may improve your odds of getting hired. If you’re from out of town but are really excited about the prospect of relocating, make that clear in your cover letter, as well.

One final thought: while creating a resume for a captive audience is key—it’s all for nothing if it’s filled with misspellings and grammatical errors. So, once you’ve finished, use good editing software that helps you catch misspellings, while also checking for grammar, capitalization, and punctuation errors. Then read it again, and again, and again. A single blip could be the difference between a manager calling you for an interview and having your resume tossed out with their morning cup of coffee.