In August, the Career Services surveyed employers to understand how they rate our students in a variety of skill areas. In regard to resumes, we noted an interesting theme. While, students’ resumes were well written and highly rated, employers repeatedly mentioned one necessary improvement : Students need to BETTER TAILOR their materials to the employer and the job posting!
Writing a strong general resume is a great start for job seekers, but employers fully expect you will adjust that great foundation document to their job posting. Here are some tips for doing this well:
First, highlight all of the skills in the job posting and check off each skill that is clearly mentioned in your resume:
Second, edit your bullet statements to include as many of the remaining skills and qualifications as possible. Do NOT simply add these words to a skills section. Help employers understand where you used those skills:
- Communicated research findings to the community by conducting outreach presentations to local nonprofit organizations.
- Wrote content for and designed materials summarizing research findings using MS Office.
Following these simple steps will make it clear to employers that you have the skills they need! This also increases the application score assigned by applicant tracking systems used by many companies.
