5 Key Areas To Target When Branding Your Resume

Customizing your resume for each position you apply to can be critical in today's job search. It's vitally important that your resume conveys you are a perfect match for the job. So, what's the best approach for branding your resume? Related: 3 Steps To An Outstanding Personal Branding Statement When tailoring your resume to each specific position, there are five key areas you want to remember to change:

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1. Job Target/Title At The Top Of Your Resume

Always change your target job title so that it reflects the specific position for which you are applying. This way, there is no confusion about the position you want to apply for and your experience.

2. Branded Career Summary

Make adjustments to your career summary by shifting information around and placing the most relevant skills, experience, and accomplishments FIRST.

3. Key Skills/Core Strengths

While keywords play an important role in ATS (applicant tracking software) the keywords on your resume also draw the hiring manager's attention. Place the most relevant keywords and core strengths at the top of your core strengths/key skills section so that the hiring manager sees these first. This way, if they're simply scanning the resume they'll see them right away and won't miss them.

4. Accomplishment Statements

Reword your accomplishment statements so that the most critical and relevant information is at the beginning of the bullet. This helps the initial eye scan by the lower-level HR rep who will be giving your resume the first review. It also helps those who are scanning through the document without a thorough read to spot the important info they need in order to make a decision about whether to invest more time.

5. Bullet Points

Finally, reorder your bullet points for each position so the most relevant for the position come first. For example, if you have experience in customer service and sales and you're applying for a sales associate position put your sales-related bullet points first in each position description on your resume. Put them in order of significance from most relevant first to least relevant last. Again, this will ensure the most pertinent information gets read first in case the hiring manager doesn't read your entire resume word for word. This post was originally published at an earlier date.Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert.