How to Tailor Your Resume for the Job You Are Applying For

Today’s seasoned professional possess a variety of skills and abilities that benefit the work environment. Corporate employees are expected to keep up with trends within their field of expertise. If you are fortunate your employer will pay for your education and training. As a result of increased duties and cross-training many job seekers realize they can fill jobs outside of the title and industry they have been working with for years.

Recently I coached an individual that was having difficulty returning to the workforce after being laid off 8 months ago from her job where she worked as a District Store Manager for a retail employer. Karen was 49 years old and had worked for over 20 years within the retail industry in some form of management capacity. She posted her resume on Monster and searched for jobs on Indeed but she only had one phone interview in the past 8 months. Her resume looked OK but when I asked her to provide more details in her job duty section it was revealed that she had performed many job duties that a corporate human resource generalist, recruiter and trainer does. She conducted interviews, provided training, negotiated and extended offers. She prepared and distributed payroll. She enjoyed these H.R. related duties so we prepared a 2nd resume that highlighted all of her H.R. related duties. The best place to highlight your specific skills related to the job that you are applying for is in your summary which should always be listed right beneath your name and contact information. Your summary of qualifications is a very critical component of your resume, without it your odds of being recognized are diminished significantly. It was in the summary that Karen listed how many years she had with preparing payroll, interviewing and training. She mentioned what kind of payroll software she worked with, what type of interviewing techniques she used and the size of her audience that she trained. In the summary specifics sell. Karen reposted her revised resume on Monster, created a LinkedIn account and applied to human resource related jobs via Indeed.com, within one week she had three interviews for human resource jobs! Within two weeks of posting her new resume she accepted an offer with a major retailer to work within their human resources department. The offer paid more than she ever earned as a District Manager and an added bonus her exhausting road travel requirements were eliminated. In Karen’s case she enhanced her human resources duties but applied to H.R. jobs within the retail field where she had many years experience.

One of the keys to tailoring your resume for a specific job is know which skills you have that are of value to the position/client. One of my human resource friends, Cindy, has a general version of her resume and a resume that she uses when she applies for jobs that require a recruiter that has experience finding Information Technology professionals. As a corporate recruiter consultant she has interviewed and on-boarded professionals for Sales and Marketing, Healthcare, Wireless and Information Technology positions of employment. When she applies for an information technology recruiter position Cindy minimizes her background that involves recruiting Sales, Marketing, Healthcare and Wireless professionals and expands on her I.T. recruiter experience. For her latest I.T. Recruiter resume she wrote a list of what are the most common questions she is asked in an interview setting when applying to an I.T. Recruiter position. Upon reviewing her list she was able to answer many of the interview questions in listing those skills first and foremost in her resume summary section. Cindy put in bold the areas she wanted the recruiter or hiring manager to be drawn to when reviewing her resume. If there is something that is very important for the reader to see she will print it in bold red lettering. She also looked carefully at the key words listed within the job descriptions that appeal to her and incorporated as many key words as possible in her resume summary and job description. To identify key words look for the specifics in the job description.

Below you will see Cindy’s general Recruiter resume followed by her Information Technology Recruiter resume:

Cindy Examplelcandidate
Cindy’s contact information listed here…
*successfully traveled to work on-site for duration of contracts as well as worked remotely

Summary: 5+ years agency experience, 10+years Corporate Contract Recruitment experience within a matrixed environment. Sr. Talent Acquisition Specialist with over fifteen years of full-life-cycle internal/external recruitment experience including developing and maintaining relationships with hiring managers to determining the best recruitment strategies. Serve as candidate advocate working to ensure a world-class experience for all potential candidates. Able to thrive in a high-pressured, ambiguous environment. Experienced with UltiPro, Vurv, Recruitmax, BrassRing, Prohire, Raycats, Peopleclick, PeopleSoft, SharePoint, Behavorial interviewing, Web 2.0 recruitment processes, Outlook & Lotus Notes. Managed vendor relationships. Articles published on corporate recruitment – Western International Media & e-zines.

Experienced sourcing and screening for the following: I.T., Sales, Marketing, Retail, Wireless, Healthcare, Government and Business professionals.

Work History **All assignments were completed successfully, on-time, within budget.
1999 – Present EXCELLENT Incorporation Company
Principal – Corporate Contract Recruiter
Aka: Talent Acquisition Consultant

CLIENTS:

IBM
As Recruitment Program Manager am responsible for managing exempt-level I.T. high-volume candidate activity. Serve as front end to hiring partners. Qualify candidates, facilitate the interview process, work closely with hiring executives to evaluate candidates and prepare offers. Also provide direction to dedicated sourcers for fulfillment of opening requisitions.
September, 2010 – present

Press Ganey/South Bend, IN
Responsible for staffing I.T., Legal, Sales & Marketing departments for this leader for Patient Satisfaction Surveys. Source and Screen legal, sales, marketing and I.T. professionals for positions located across the U.S.A. Coach managers on selection of hires. Prepare offers. Write and post job descriptions. Cold calling as well as utilizing major and niche job boards. Assist with the implementation of company ATS, Ultipro. 5/10/10 – 10/27/2010 and 9/14/09- 12/17/09

IMS -( I.T. Staffing Agency)/Huntington Beach, CA
Assist this agency with staffing for: Architect, Management, Project Leader, Programmer Analyst, DBA, Developer, Systems Analyst, Software Engineer, Business Analyst, and other I.T. related roles. Skills recruiter for: Citrix, SharePoint, SQL, LAN/WAN, DHCP, Lotus Notes Administrator, helpdesk, C#,.NET, IBM, Intel, migration, VB, Oracle DBA, MCSE, CCIE, PowerBuilder, XAML, WinForm, TCP/IP, C+, HIPAA, Scrum, Agile, Q.A. Analyst/Tester, MCP, J2EE, JDE and others. Extensive Cold- calling

Clients: Entertainment, Commercial, Automotive, Healthcare 1992 – (on/off support)

T-Mobile USA/Cerritos, CA & Novi, MI
Source and screen for retail division. Roles responsible for filling include: Sales Engineer, Account Development Representative, Event Rep., and Technical Sales Support. Positions are spread across the country. Partner with hiring managers to council on selection of candidates as well as construction of offers. ATS: Vurv 3/5/07 – 8/26/07 and 8/8/08 – 1/5/09

AT&T Mobility/Los Angeles, CA
Source and screen wireless sales professionals for the government division. Interact with H.R. Hiring Managers and Applicants across the country. ATS: Peopleclick Offer process: Peoplesoft Corporate community site for sharing information: Sharepoint

Assist hiring managers with newly developed recruitment process due to AT&T acquisition of Cingular Wireless. Create and conduct phone screens. Review resumes in ATS and make recommendations to hiring managers. Prepare and extend offers to candidates. Company was in M&A mode with U.S. Cellular
“It is evident that Kelly has a passion for recruiting, and a confidence in her skills. This shows in the way that she approaches the recruiting challenges that are presented to her.

I highly recommend Cindy for any recruiting position she will pursue in the future. She has been a very valuable resource on my team.” Charlotte P – Associate Director Mobility Staffing 10/07 – 7/08

Humana /Louisville, KY
Using ATS, RecruitMax (Vurv), job boards, internet, and referrals sourced a variety of healthcare insurance professionals for exempt and non-exempt level positions of employment. Consult with hiring managers to determine specifications for role. Develop phone screens to determine interview eligibility. Interview applicants face-to-face. Consult with hiring managers for selection of candidates to extend offers to. Negotiate salaries for and with candidates.

Extend offers verbally and in writing. Assist with mass hiring campaigns for various Humana locations throughout the United States. Utilize basic HTML coding.
Was key contributor for two week hiring initiative of 20+ Frontline Leaders (Supervisors). This initiative required the sourcing of 200+ resumes, phone screening 40+ candidates, coordinating with hiring managers to interview and on-board new employees within two weeks all at the same time providing candidates and extending offers for other hiring departments.

“Cindy is an expert in the Staffing/Recruiting Industry. She has a wealth of knowledge and is an out-of -the-box thinker. She delivered results in a challenging and tough environment, while carrying a heavy workload of requisitions. I received numerous compliments from hiring managers on the quality of candidates presented and responsiveness.” Larry M – Staffing Manager at Humana 10/05 – 2/07

HRFirst/American Express/Troy, MI
Using BrassRing, job boards and the internet was responsible for sourcing & screening various marketing professionals for sites across the United States. 8/05 – 10/05

Berbee Information Networks/Southfield, MI
Hired to develop talent pipeline and place networking and sales professionals for Berbee’s enterprise software industry clients. Berbee provides end-to-end sales and services for IBM, Cisco & Microsoft business products. Utilize ATS: Prohire, job boards, employee referrals and networking to hire systems engineers, system architects, account managers, Network Voice

Engineers, and other I.T. professionals. Developed phone screens from questions asked of hiring managers and top level I.T. professionals within industry. Negotiate offers, consult on recommended starting sign-on bonuses, relocation and vacation packages. Check professional references. Sell candidates on the value proposition of joining the Berbee team. 2/05 – 6/05

Raytheon/Troy, MI
Hired for ten-week contract recruitment assignment for this Fortune 100 company. Raytheon Professional Services, LLC designs and executes integrated learning solutions for commercial, military and government organizations worldwide. Responsible for sourcing, screening and hiring web instructors, as well as hard-to-fill hybrid I.T. positions. Provide strategic recruitment methods. Create and conduct phone screens. Using Lotus Notes, set up interviews for multiple hiring managers. Utilized company ATS: RayCats. 11/04 – 2/05

Kaiser Permanente/San Jose, CA
As project manager for community-wide nurse hiring event was responsible for contacting college instructors, cold-calling potential attendees, keeping administration and recruitment staff abreast of activities, maintaining spreadsheets for activity updates, and delegating responsibilities to various personnel. Overall duties involved hiring of nurses from start to finish, i.e., sourcing, screening, interviewing, set up interview with management, follow up with applicant and management, salary negotiations, offer letter preparation. Utilized internet effectively for recruitment purposes. As part of recruitment team was able to bring on board over 60 nurses, thus cutting nurse hiring needs in half. “I am continually amazed at your dedication and work ethic.” Sherry B, nurse management candidate, Kaiser email message. 8/04 – 11/04

Port Huron Hospital/Port Huron, MI
For this six-month contract assignment was responsible for full-life-cycle recruitment of allied healthcare professionals for 1200 employee hospital. On average filled four positions per week. Utilized behavorial interviewing techniques. Developed recruitment strategies and advertisement campaigns to attract candidates for difficult to fill positions of employment, i.e.: respiratory therapists, pharmacists, MRI technicians, ultra sonographers and phlebotomists. Prepare offer letters, prepare and give presentations to management on how to recruit effectively, gave presentations regarding H.R. procedures at staff orientations, negotiate with vendors and prepare a host of H.R. related paperwork. Track Affirmative Action using Peopleclick software. “She has covered every aspect of what I need to know to keep the process (recruitment) moving. I truly appreciate all she did to fill our open positions” Marlene Z/Housekeeping Supervisor, email sent to H.R. department head at Port Huron Hospital.
12/03 – 7/04

Additional Clients
Clients: Deloitte & Touche, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Accenture, Carlson Marketing, Paramount Pictures, Giorgio’s, Universal Studios, Staffed senior level I.T. professionals.

EDUCATION
B.A. with distinction in Speech Communication San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

MEMBERSHIPS
SHRM – Society for Human Resource Management
SMA – Staffing Management Association
ERE – Electronic Recruiters Exchange

Volunteer
Provide job-search workshops to various classes/groups/associations/government sponsored events
Published articles on job search in newspapers, e-zines and magazines

**Following is Cindy’s I.T. Recruiter resume. You will notice that in addition to highlighting her I.T. recruiting activity in the first page of her resume she continues to highlight her I.T. related skills throughout the job duty descriptions and right up until the end of her resume where she list the additional clients that she has worked for. **

Cindy Examplecandidate
Cindy’s contact information listed here…
*successfully traveled to work on-site for duration of contracts as well as worked remotely

Summary:
15+years Corporate Contract Recruitment experience within a matrixed environment.
15 years full-life-cycle internal/external recruitment experience including developing and maintaining relationships with hiring managers to determining best recruitment strategies. Serve as candidate advocate working to ensure a world-class experience for all potential candidates.
Able to thrive in a high-pressured, ambiguous environment.
Experienced with UltiPro, Vurv, Recruitmax, BrassRing, Prohire, Raycats, Peopleclick, PeopleSoft, SharePoint

Experienced sourcing and screening for the following:
20 yrs full-life-cycle recruitment for I.T. professionals for the following environments: Manufacturing, Wireless, Healthcare, Consulting, Retail
On & Off 10 yrs engineer staffing: software, sales, network, VOIP, systems
20yrs recruitment for exempt, non-exempt, enterprise software (ERP), SQL,.NET, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft infrastructure, engineer, architect, process improvement, business analyst, Business Intelligence, outsource operations, Six-Sigma Black-belts, Project Managers, others…

Tools and Sources used to locate quality I.T. professionals:
• Company ATS
• Linkedin (messages, invites, announcements via groups and associations)
• Job boards: DICE, Monster, TheLadders, SixFigures, Executnet
• Niche internet sites: Free-for-Recruiters, scguild.com, findadeveloper.com, ishunter.com
• Web 2.0 sites: Twitter, Facebook, Zoominfo, Spoke
• Utilize own income to join and participate in associations and conferences
• Referrals, heavy networking, meet others when I give job search presentations in the community
• Passionate about cold-calling

Work arrangement: Lifestyle flexible to where have travelled to work on-site for duration of contract as well as have worked successfully from home office as telecommuter.

Work History **All assignments were completed successfully, on-time, within budget.
1999 – Present EXCELLENT Incorporation Company
Principal – Corporate Contract Recruiter
Aka: Talent Acquisition Consultant
CLIENTS:

IBM
As Recruitment Program Manager am responsible for managing exempt-level I.T. high-volume candidate activity. Serve as front end to hiring partners. Qualify candidates, facilitate the interview process, work closely with hiring executives to evaluate candidates and prepare offers. Also provide direction to dedicated sourcers for fulfillment of opening requisitions. Positions processed: Oracle developer, Oracle DBA, SAP Basis, SAP Architect, COBOL developer, Siebel developer
September 16, 2010 – present

IMS -( I.T. Staffing Agency)/Huntington Beach, CA
Assist this agency with staffing for: Architect, Management, Project Leader, Programmer Analyst, DBA, Developer, Systems Analyst, Software Engineer, Business Analyst, and other I.T. related roles. Skills recruiter for: Citrix, SharePoint, SQL, LAN/WAN, DHCP, Lotus Notes Administrator, helpdesk, C#,.NET, IBM, Intel, migration, VB, Oracle DBA, MCSE, CCIE, PowerBuilder, XAML, WinForm, TCP/IP, C+, HIPAA, Scrum, Agile, Q.A. Analyst/Tester, MCP, J2EE, Java, CISSP, JDE and others. Extensive Cold- calling
Clients: Entertainment, Commercial, Automotive, Healthcare 1992 – (on/off support)

Press Ganey/South Bend, IN
Responsible for staffing I.T., Legal, Sales & Marketing departments for this leader for Patient Satisfaction Surveys and performance improvement. Source and Screen legal, sales, marketing and I.T. professionals for positions located across the U.S.A. Coach managers on selection of hires. Prepare offers. Write and post job descriptions. Cold calling as well as utilizing major and niche job boards. Assist with the implementation of company ATS, Ultipro. 5/10/10 – 8/27/10 & 9/14/09- 12/17/09

T-Mobile USA/Cerritos, CA & Novi, MI
Source and screen for retail division. Roles responsible for filling include: Sales Engineer, Account Development Representative, Event Rep., and Technical Sales Support. Positions are spread across the country. Partner with hiring managers to council on selection of candidates as well as construction of offers. ATS: Vurv 3/5/07 – 8/26/07 & 8/8/08 – 1/5/09

AT&T Mobility/Los Angeles, CA
Source and screen wireless sales and technical sales professionals for the government division. Interact with H.R. Hiring Managers and Applicants across the country. ATS: Peopleclick Offer process: Peoplesoft Corporate community site for sharing information: Sharepoint
Assist hiring managers with newly developed recruitment process due to AT&T acquisition of Cingular Wireless. Create and conduct phone screens. Review resumes in ATS and make recommendations to hiring managers. Prepare and extend offers to candidates. Company was in M&A mode with U.S. Cellular
“It is evident that Kelly has a passion for recruiting, and a confidence in her skills. This shows in the way that she approaches the recruiting challenges that are presented to her.

I highly recommend Cindy for any recruiting position she will pursue in the future. She has been a very valuable resource on my team.” Charlotte P – Associate Director Mobility Staffing 10/07 – 7/08

Humana Inc/Louisville, KY
Using ATS, RecruitMax (Vurv), job boards, internet, and referrals sourced a variety of healthcare insurance professionals for exempt and non-exempt level positions of employment. Consult with hiring managers to determine specifications for role. Develop phone screens to determine interview eligibility. Interview applicants face-to-face. Consult with hiring managers for selection of candidates to extend offers to. Negotiate salaries for and with candidates.

Extend offers verbally and in writing. Assist with mass hiring campaigns for various Humana locations throughout the United States. Utilize basic HTML coding.

Was key contributor for two week hiring initiative of 20+ Frontline Leaders (Supervisors). This initiative required the sourcing of 200+ resumes, phone screening 40+ candidates, coordinating with hiring managers to interview and on-board new employees within two weeks all at the same time providing candidates and extending offers for other hiring departments.

“Cindy is an expert in the Staffing/Recruiting Industry. She has a wealth of knowledge and is an out-of -the-box thinker. She delivered results in a challenging and tough environment, while carrying a heavy workload of requisitions. I received numerous compliments from hiring managers on the quality of candidates presented and responsiveness.” Larry M – Staffing Manager at Humana 10/05 – 2/07

HRFirst/American Express/Troy, MI
Using BrassRing, job boards and the internet was responsible for sourcing & screening various marketing and I.T. professionals for sites across the United States. 8/05 – 10/05

Berbee Information Networks/Southfield, MI
For this high-tech consulting company that provided end-to-end services for IBM, Cisco & Microsoft business products utilize ATS: Prohire, job boards, employee referrals and networking to hire systems engineers, system architects, account managers, Network Voice Engineers, and other I.T. professionals. Negotiate offers including sign-on bonuses, relocation and vacation packages. Sell candidates on the value proposition of joining the Berbee team. 2/05 – 6/05

Additional Clients that I served on a contract basis
• Deloitte & Touche – I.T. professional placements – Greater Nashville area
• Hewlett-Packard (HP) – I.T. professional placements – Metro Detroit area
• Accenture – I.T. professional placements – Michigan
• Raytheon – Marketing professionals – Michigan
• Paramount Pictures – I.T. professional placements – Southern California
• Universal Studios – I.T. professional placements – Southern California
• Carlson Marketing – I.T. and Marketing professionals – Michigan
• Girogio’s – I.T. professional placements – Southern California
• Kaiser Permanente – RN’s for their hospitals in Bay area, CA

EDUCATION
B.A. with distinction in Speech Communication San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

MEMBERSHIPS
• SHRM – Society for Human Resource Management
• SMA – Staffing Management Association
• ERE – Electronic Recruiters Exchange
• AHIMA – American Health Information Management Association
• HIMSS – Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society

Volunteer
Provide job-search workshops to various classes/groups/associations/government sponsored events
Have been a guest on Cable TV show relating to the Job Search process
Online video speaker for Newspaper web site
Published articles on job search in newspapers, e-zines and magazines
Author of book, The Recruiter’s Hiring Secrets

Create several versions of your resume and save them on your computer so you can easily upload the appropriate resume for the job you are applying for. Also remember to constantly be updating and refining your resume. Happy Job Hunting!