Page 122 - Marky Stein - Get a Great Job When You Don't Have a Job-McGraw-Hill (2009)

Fearless Résumés

and it is extremely rare for a busy recruiter or hiring manager
to afford you that favor. Even when you post your résumé on a
job board or Web site, hoping that many readers for many com-
panies will view it, you must still include some sort of job title.
So, in the case of a résumé submission to one company for a par-
ticular job, if your Fearless Résumé has the title Financial Advi-
sor and the job offered is for a Financial Consultant, you must
take the little bit of extra time to go back into your résumé and
change the job title for this company. It is both a courtesy to the
company and an indication that you’re serious about applying
for that particular job in that particular company. Hiring man-
agers like to know that you’ve put thought into singling out
their company because you specifically want to work there. Hav-
ing no objective or using the wrong words in your objective
when you’re applying directly for an advertised position indi-
cates that you were careless and did not really choose that com-
pany at all.

Word Choice

A résumé is a living document.
You don’t get to write it once and then use the same thing
forever. You may change it many times in one job search and sev-
eral times during your working life.
It is wise to have the words—all the words—conform to the
verbiage in the job description as much as possible.
So, if the job description mentions Information Technology
several times, and the first draft of your résumé refers to the
same thing as Computer Science, then by all means change your
résumé.

• Some researchers have shown that the more closely
the expressions in your résumé mirror the wording in
the job description, the better your chances of getting
interviewed.

This rule does not apply when you’re talking about official
degrees and certificates. Do not change the name of an official
degree.

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