You’ve been sitting there for about an hour now, waiting for an answer to the question that is slowly driving you mad: What is the recruiter looking for?
There’s this position, you see, and you know lots of other people are going to apply for it. You want to make sure that your resume and cover letter cinch the job for you — not somebody else. But how? How can you know which skills will keep you in the running? What work experience will land you an interview?
The answer to these questions and more can be found in the job ad.
Getting Past Titles
Job seekers seem trained to read only one part of the job ad — the job title — before submitting their resumes for consideration.
This isn’t surprising given that most of us were weaned on newspaper job ads, which often contain little more information than the job title in bold letters.
As “Employment Management Today” magazine notes, “Newspaper ads are bland, full of abbreviations and often too short to market the position or company effectively.”
Since newspapers charge advertisers per word or line, advertisers pinch pennies by pinching words. The result looks more like a telegraph than a job description.
Enter online job boards, and job ads start to look altogether different.
The major online job boards do not charge companies based on ad length. This allows companies to include more information in their job ads. The additional information — which we’ll go over in tomorrow’s edition — allows job seekers to more effectively tailor their resumes and cover letters to job openings.
What’s in an Online Job Ad?
- General Company Information: Provides some background on the company, including its location, type of business, benefits and number of employees. This is where the company attempts to “sell” itself to job seekers.
- General Job Description: Paints a portrait of the job in broad strokes, including an overview of responsibilities and how the position fits into the organization.
- Responsibilities: Runs down the list of day-to-day duties associated with the job.
- Requirements: Includes experience level, education and familiarity with certain tools, procedures or software programs. This section may also include “soft skills,” such as being deadline driven or detail oriented.
- How to Apply: Gives applicants specific instructions including preferred resume format and whether or not to include additional information such as a job reference code or salary requirements.
The sections that can most help you target your resume and cover letter are the middle three.
Making a Match
Now that you’re familiar with the online job ad format, it’s time to match yourself with the position.
Read the job ad carefully several times. From practical experience, I can tell you that there are few job seekers who actually read the entire job ad, much less read it multiple times.
This is an essential step. While recruiters should include the important information at the top of the job ad, that does not mean that they will. On a sheet of paper, write down your skills, experiences and responsibilities that match those sought in the job ad.
Don’t overlook soft skills, such as the ability to multitask, work well within teams, etc.
If you don’t come up with a sufficient number of matches, reconsider applying for the job. If a company notices that you have applied to random positions for which you are not qualified, it is likely to hurt your chances of working for the company. Be realistic.
Tailor Your Resume and Cover Letter
Once you have listed your qualifications that match those sought by the job ad, make those qualifications more prominent in your resume.
This can be as simple as moving them above qualifications that do not directly relate to the position.
You might also consider laying out the matching qualifications in a skills section that precedes your work experience section. This quickly tells the recruiter that you possess skills that were requested by the job ad.
If you include the matching qualifications in a separate skills section, make sure this leaves you enough information to include in the body of the resume.
Be sure to mention the matching qualifications in your cover letter and also refer to the job ad. For example:
“As you requested in the job ad, I have over 10 years of editorial experience and a strong working knowledge of Quark.”
Many recruiters use the information found in job ads like teachers use keys to grade tests. The more closely your skills and work experience match those sought by the job ad, the more likely you are to make it to the next stage of the hiring process.