Are Position-Focused Resumes Now The Industry Norm?
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You bet! In the current job market, people must be flexible and resourceful. No longer can you blast one resume out for 10 different jobs and expect phone calls. The simple fact is that the job market is flooded with highly qualified professionals with the exact skills needed for any given job, and the competition is heated for many of them. Plus, employers are increasingly accustomed to seeing resumes that fit job descriptions to a tee.



For this reason, it is incredibly important to have one resume for each position or field you are targeting.



Here is an example. Joe, a general contractor with 10 years of hands-on experience, was laid off in late 2010 and has been unable to secure any comparable jobs in his field since then. However, during his time in college, Joe teamed up with his brother to buy, renovate, and resell several residential properties. He really enjoyed it and would like to refocus his career from general construction and development to more specifically, property renovation and sales. So, Joe created a new resume that advertised those skills and talents he used in college, he will have a much better chance at scoring an interview in his desired area rather that an overly generic GC resume.



Even more specifically, if your resume casts you as a generalist in an industry (like accounting), you may want to re-write it to focus it to your specialized area (e.g. tax accounting). This will help you to stand out from those who did not do so.



It is especially common nowadays for resumes to be super-focused on one area of expertise, and professionals are finding it necessary to have three or four versions of their resume on hand during their job hunt. So, go ahead and create, say, a non-profit resume for that volunteer work you did – you never know what career opportunity will come next.