You have learned how to create a resume that will get noticed. Now it is time to pay close attention to properly submitting the resume. Taking a few extra steps to ensure it gets to the right place and gets looked at is worth your time. Here are three things to consider when you are submitting your resume:
- Customizing Your Resume
- Following Application Instructions
- Following Up
Customizing Your Resume
You have created your resume to use in your job search. Now it is time to start looking for job openings in which you are interested. When you find jobs that interest you and you have the skills and abilities for those jobs, you want to make it as clear as possible for the recruiter to see you as a good fit. The best way to do this is to customize or tailor your resume to highlight how your skills and abilities match a job.
What are some of the ways you can customize or tailor your resume? You might change some of the wording in your list of duties, skills or accomplishments to match the wording used in the job posting. Another way to customize your resume is to add keywords that are used in the job ad or job posting. Sometimes there are words used in the job posting that the company uses that mean the same thing as your listed skills. If your skills or accomplishments match, then go ahead and change the keywords in your resume to make this clear.
Moving the job duties or accomplishments that best match the most important needs of the job to the top of your resume is another good way to highlight your skills. The key is to help the reader easily see, in that first scan of resumes, that you are a match for the job.
Following Application Instructions
You have gotten this far in your job search. You do not want to make a mistake when you respond to the job posting. One small mistake at this stage in the game could ruin your chances of getting an interview. If you don’t pay attention to how and where to send your resume, it may never get where it is supposed to go. Or your resume could show up with missing items or incorrect information. This shows the recruiter that you did not follow instructions.
Just as the way your resume looks matters, so does the way you submit the resume. If your resume is unorganized or not professional, reviewers may not look at it closely. The same is true if you don’t follow the instructions for submitting your resume. Either reviewers don’t look at your resume closely because they can see that you didn’t follow the instructions, or the resume never even makes it to the reviewer because you didn’t use the right address or correct person’s name.
Following Up
After you send your resume, it is a good idea to follow up if you do not hear back from the recruiter after a number of weeks. There are several ways you can follow up. You can email, call, or send a note in the mail. Here are some questions you can ask when you are following up about your application and resume submission:
- What are the next steps in the process?
- What is the timeline? When will interviews take place?
- Do you need any additional information about me?
Here are a few tips to help you be prepared when you are following up:
- If you are doing a follow up call, be sure to ask the person if he or she has time to talk.
- Take notes during your phone conversation.
- Thank the person for his or her time when you are done with the call.
- Don’t just ask if your resume has been received. Be ready to share why you are a good fit for the job.
- Keep copies of any follow up emails or letters you send.
We hope you picked up some helpful tips about submitting your resume in this post. If you would like to learn more about teaching workplace readiness skills, click the free trial link below.
