Applying for jobs is one of the most stressful things a student will ever have to experience, whether it’s for an internship, part-time work, or a full-time career. When the company bypasses you and doesn’t even arrange so much as a phone screening, it can be super disheartening.
Luckily, there are things you can do to make sure your resume catches the company’s eye. I’ve been working in part-time in Recruiting for a while now, deciding which candidates we want or don’t want to reach out to, so I’m going to go ahead and pass down the secrets to making you look irresistible during that first round.
Because trust me: If you’re sending the same resume to every job opening, you’re doing it wrong.
Image from rawpixels
Step 1: Scan the job description for keywords
Really, it can be a little difficult to accurately judge what constitutes a keyword or not, but as a general rule of thumb, here are some things to look for:
- Industry (Is this is a software company? Is the business in the hospitality industry?)
- Soft skills (Things like customer service or self-motivated or communication or work ethic.)
- Hard skills (For a developer, this might be something like Python or CSS, whereas other roles want grant writing or database management)
- Job duties (Will you be answering phones or performing audits? Creating training material or copywriting?)
Extra Credit: Go to the company website and look for pages that detail their company values or company culture. You can pull extra keywords from there, too.
Image from Pixabay
Step 2: Group the keywords by your previous and current positions
Depending on the job, a lot of the keywords might describe you, but others might not. For right now, focus on the ones that do apply to you somehow.
For example, if public speaking is one of the preferred strengths in this job description, and as a club officer you frequently spoke at the beginning of weekly meetings, you can go ahead and assign both of those keywords to this position.
Or say you’ll be doing a lot of copywriting for this internship, and you used to design flyers or write emails as part of an on-campus work-study position. If the shoe fits, then it fits.
Try to match up as many of the keywords to at least one position as possible. If any of the keywords can match up to multiple roles, that’s great, too.
Extra Credit: See if any of the keywords are applicable to things outside your positions. For example, if you took classes that have the keyword in the title, that’s an extra way to bring it up even without lumping it in with a position. If you had a class project that exhibited these skills (especially hard skills) and you’re running low on relevant positions, then you’re set.
Image from energepic
Step 3: Rewrite the job descriptions for each role, dedicating one line for each keyword
How exactly you write the descriptions will vary, but as a general rule of thumb, try to make sure the keyword is one of the first words (if not the first) in that bullet, and make sure you limit each bullet point to one line each.
For example, let’s say you’re part of a board or committee at a campus organization, and the job you’re applying for wants leadership skills who’s also a team player. You might want to write something like “Led a group of 6 members to implement new outreach and fundraising initiatives” or “Worked with team to brainstorm solutions to funding obstacles”. Try to be as specific as possible.
If you have more positions than what can fit on your resume, then feel free leave off positions that:
- Feature keywords that mostly show up in other positions as well
- Feature the fewest keywords
It’s not a hard-and-fast rule that you list every position you’ve ever held on a resume. You’re in control of what shows up and what doesn’t. Just make sure that when you fill out the application, if they have a separate area for employment history, you do list every internship or job you’ve held (you don’t need to list things like club activities on the employment history section, however).
Extra Credit: Throw in numbers next to the keywords to really make them pop. Don’t just say that you answered phones, but tell the employer how many you took. Not only will it attract more attention to the keyword, but it’ll also make you seem more impressive.
Image from Gerd Altmann
Once you’ve rewritten your resume, go ahead and proofread it, maybe drag it to Career Services for an extra look-over, and send it in. Trust me – by showing that you’ve got the specific skills that the employer wants, the hiring manager’s mental checklist will start checking off those boxes, and they’ll see that you’re the exact candidate they’ve been looking for.