Make Your Résumé Focus On Your Job Target

The challenge of life, I have found, is to build a résumé that doesn’t simply tell a story about what you want to be, but it’s a story about who you want to be.” — Oprah Winfrey

A job target is the specific type of position you’re applying for. If there’s more than one position you could apply for, given your background and experience, then you’ll have more than one job target.

Develop one résumé for each job target if they’re distinctly different. The job target you select will determine which accomplishment statements, personal characteristics, and technical competencies to include in your résumé.

One or more résumés?

If your job target is broad, then you’ll want to include a broad range of accomplishments in a number of skill specialties.

If you see yourself applying for several different, but related, kinds of positions, you’ll probably be able to use only one résumé.

For example, if the position you’re applying for includes telephone installation, telephone repair, and telephone maintenance, then you’ll be able to use one résumé to address all of these areas.

If, on the other hand, you have the skills and the interest to apply for the job of telephone repair and installation, the job of a locomotive conductor, and the job of software development, then you’ll probably want one résumé for each of these job targets.

Does your job target appear on your résumé?

Your job target is the particular type of position you’re looking for. It will appear in your summary statement on your résumé and spelled out right at the top under your personal info.

As much as possible, you want everything on your résumé to support your job target. For example, your job target might be electrician, telecommunications specialist, aerospace engineer, or graphics designer, and your summary statement, technical expertise, and accomplishments should help to validate your credibility as a candidate.

You might also have several job targets within your area of specialty. For example, your job target may be in the aerospace engineering field, and your specific jobs could be Research Engineer, Systems Engineer, Payload Engineer, and Systems Trainer. List your job targets as brief one or two-word descriptions of what you would call yourself, and accomplishments for each.

If you have two or more different job targets, you’ll want to develop a résumé for each. Focus on one job target at a time. Finish your résumé for one, and then repeat the process to focus on another job target until you have résumés for each job target. 70% or more of each résumé will be the same and the rest of the content customized as described above. Your work history, computer expertise, education, honors and awards, and possibly other sections will be the same, so tailoring your résumé to your job target is not as daunting as it may sound. But tailoring your résumé to your job target will definitely get you more interviews.

Sign up for some great resources to help with your job search at this link:  Free Stuff 

In my next blog post I’ll talk about the résumé content.

This is an excerpt from my book “The Christian Job Search Manual,” click on this link to purchase the book.

If you would like to explore working with a Christian centered Career Coach, Contact me for a no-obligation 60-90 minute job search consultation with America’s Job Searching Coach, or text me at 425-220-0707  and we can discuss your situation, your résumé, what you would like to achieve, and structure your job search to fit your uniqueness.

I am also available to speak to groups.