Invest More Time On Each Resume To Accelerate Your Job Search

One of the best ways to accelerate your job search is to invest more time customizing each resume you send.

Job seekers spend an average 15 minutes customizing their resume. While that might seem like a lot of time, it really isn't very much ... and it's not enough time to give your resume a chance to get through ATSs.

And most of those 15 minutes are spent on customizing cover letters, not your resume, isn't it?

One of the main reasons why you're spending so little time customizing resumes is it's what you've been taught by outplacement and most career coaches/authors (or the friends who gave you advice were taught by them). They teach strategies based on random applications, volume and luck.

Another reason is because you've been taught a "spray and pray" strategy, based on volume, so you fear spending more time on each resume will mean you won't be able to send as many resumes.

Sending fewer resumes forces you to focus on the jobs you can do better than anyone else, rather than spending your time on all the jobs you feel you could do. Focusing on just a couple of job functions/industries makes your job search more effective, because you gain deeper knowledge in the market for those individual functions/industries.

Employer hiring processes and ATSs reward candidates who heavily customize each resume to an individual employer's needs. But these same processes penalize candidates who apply using resumes with little (or no customization).

Customizing your resume shows employers you'll do more in the job, because you're doing more on the resume you sent (and they don't care how many resumes you've sent).

I recommend spending 1 hour customizing each resume you send. This level of customization allows you to focus more effort on the positions you're most likely to get, by ignoring the positions where you know you aren't the best candidate, or don't meet enough criteria.

If you want to learn more methods to accelerate your job search, why not let me show you?

I help people solve the most difficult job search problems, including job search acceleration, getting past ATSs, ageism, remote positions, product/job function/career/industry/ geographic change, unemployment, "bouncy" recent career path, job search turnaround, seeking raise/promotion, industry in decline/consolidation, long term gaps, family leave, or other of the most challenging job search issues.

Join me for my next free Resume Webinar (enroll at https://x.resumewebinar.com/register for no charge) and learn how to accelerate your job search, so you can find your next job faster in 2023.

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