Target Your Documents 

Do you submit the same, generically-worded resume and cover letter for every job you apply to, and wonder why you aren’t getting called for interviews? If there’s one thing we know, it’s that job postings, especially on the AWE Job Board, are very competitive. So how do you stand out in an applicant pool? Target your documents!

Targeting is a process that starts with the job posting: a checklist of skills and qualifications sought by the employer, based on their idea of the perfect candidate. Using a similar approach to studying, highlight, underline or make note of key words and phrases from the posting that you can address in your resume and cover letter. Pro tip: the most valuable traits will often appear at the top, or in multiple sections of the posting. 

Once you have come up with a list of skills from the posting, find ways to incorporate them into your resume and cover letter. As an example, if the employer values somebody who thrives in a collaborative environment, you may choose to highlight a group project you worked on or a retail job that required you to work with others to ensure that customers were helped efficiently. 

The targeting approach should be taken with every job you apply for, meaning that your resume and cover letter should never look the same. Yes, this is time-consuming, but the more time you invest in the process, the more your documents will stand out, especially when competing with dozens of other students for that dream job.