Retail leaders: How to tailor your resume for other positions

Customizing - or tailoring - your resume for each different type of position you apply for is very important. After all, there could be specific qualifications or certain aspects of your background that you'd want to draw more attention to, depending on what it is you're applying for.

Here are the steps to take and things to consider:

HEADLINE

If your resume has a headline at the top (usually below your name and contact information but above everything else), that's probably the most common part of your resume that you'll want to customize. It's one of the first things the reader will see, and it needs to accurately and strongly tell them what you bring to the table in relation to the job you're applying for.

For example, maybe right now it says TOP-RANKED STORE MANAGER / DISTRICT MANAGER CANDIDATE, which is a solid headline. But what if you're applying for a district HR manager role?

Here's the key with headlines: You can't position yourself as something you're not. In other words, if you have zero experience in HR roles, you can't really use DISTRICT HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER as the headline on your resume. If you do, you're only going to disappoint (and likely frustrate) recruiters who will expect to see HR-specific positions in your work history. Trust will disappear.

But you can use something like this:

- HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

- TALENT ACQUISITION | HUMAN RESOURCES

- Award-winning people leader with 10+ years of diverse experience in HR and talent management

And so on (there are tons of options).

In each case, you're not proclaiming yourself to already be a DISTRICT HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER, you're simply saying you have some HR-related experience. It doesn't come across as a lie/exaggeration, like it would if you boldly stated DISTRICT HR MANAGER at the top of your resume.

So the headline is typically the first - and most common - part of your resume that you'll want to customize.

SUMMARY/PROFILE

If there is a summary at the top of your resume (there doesn't always need to be), that's going to be the second thing you may want to tailor. It doesn't always have to change - it depends on how different this job is from the other ones you applied for - but you absolutely need to read it and see if it needs tweaking before you submit your application.

Summaries are not nearly as important as many people think, at least not in my experience. Sometimes I see resumes where it's clear the person thinks the summary is the most important part of the resume, judging by how much space it takes up in comparison to their work history. But in my view, recruiters are much more interested in your career path (where you've worked, when, and what positions you've held) than a flowery summary that goes on and on about what you think of yourself.

But summaries can be helpful if done right, and if you have one on your resume, you definitely need to tailor it to the position you're applying for. Here are some thoughts:

- If the job posting asks for a certain number of years' experience, and you have it, then make sure to say that.

- If the job posting asks for experience in a specific sector, and you have it, say so.

- If the job posting asks for specific hard skills, and you have those, say so. (Note: If the job posting asks for specific soft skills, I don't see any value in including those on the resume - it's subjective.)

- If the job posting asks for certain language skills or certifications, and you have them, say so.

And feel free to highlight some of your major achievements or awards that might be most relevant for this role.

WORK HISTORY

Your employment experience is the last major area you may want to tailor, and again, it really depends on what you're looking for. After all, you can't change everything. For one, where you worked is where you worked, whether you consider it to be a selling point going forward or not (although there are ways of emphasizing other things, rather than company names). The positions you held are the positions you held, whether or not you wish you had different roles in the past (although, again, there may be opportunities to adjust your titles). Finally, when you worked for each company can't really be changed either (although, you guessed it, sometimes gaps can be de-emphasized).

Here are some ways you can customize your work history:

- If you think the companies you worked for in the past will be more impressive to the company you're applying to than your job titles, then emphasize company names - make them bold, capitalized, and easy to see.

- Conversely, if you think your past job titles will be more impressive to the company you're applying to than the previous companies you worked for, then emphasize job titles - make them bold, capitalized, and easy to see.

- Modify your job titles, if you can, to make them more relevant to what you're applying for (but don't lie!). For example, if you were an executive team leader of HR with Target, and your resume currently just says EXECUTIVE TEAM LEADER, you can expand it to EXECUTIVE TEAM LEADER, HUMAN RESOURCES (if you're looking for an HR position). You could also get away with calling yourself the HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER, as long as you're clear that you managed HR in that one location. Whatever the case, just make sure the title you choose is still truthful, accurate, and does not exaggerate your actual role.

- Customize your accountability statement, if needed (but again, don't lie). If you truly were responsible for every aspect of HR in a particular position, then you can say that.

- Customize or prioritize your achievements, if needed. You should have a list of really great accomplishments and contributions under each position, and those can be modified as needed. You can add new ones, delete ones that are irrelevant, and re-prioritize as you see fit. (Just a note in relation to HR resumes - don't assume that an achievement like "increased sales 11%" is now irrelevant because you're applying for HR positions. That's not true. It can be very helpful to show future employers how successful the team you built and developed turned out to be.)

Those are the primary ways you may want to tailor your resume when you apply to different types of positions, but there could be more. (For example, you may want to add in certain training programs you took, if you think they'll want to see that.)

Customizing your resume before you hit send is all about putting in that little bit of extra effort to give you the best chance of success, just like writing a customized cover letter (which I recommend). Recruiters notice the effort, and it can absolutely help.

Feel free to check out my website for details on my service, as well as more free advice.

Best of luck!