Write a Resume That is Specific and Relevant

As a senior manager, I spent 6 months attempting to hire systems analysts and software engineers within the pharmaceutical industry. The most common error I saw was submitting a generic resume as opposed to one tailored for the position advertised.

When you have over twenty resumes on your desk, what jumps out is the resumes that are directly relevant for the position being filled. While many of the job candidates may have had relevant experience, few took the time to tailor there resumes to highlight that relevant experience.

Especially the world of Information Technology, it is a bit much to ask the hiring manager to cut through the jargon and make a guess at what experience may transfer to the proprietary technologies/software in my industry. I'd rather hear less about that irrelevant position as a traffic warden/dog catcher/bank clerk, and more about your experience with relational databases - in particular, do you have the depth of knowledge that will translate well across technologies to my proprietary database?

By sending a generic resume that is mostly filled with irrelevant experience, you rob yourself of the chance to succinctly tell me about the experience that IS relevant. It makes me wonder if you are really interested in this job at all, or if you are just blasting resume out to take the first position that pays the bills; and you will later -- after I have spent a lot of time and money training you -- marshal your resources to search for a position that truly interests you.

In short: follow the instructions in the position posting. A generic response to a specific question is just wasting your time and the time of the hiring manager.