If you want to land a job interview you first need to demonstrate that you are a good fit for the job. This is step number one!
Your resume, LinkedIn profile and online applications must demonstrate that your skills align closely with those needed to do the job.
In other words, it pays to match.
When I write resumes for my clients, there is one method and three tools I use to ensure the skills featured closely align with the job target.
Three tools to help you demonstrate that you are a good fit for the job
In this article, I’m going to walk you through three tools that many other Executive Resume Writers and I use to ensure that a candidate’s fit is obvious to the reader.
These are tools that you can and should use to ensure that your resume and LinkedIn profile are tailored and matched to your ideal role.
Manual job posting review & analysis
Before I get started on writing a resume, I ask every client for a handful of job postings of interest.
Regardless of length, most job postings include 4 key sections, these sections are designed to do the following:
- Detail important company information
- Share information about the role
- List the desired, preferred and required candidate requirements
- Explain directions for the application
Pay attention to section three
This is where I pay the closest attention because this is where the “hidden treasure” often lies when skills matching.
Below is a cut and paste of this section for a Medical Device Sales role on a leading job board.
A brief review reveals the skills that should be featured throughout the resume and LinkedIn profile to ensure readers see a close match.
Requirements:
- 4-5 years in Medical Device Sales
- Experience in GI, Bariatric, or Laparoscopic/Surgical
- BA/BS degree or equivalent work experience
- Must have exceptional clinical knowledge in general surgery, bariatric surgery, therapeutic endoscopy, gastroenterology and/or urological procedures
Once identified, I make sure to weave these skills throughout the resume into the summary section, throughout the job experience and as part of a skills section directly below the summary section.
When writing the LinkedIn profile, I include these in the “Skills and Endorsement” section and work to weave them into the headline at the top.
Where applicable, I’ll also add them within the parenthesis to the job titles (LinkedIn gives you 100 characters to play with here).
An example of a LinkedIn job title that has been skills matched
This example comes in at 99 characters and instantly tells the reader that this person is a great match for the role.
Account Executive (GI Medical Device Sales – General/Bariatric Surgery, Endoscopy/Gastroenterology)
Jobscan resume scanner and LinkedIn optimizer
Jobscan offers two tools I’ve used to maximize skills and keyword matching.
The first one is to scan your resume and the second is to scan your LinkedIn profile.
The website notes they have reverse-engineered top ATS systems and studied recruiter workflows to build the algorithm from which it evaluates resumes against proven recruiter preferences, curated keywords and requirements.
With LinkedIn, it scores the profile on keywords, content in your headline, summary and work experience and other completed fields.
According to the site, whether written using a resume template or by a resume writer, Jobscan users see a 132% increase in profile views and show up 3X more in searches.
Once scanned, Jobscan scores your documents by evaluating keywords as well as hard and soft skills and provides suggestions on how best to boost them.
Click here to check out Jobscan
LinkedIn resume builder
I also use LinkedIn’s Resume Builder for skills/keyword matching, which can be accessed from your profile page by clicking on “more.”
The site will walk you through a few prompts during which you select a job target and have the site match your skills against those included in its database.
What I appreciate about this tool is that because the keywords come directly from LinkedIn, your chances of a strong match on the platform are increased.
A downside, though, is that those who have a free account won’t see nearly as many keywords as those who use a premium account.
You can, however, get a free 30-day trial of LinkedIn Learning which will give you full access to this incredible tool.
Something I recommend that you check out, click here to learn more.
Matching that yields high ROI
With so many testing the waters or looking to join the ranks of the “great resignation,” I’m seeing a job search landscape that is more competitive than ever, and where it makes sense to take advantage of every tool at your disposal.
Against a sea of candidates, your best bet at getting found during talent searches is to show alignment – which can be accomplished by matching as many skills as possible with the keywords on your resume and LinkedIn.
Tools offered by Jobscan and LinkedIn, together with a bit of DIY research and analysis – can make all the difference whether your resume is written professionally, using a resume template or completely DIY.
