HiringReach / Tailor your resume

How to tailor your resume to a job description

A tailored resume is written for one posting. Below are the 7 steps to do it by hand, and a free tool that does them with you: it asks about the gaps first, then checks every line against your answers.

Tailor my first job free Read the 7 steps

Free: one job, fully tailored, Word and PDF. No card.

Fact check · Accounting Manager posting 4 kept · 2 cut

What you said

  1. A1No ASC 606 experience. Manufacturing revenue was straightforward.
  2. A2I review the work of 1 staff accountant and trained 2 new hires on the close.
  3. A3I built a close checklist with owners and deadlines.
  4. A4About 300 journal entries and 120 reconciliations a month, with 2 other people.
  5. A5Saved searches and some custom reports. Not admin.

What went on the page

  1. keptBuilt a close checklist with assigned owners and deadlines.A3
  2. keptReview the work of 1 staff accountant; trained 2 new hires on the close.A2
  3. keptProcess about 300 journal entries and 120 reconciliations a month on a team of 3.A4
  4. cutLed ASC 606 revenue recognition for subscription contracts.A1No source. You said no.
  5. keptBuilt NetSuite saved searches and custom reports for the close.A5
  6. cutNetSuite system administrator.A5You said: not admin.
Illustrative. Answers from a test account in the app.Hover or tab a line to see its source.

What a tailored resume is

A tailored resume is your resume rewritten for one job. Same career, same facts. What changes is the order, the emphasis and the words. The work that posting cares about moves to the top, in the posting's own language, and the rest moves down or comes off.

Here is why it matters. A recruiter working through a stack of applications is looking for the few things the posting asks for most. Screening software is doing the same match. A resume written for no job in particular makes both of them guess.

The one rule that keeps tailoring honest: every line on the tailored version has to be something you can talk about in the interview. You are choosing what to show, and describing it in their words. The facts stay yours.

How to tailor your resume in 7 steps

This is the method by hand. It takes 30 to 60 minutes the first time.

01Pick one posting

Choose the job you want most this week. Tailoring works one posting at a time, and the best one to start with is the one you care about.

02Pull out what it asks for

Copy the posting into a document and highlight every requirement: skills, tools, years, certifications, the size of the work (budgets, teams, volumes). Mark the 4 or 5 that appear first or more than once. Those are the ones the reader is screening for.

03Match each requirement to your evidence

Make a two column list. Left: the requirement. Right: the line on your resume that proves it, or a blank. Here is what that looks like for an Accounting Manager posting:

The posting asks forYour evidence
Own the month end closeBuilt a close checklist with owners and deadlines
Manage and develop staffReview the work of 1 staff accountant; trained 2 new hires
ASC 606 revenue recognitionBlank. Manufacturing revenue, no ASC 606.
NetSuite administrationSaved searches and custom reports. Not admin.

04Ask yourself about the gaps

Every blank on the right is a question. Have you done this, even partly, somewhere your resume does not mention? A project, a previous job, a course? A real yes becomes a new line. A real no stays off the page, and you know in advance what to say if it comes up in the interview.

This is the step most people skip, and it is where most of the improvement comes from. Your resume is usually missing things you have done, simply because you never thought to write them down.

05Rewrite the top third

The summary and the first role are what gets read. Rewrite your summary in 2 or 3 sentences that name the job title and the top requirements you meet. Put the most relevant skills first in your skills list, using the posting's spelling ("NetSuite", not "Net Suite").

06Reorder and trim the experience

Within each role, move the bullets that match the posting to the top. Rewrite them with the posting's words where they truly fit, and keep your real numbers. Cut or shorten bullets that do nothing for this job. One or two pages is plenty.

07Check every line before you send

Read the finished resume line by line and ask one question of each: could I talk about this for two minutes in the interview? If a number grew, put it back. If a skill slipped in from the posting that you do not have, take it out. Then save it as Word and PDF, named for the company and role.

The free tool

HiringReach does steps 2 to 7 with you.

Paste the job and your resume. It pulls out the requirements, matches them to your experience, and asks you 3 to 5 short questions about the gaps. Real questions from the app look like this:

  • Question

    Have you worked on revenue recognition under ASC 606?A plain no is a fine answer.

  • Question

    What was your role in the close improvement from 10 to 6 days?A sentence or two is enough.

  • Check

    Every claim needs a sourceAfter it writes, it compares each line against your resume and your answers. That is the fact check at the top of this page: 4 lines kept, 2 cut.

The questions screen in the HiringReach app: five numbered questions about mentoring, revenue recognition, the close, the close team and NetSuite, each with an answer box.
Real screen, HiringReach appTest account, accounting role

Tailor my first job free

Your first job is free, with Word and PDF. After that, Tailor is $29 a month for a tailored resume for every job (fair use up to 60 a month). See plans.

Questions

Tailored resume questions.

Q1What is a tailored resume?

A tailored resume is a version of your resume written for one job posting. It leads with the experience that posting asks for, uses the posting's own words for skills you really have, and moves less relevant work lower or off the page.

Q2Should I tailor my resume for every job?

For any job you actually want, yes. Recruiters and screening software both compare your resume to that posting. A resume written for one job reads closer to it than a general one. For roles you would not take, a general version is fine.

Q3How long does it take to tailor a resume?

By hand, plan on 30 to 60 minutes for the first one and less once you have a master resume to pull from. In HiringReach, answering the gap questions takes a few minutes, then you read and edit the result.

Q4Is tailoring a resume the same as copying the job description?

No. You use the posting's words for skills and results you can back up. Pasting requirements you do not meet onto your resume puts you in an interview defending them.

Q5Can I tailor my resume to a job description for free?

Yes. You can do it by hand with the steps on this page, and HiringReach tailors your first job free, with no card. Word and PDF download are included.

Your first job is free

Pick the posting you want most this week. Tailor it today.

Start free Or check your resume first