Introduction: Why Tailoring Your Resume Matters

When you tailor your resume to a job description, it can help you boost your chances of securing an interview. Doing so helps employers see that you understand the role and you’re capable of meeting their specific needs—not just that you’re qualified in general.

When you take the time to customize each section of your resume, ensuring it reflects the job description, you can make your resume stand out. The following will walk you through the steps on how to tailor your resume efficiently and effectively.

Step 1: Carefully Read the Job Description 

Before you start tweaking your resume, make sure you take time to thoroughly read the job description. Don’t just skim it! Employers will often include important information about necessary qualifications, desired skills, and job responsibilities using specific language—language you’ll want to mirror in your resume.

Look for terms they repeat, the order that they list skills, and any must-have as opposed to nice-to-have distinctions that are included.

Following this step will help you closely align your resume with their expectations.

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Step 2: Identify Important Keywords

Once you’ve carefully read the job description, your next step should be to identify the most important keywords. They could include specific skills, qualifications, tools, traits, or anything that the employer is emphasizing. Why? Because typically, these are the exact words that Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) will be scanning for.

Look out for:

• Hard skills like Google Analytics, Python, or Project Management
• Soft skills like collaboration, communication, or problem-solving
• Education and certification requirements such as CPA or Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing
• Tools or platforms including Salesforce, Figma, or HubSpot
• Job-specific language such as client facing, quota carrying, or agile environment

To make it easier, there are free tools like word cloud generators that can help you analyze a job posting and find keywords that are frequently used. This can help you detect patterns and make sure you focus on what matters most.

Once you’ve done that, create a list of the top 5 to 10 keywords that are most relevant to the role. These will be the words you want to strategically insert in your resume—in your summary, skills section, and work experience—to increase your chances of getting noticed by recruiters and by the ATS.

Step 3: Resume Sections You Should Tailor 

Now that you’ve gathered the most important job description details and identified the keywords you should use, your next step is applying them to your resume. You won’t need to rewrite every section of it every time, but the following areas are the most important when it comes to tailoring a resume to a job description.

Professional Summary

Your professional summary is your first impression, and it’s often your make-or-break moment.

Tailor it by incorporating: 

• The exact job title from the posting
• 2 or 3 core skills or achievements that directly match the employer’s top priorities
• A concise, confident tone that signals you’re ready for the job

Example: 

If the job is for a Data Analyst with SQL and Tableau experience, you might open your summary with:

Detailed oriented Data Analyst with 5+ years of experience using SQL and Tableau to drive business insights and improve reporting workflows. 

Skills Section

This is where keywords matter the most. ATS software—not to mention a lot of recruiters—will scan your resume for a match between the job description and the skills you’ve listed.

Tips:

• Only list your most relevant soft and hard skills
• Use an employer’s exact phrasing where appropriate—for example, you might say customer success instead of client service
• Avoid keyword stuffing—each skill you list should reflect some real experience

Example:

If a job asks for collaboration, CRM tools, and email marketing, your skills section might include:

• Email marketing strategy
• Salesforce CRM
• Cross-functional team collaboration

Work Experience 

This is the section where a tailored resume probably pays off the most. Hiring managers want to see more than what you did, they want to see how what you did relates to what they need.

Tips: 

• Rewrite your bullet points so they emphasize how your achievements lineup with the new role
• Where possible, use measurable outcomes (for example, improved onboarding process, reducing time-to-productivity by 30%)
• Reorder or remove less relevant content to highlight whatever transferable experience you have

Even if you don’t have experience identical to what’s being asked for, frame your responsibilities in a way that will match the job’s requirements.

Job Titles (If needed)

In some cases, your previous job title may not be an exact match for the role you’re applying for. If your responsibilities align, you can clarify by using parentheses or another format.

Example:

If your title was Client Success Partner but you’re applying for a Customer Success Manager position, you might consider saying:

• Client Success Partner (Customer Success Manager equivalent)

This will show your relevance without misrepresenting your job history.

Education & Certifications

You should tailor this section by:

• Puttin any required degrees or credentials at the top of the section
• Highlighting any industry certifications that match the job posting, e.g., PMP, Google Ads, or CPA

Even if a certification isn’t mandatory, listing it can give you an edge if it’s listed on the job description.

Tip:

If the role emphasizes continuous learning, you could add any recent workshops or courses that align with the position.

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Step 4: Example: Tailoring for a Digital Marketing Specialist Role

To fully understand how to tailor a resume to a job, it would probably help to see a real-world example.

Below is a simplified job description for a Digital Marketing Specialist, followed up with customized resume sections that match it. Doing so will bring together each step we’ve covered so far—reading the job description, identifying your keywords, and then tailoring your resume sections so it all fits together.

Job Description Sample 

Seeking a Digital Marketing Specialist with experience in SEO, Google Analytics, and content marketing. Strong communication and writing skills required.

This is a fairly typical posting in the marketing field. It’s short but it’s packed with valuable keywords. Now let’s see how to tailor a resume to match it.

Tailored Professional Summary

Let’s look at a before and after of tailoring a resume to a job description.

Before:

Marketing professional with experience in campaign strategy and team coordination.

After: 

Digital Marketing Specialist with 4+ years of experience driving SEO strategy and content performance using Google Analytics. Adept at cross-functional collaboration and copywriting.

Why this works:

• Uses the exact job title from the job posting (Digital Marketing Specialist)
• Includes two exact keywords from the job post: SEO, Google Analytics, with content performance standing in for content marketing
• It reflects a list of relevant soft skills using matching phrasing: cross-functional and copywriting for communication and writing skills
• It provides a clear, concise summary of experience that’s been tailored to the requirements of the position

Tailored Skills Section

Before:

• Digital Strategy
• Marketing Analytics
• Writing
• Teamwork

After:

• SEO Strategy
• Google Analytics and Tag Manager
• Content Marketing
• Copywriting
• Team Collaboration

This version directly mirrors the terminology in the job description, so it improves the chances of a resume passing through an applicant tracking system (ATS) and hopefully resonating with a human recruiter. Plus, using specific tools like Google Tag Manager can add credibility.

Tailored Work Experience

Let’s look at what a work experience section might resemble after tailoring it.

Before: 

Managed digital marketing campaigns across channels.

After:

Led an SEO focused content strategy that boosted organic traffic by 60% using Google Analytics insights.

Why this Works:

• It tailors the section to match a skill that’s listed in a priority position—SEO
• It includes a quantifiable result—boosted by 60%
• It names a tool requested in the job post
• It directly connects past experience with what the employer is looking for

Step 5: Optimize for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

You probably don’t want to know this, but even the most well-tailored resume could be overlooked if it doesn’t pass through an applicant tracking system. More and more employers—and definitely all online job databases like Indeed or Glassdoor—use ATS to scan resumes and filter out candidates before human eyes ever see them. Understanding how ATS works, and then formatting your resume accordingly, can improve your chances of making it to the next stage.

Use Standard Formatting

ATS software is designed to read resumes that follow a conventional structure. That means you need to avoid any elements that could confuse the system.

Avoid:

• Tables
• Columns
• Graphs or icons
• Uncommon fonts
• PDFs—unless specified

Stick to:

• A clean, single column layout
• Standard fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman
• Use Microsoft Word (either .doc or .docx) or plain text (.txt) file formats
• When using bullet points, stick to simple symbols like dots and dashes

You may be tempted to get fancy—and this may appeal to a human reader—but that human reader may never see your resume if an ATS skips or can’t read it because of your formatting.

Use Common Section Headings

When cataloging information, an ATS will often search for familiar headings. If you’ve used non-standard section headings or titles, it could confuse the system and lead to important details being missed.

Use Headings Like:

• Professional Summary
• Work Experience
• Education
• Skills
• Certifications

Avoid creative alternatives like Career Journey or What I Bring to the Table since they can throw off parsing engines and lower your ATS match score.

Match Keywords Naturally

One of the most important things you can do is to include the exact keywords from the job posting.  ATS software looks for these specific words and phrases to determine how well your experience matches the position.

• Incorporate keywords in multiple places—the summary, skills section, and bullet points.
• Don’t just stuff them into a list. Use them in context so that they describe your achievements and responsibilities.
• Aim for a natural, readable flow but be careful to mirror the language an employer uses.

For example, if the job description mentions project management and Agile methodology, make sure those phrases appear in your resume—assuming you have that experience.

Final Tip:

Before you submit your resume consider running it through a free tool that will scan that will analyze it for ATS compatibility and suggest any improvements you should make, such as formatting issues or missing keywords. Or, better yet, you can use resume templates and examples from CVMaker. That way you’ll have already written the perfect resume! Either way, you’ll be getting an extra edge.

Step 6: Save Time with a Master Resume

Eventually, tailoring your resume for each job could get time consuming. But it doesn’t have to be!

One of the most efficient ways to streamline the process is by creating a master resume. Think of this document as your personal database of everything you’ve done professionally, any job duties you’ve had, your achievements and skills, plus your certifications and any volunteer work.

What is a Master Resume?

A master resume includes all of your experience in full detail—regardless of your industry, role, or experience. It might be five or six pages long, and that’s okay. You’re never going to send it anywhere, you’re simply using it as a starting point to quickly generate tailored resumes for specific job postings.

How to Use It:

• Copy and edit: When applying for a job, make a copy of your master resume and trim it down. Keep only the sections and bullet points that match the job description.
• Customize your summary, skills, and top achievements based on what each specific employer is looking for.
• Update it regularly as you gain new experience, certifications, or skills, and add them to your master resume to keep it up to date.

Optional: Use AI Tools to Tailor Your Resume

If you’re applying for several jobs at once, consider using a tool that will help you organize your applications by creating and managing several different resumes, essentially creating your own personal job hub. CMMaker will do this for you.

Additionally, you can use a keyword analyzer to help check for how well your resume aligns with a job description.

However you manage it, having a master resume won’t just save you time, it can also help ensure consistency and help you avoid leaving out important details when you’re in a rush—or exhausted from tailoring endless resumes.

Think of a master resume as a professional toolkit of sorts, one that’s ready to be customized at a moments notice.

Conclusion 

The job market is more competitive than it’s been in a long time, so everyone needs to up their game. Sending the same resume to every employer just won’t cut it. Tailoring your resume to each job shows that you’ve done your homework, and that you’re genuinely interested in the position. It also increases your chances of getting past ATS software and catching the attention of hiring managers.

So, if you haven’t tried tailoring before, now is the perfect time. Find a real job posting that interests you and do a walkthrough of the steps listed above—from identifying keywords to customizing your summary and adjusting your bullet points. You might be surprised at how much more stronger and focused your resume ends up.

To make things even easier, you can use our checklist below as a reference whenever you apply. Want to speed things up even more? Consider creating your own master resume or using a template to streamline your process.

Tailoring takes a little extra effort—but it’s effort that pays off.

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Bonus: Quick Resume Tailoring Checklist 

Assuming you’ve followed along above and have—or at least you think you have—everything ready to upload your resume and application, you might want to pause for a moment.

It’s a good idea to run through a checklist to confirm you’ve done everything you intended to do or make sure you haven’t forgotten or missed something entirely. With that in mind, use the following as a final pass before submitting anything.

Carefully read over your resume and application. Don’t just skim it. Read it slowly and closely. Pay attention to repeated phrases, listed qualifications and the tone of the job post. This will help you identify any priorities and tailor your resume accordingly.

• Identify the top 10 keywords. Find the most important skills, tool, certifications, and job specific terms that are mentioned in the job post. These are the keywords that will help you pass an ATS scan and stand out as a strong candidate.
• Customize your summary to match the role. Your professional summary is your elevator pitch. Make sure you include the job title, highlight your most relevant strength, and always echo the language—tone and words—that are used in the post. This can show to recruiters that you not only have the necessary skills, but that you also pay attention.
• Align your skills and bullet points with the post. Make sure your skills section uses the terms in the description and adjust your work experience bullets to emphasize achievements that match any priorities an employer indicates. And wherever possible, use metrics as this will add impact.
• Check for ATS compatibility. Always stick with standard resume formatting—it’s a standard for a resume. That means don’t use any fancy fonts, tables, or images. Always use recognizable section headings and make sure your keywords are used throughout. Then run your resume through a free ATS scanner like Jobscan.

Use this checklist to help you quickly tailor your resume and assure yourself you haven’t missed any important details. A final edit can make all the difference when it comes to getting noticed.