This is a question we get a lot, so I think it’s worth addressing thoroughly.
In case you’re not familiar: tailoring a resume is the act of modifying a resume to make it more clearly meet the job requirements or preferences of a particular role.
What hiring managers actually think about generic resumes
Here’s an eye-opening story from when I was asking for advice before getting my first job: I would try to add as many people on LinkedIn as I could and ask for advice from whoever would respond to my messages. I was able to chat a bit with an engineering manager at a FAANG and was really shocked when he told me “If someone thought Excel was important enough to have on their resume I don’t think I would interview them.” Before this time, I had figured logically “let me just put the most asked technologies on my resume. If someone doesn’t have use for it, they’ll just ignore it.” Makes sense, right? Well apparently not. And I remember being particularly frustrated about this because a lot of data analyst positions do in fact ask for Excel expertise. And I thought well maybe that guy is just a jerk, until I encountered the same sentiment again and again.
Does every job require a tailored resume?
Whether you need to tailor depends on (1) how competitive your targeted positions are and (2) how “diverse” the skills, requirements, and qualifications are in your industry. For example, anyone would expect a server to be able to communicate well with customers, carry plates and drinks, have used a POS system, etc. At most dining establishments this would be considered satisfactory and really any past experience as a server would communicate this. Of course there is still other nuance (experience at busy restaurants, language requirements) but again these are things that are often communicated in general resumes anyway.
Why competitive industries are different
By contrast software development is a field with dozens of technologies, languages, frameworks with varying ease of learning on the job. However, software development roles also tend to be fairly competitive, especially at the entry-level, with many roles receiving thousands of applications. As you’d imagine, this makes companies highly selective. They’re often looking for applicants with experience with their own tech stack, experience relevant to their industry, sometimes even specific projects.
When is tailoring worth the effort?
The truth is the supply/demand economics of competitive positions is not in the job-seeker’s favor and that can create quite a power imbalance like these. For competitive jobs in tech, finance, business among other fields, tailoring is necessary for a good return rate. If you’re cold applying without referrals or connections, it’s even more critical — here’s a full guide on how to get a job without connections.