Curated Resumes - My Story
- anandita1
- Nov 16, 2020
- 2 min read
Your resume needs to be aligned with the role you're applying to. For people who are just starting out and applying for multiple roles, you should have multiple resumes that cater to the different needs of the varying roles. For people who are applying for a specified role, you need to customise your resume for that role.
Here's my story dealing with multiple resumes in different phases of my career.
Multiple Resumes for Multiple Roles
As a second student aspiring to work in the top financial institutions, I remember applying to multiple firms for various roles with a single resume with the aim of getting my foot in the door. Looking back, this seems to be a huge blunder I made. Your resume not only needs to showcase who you are but also needs to tell the employer why you are apt for the role. If your resume is generic and does not show your enthusiasm about the department you are applying to, you will not be selected. Think about it yourself - would you choose a generalist for a specified role? The answer is no.
In my experience and after talking to many career counsellors from all over the world, I can confidently say that candidates with a single resume for multiple firms/multiple roles are more likely to be rejected due to the vagueness in their resumes.
As mentioned in my previous blog post, (https://anandita1.wixsite.com/website/post/team-work-10-tools-to-ensure-successful-collaborations) companies use AI to filter candidates based on the phrases and words they have used to describe their work experiences. These words differ from firm to firm and from role to role. I believe it is essential that your resume be role specific if not both company and role specific.
Customising My Resume for a Particular Role
After securing my first internship at J.P.Morgan in their Operations team (Clearing for derivatives), I realised that operational work wasn't my forte and I wanted to do what excited me the most - Sales & Trading. However, due to my weak GPA I felt I would not be able to get filtered for even an interview. On speaking with my career counsellor, Ms. Theresa (https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresatingtingchew/) I realised that it was not my GPA that was hindering that offer rather it was my resume itself. My resume, as Ms. Theresa had correctly pointed out, was inclined towards operational roles, technical skills rather than the soft skills and leadership positions employers want to see in their ideal Sales & Trading analyst. Even though I had the same experiences mentioned in my updated resume, they imparted very different personality traits to the reader. With just re-phrasing and re-formatting my resume, I was able to secure a position at Morgan Stanley, London in their esteemed Sales & Trading Summer Analyst Program. I have made all the silly mistakes that are possible but if I am able to help any one of you in your journey, it would make me very happy. At INTERNalize, we customise your resumes as per your needs and until you are satisfied. https://anandita1.wixsite.com/website/product-page/internship-mentorship
Check out this article to learn more about multiple resumes !
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