So you’ve just put in hours and hours slaving over your resume and now the only thing left is to send it off to all those prospective employers.

Wrong!

One of the most common mistakes that jobseekers make is to use the same resume for every job position they apply to. Sometimes when confronted with this truth I will get skeptical responses as to whether it's really necessary to adjust your resume for every position. The way I think of it is as such, would you bring the same tools/resources to say an IT position as you would to a position in construction? The answer is obviously a resounding, "No". Then why would you showcase the same tools and skills for two different positions when they each have their own individualized purposes.

The key to making sure your resume is competitive (and not repetitive) lies in using the job description. Astute job hunters will delve deeply into those descriptions to identify two important aspects, the language used and the hard and soft skills that that job description targets. Picking up on those keywords can make all the difference in meeting the HR Recruiters qualification requirements and getting that interview. Not to mention that in this computerized age more and more resumes are being screened for keywords before it even reaches HR.