Why your Resume must match the Job

We happen to work in an industry that on the one hand experiences great challenges with the lack of experienced and skilled candidates available, but on the other hand attracts a significant volume of applicants interested in joining the sector and who have no experience. 

The latter means that the average recruiter sitting in an agency or in an in-house function for an employer, can still receive hundreds of applications for positions, particularly for blue collar or support function roles, like Supply, Finance, HR and IT – and find that most of those applications don’t hit anywhere near the criteria they are seeking.

And this is not to say that half of the applicants don’t meet the criteria.  It simply means that they’ve instead created one generic resume that in no way tells the recruiter specifically how their skills are transferable from one job or sector to one they’ve applied to.

For most blue collar operator or driving roles advertised, it’s fair to assume that nearly 80% of those who apply won’t fit most, if any, of the criteria.

Even with the role criteria specified in the job advert, recruiters will receive applications so far from the experience base they seek that they bear no resemblance at all to the demonstrated needs of the position; there is essentially no attempt in the resumes to build a bridge between their experience and how that relates to the position.

Getting a job is not about quantity of applications but about quality and demonstration of energy, perception, care.

It is about helping the reader of the application, to translate from your work and life experience across to the position’s job and person description.

If your experience does not match what has been asked for, then you need to ensure the reader understands how you see your experience and skills morphing across –why you are special and how that experience will allow you to overcome what they may see as lack of the type of experience they had set as their criteria.

We typically receive two complaints.  The first is from the job seeker looking for an entry into the industry.  Essentially, they’ve applied for hundreds of vacancies and had no success.

The second is from employers and agencies.  They receive far, far too many responses to their advertisement from applicants that, on paper, seem completely disconnected with the position advertised.

The answer to both complaints is simple.  Send less resumes and take more time per resume. Tailor every communication exactly to the position advertised. Do your research to ensure you actually understand what the role requires!  Don’t apply for roles where you clearly have no direct or transferable experience or skills.  Nothing looks worse than someone who has applied for a role as a truck driver for example, but who has only ever had shop-floor retail experience.  And I can assure you it does happen often.  It’s just wasting your time and mine as a recruiter.   Instead, focus your energy on finding work that may allow you to better transition to your ultimate goal.  For example, if you want to be driving trucks on a mine site, even working as a courier or for the local government on similar machinery (boggers etc) will help.

Refer to The Inside Guide on this site for more pointers.