One of the biggest traps that people fall into is thinking they have to craft the perfect resume and that will get them the job. This is wrong for one reason: no one resume fits the needs of every company. When applying for positions, it is important to recognize that every company, position, and recruiter is looking for something different. That is why it does not matter how perfect your resume is if you only send out the same resume for every job you apply for. Here are a few things you can do to diversify your resume to appeal to a variety of companies:

1. Look for key words in the job application- The wording used in job applications is a great way to understand what the employer is looking for in candidates for that position. Once you have identified what these qualities are, try and work them in to your resume. If the company wants someone who is good with finances, then it would be best to mention the previous work you did with accounting. If a company values someone who is a leader, then write down the experience you had managing a team at your last job.

2. Do your best to tailor your work experience on the resume to the things that the company is actually looking for- I am sure you have countless different jobs, projects, or internships that you have been involved with and all of them are incredibly impressive, but the people reading your resume do not care about anything outside of their sphere of work. Do yourself a favor and cut out all of the extra unrelated work. The fastest way to have your resume thrown out is if it is five pages long and includes everything you have ever worked on since college.

3. Make sure you have a variety of experiences to draw from- Each company will be looking for something different and it helps if you have actual experience you can write down. Jump on different opportunities at each chance you get, you want to be able to appeal to as many employers as possible and have experience in a wide variety of roles. You never know when you are looking for a new job what skills you can bring to the company.

The most important thing to remember is that you should almost never be able to use the same resume on more than one application. Diversify your resume and tailor it for every position you apply for and you will get more responses than ever before.