Tailor your resume and cover letter to the description of the job you’re applying for – this is not new advice. So why do so many of us discount it? I think there are two answers.
1) Sometimes we’re lazy. To fool ourselves into thinking we’re not, we apply for jobs that we’re not really interested in and know we wouldn’t be a good fit for, just so we can tell ourselves we tried. Then when nothing happens… “I applied for one job every day this week, what else could I have done?”
2) Sometimes we don’t tailor our resume because we can’t let go of past accomplishments that once defined us, but now lack relevancy in our future pursuits. Our egos are wrapped in an identity that we have not yet moved on from so we tell the reader what we value most in ourselves versus considering what the reader would value most about us.
We may have been the president of our sorority, we may have traveled around Asia after college, and we may have published an op-ed in a publication we hold in high regard. But before we include these experiences in our resume, we should ask ourselves not only if they speak to the job to which we aspire, but what they say about us and how we see ourselves. Our past successes may have been hard-won and instrumental in shaping who we are today, but if our resume tells the reader we can’t envision ourselves as anything other than our past selves, we can’t expect a reader to see beyond what we have done to what we are capable of becoming.
Figuring Out Fulfillment 
This post makes me reflect upon a wonderful passage wriiten by Joan Didion, an American author. In her book of essays entitled: “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” she says –
“…I think we are well-advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we use to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind’s door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, foget who we were. We tell ourselves stories in order to live…”
Always a good reminder, as annoying as it is to admit it. This post really speaks to me right now….wonder why….. ; ]
More and more I find people do not tailor their resumes and cover letters not because they are lazy in real-time, or obsessed with the past, but because they have no true or real connection with their histories of career accomplishments. Employers, organizations, and leadership most often in these times of Great Recession, Great Economic Dysfunction, and Sequestration do a terrible group of helping their talent understand how they have helped, dealt with a problem, met a challenge, handled and solved myriad crises. People leave work daily having no understanding of how they have just made a difference in the last 8 to 12 hours.
I encourage the folks I work with to connect with the power of their professionals selves by asking themselves daily “What problems have I solved today for my organization?” “What small thing did I complete today that will lead to a big difference tomorrow?” I find that folks who are connected to the true power of their brands have an easier time of writing about their accomplishments.