By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
“Every job search is a journey to discover your true potential.” – Unknown
I appreciate the texts and messages from friends and family about my visit to Florida to see my ill older brother. He is struggling physically and how long he has I have no way of knowing. I do know he is not who I remember him being and he is not ready to give up his life yet. It was rough seeing him so incapacitated.
Then I returned to my schedule on Monday of presentations and coaching that felt overwhelming. Yesterday, I spent time remembering Alex as he was. It was good and loving tribute.
People hire me for No BS job search coaching because I make finding work much easier. I don’t write resumes, although I do critique resumes. I leave it to people who are experts at that. I am someone who has helped tens of thousands of people find work.
I have free information available at JobSearch.Community. Also, scroll down to receive my Wednesday email with job search advice. Becoming an Insider at any level gives you access to all my video courses, books, and guides to job search, the ability to ask me questions and, if you choose an option above the lowest tier, you can receive job search coaching from me, too.
I have several new pieces of content on the site. Become an Insider and get access to it all including my newest book, The Over 50 Professional’s Guide to Job Search Success: Proven Techniques to Overcome Age Bias, and Thrive in Today’s Job Market.” It’s my 15th or 16th. It’s available on Amazon, too as part of my Job Search Essentials series.
Making Your Resume Shine
Resumes are still a critical part of the job search process. Back when I was starting out in recruiting, the paper your resume was printed on was a big deal, but nowadays we’re more concerned with how the resume looks on a computer screen.
In fact, we don’t think of resumes as being documents anymore, because most people don’t use computer screens that will show a full page at a time. Today, it’s how quickly the information is going to get delivered in little chunks to your potential employer that’s going to get you the interview. Well-designed layout supersedes fine quality paper these days because we’re actually going to look at a resume a third of a page at a time
But the most important thing about resumes is not how they look, but what’s in them. The fact is that most people construct one resume and keep sending it out over and over again. It’s a flat-out mistake to proceed like that. What you have to do instead is start by thinking about who’s going to be reading this resume and what they care about. What the resume reader always cares about is whether the content fits their needs and is presented beautifully, but not distracting in any way. It should be in a readable font, but, most importantly, its content has to match the job description.
Yet most resumes end up being unacceptable on these counts, and the reason why is that most people are lazy. Most people submit the same resume over and over to job after job. Remember the story about the broken watch? The broken watch is right only twice a day, right?
So if you send the same resume out to 150 jobs, you might hit the mark a few times, but this blanket approach is gone with the wind for this reason: not all those jobs have the same job description. If you send the same resume out to every job, even though each job has a different position description, you’re taking the lazy way out. That is definitely not a way to impress someone!
In marketing, we talk about presenting the right message to the right target market. For example, let’s say you created a program on goal-setting for dentists. You would be foolish to advertise that goal-setting for dentists in your local newspaper. Some dentists might read the paper, but you’re more likely to get responses to your ad if you advertise in a journal that’s targeted at dentists. It’s the same when you walk into a store; they don’t have unlabeled produce on the shelf; they don’t just put cans up there without labels.
Well, as a job hunter, you need to think the same way as a marketer. In the case of job hunting, the audience is prospective employers, and your resume is an advertisement. You want to target a message that your audience cares about, because your resume really is your entrée point for most organizations. The organization has a problem; they have a vacancy that needs to be filled, and that need is very specific. Your resume must address how you can fill that need in a very specific way.
You may argue that this is going to take a lot of time. Yes, it is going to take a certain amount of time, and you are going to have to confront some of your laziness or bad habits or resistance in order to do this, in order to profit, in order to have the kinds of choices you want. Just turn the tables for a moment: if you’re in the role of hiring someone, wouldn’t you want to hire someone that fits your needs? Wouldn’t you select resumes of people who closely fit your requirements?
So, you have to think as you would if you were already in the role of the person hiring. Yes, it is going to take some time and yes, you are going to have to confront some of your resistance to doing this. But the good news is that it really isn’t difficult. It’s simply a matter of calling attention to the experiences that you’ve had that fit that job description, just adding or deleting a paragraph here and there to fit in some information and present it in a way where the audience will find it easily.
Jerry, a senior leader I worked with after 9/11, was doing just what I’ve cautioned against—sending out the same resume over and over again. So, one of the things that I did to help him was sit down and figure out, in that particular and extraordinary climate, what experiences he had that really fit the marketplace.
We honed in on his experience in disaster recovery and contingency planning, because that was certainly a hot item in the aftermath of that horror show. Once we made those simple adjustments, the interviews started pouring in, because that was what the market was clamoring for, and he had targeted his resume directly to the bull’s-eye.
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2004, 2021, 2025
Last week, I shared a limited amount of content. I am back to normal this week including:
Unsure About Your Dates of Employment? https://wp.me/p4aIk1-fhb
Cracking the Job Search Code: What’s Working https://wp.me/p4aIk1-oaY
Guaranteed (Almost) to Get Your Resume Read! https://wp.me/p4aIk1-ob9
#NEWLinkedInFeature(s) Captured [in] the Wild 2025. https://wp.me/p4aIk1-o8w
Job Hunting? Pay Attention to Your Finances https://wp.me/p4aIk1-oaT
One Thing https://wp.me/p4aIk1-gNz
Blogging https://wp.me/p4aIk1-dJb
The Simplest Résumé Hack https://wp.me/p4aIk1-6tT
You Won’t Fail https://wp.me/p4aIk1-gPv
5 Types of Recruiters and Who’s Calling About That Job https://wp.me/p4aIk1-obT
6 Second Job Search Tips: Being Successful https://wp.me/p4aIk1-a6
Hustle https://youtu.be/tcCMbqARde4
20 Ways to Discover and Join Slack Networks https://wp.me/p4aIk1-nI4
Conducting a Postmortem Before You Start Your Job Search https://wp.me/p4aIk1-1O
The Truth About Your Equity Offer May Be VERY Disheartening https://wp.me/p4aIk1-o3B
Job Interviews Are Like an Escape Room https://wp.me/p4aIk1-obp
The Hidden Red Flags in Executive Job Offers https://wp.me/p4aIk1-obh
What Do Professionals Do After Interviews? https://wp.me/p4aIk1-lYH
No BS Career Advice: September 14, 2025 https://wp.me/p4aIk1-ocd
Find a Job, Not Burnout https://wp.me/p4aIk1-nYW
The Strategic Response to Recruiters and Search Firms https://wp.me/p4aIk1-o3y
5 Types of Recruiters and Who’s Calling About That Job https://wp.me/p4aIk1-obT
Why Do Companies Seem to Be Looking for Purple Squirrels? https://wp.me/p4aIk1-m35
Don’t Act Like a Politician on Job Interviews https://youtu.be/2HAqUU5fOss
Every Day is Like Baseball https://wp.me/p4aIk1-gKB
Executive Offers: The Hidden Red Flag https://wp.me/p4aIk1-och
“Selected” But No Offer? Should I KEEP INTERVIEWING? https://wp.me/p4aIk1-ocn
Instead of “Responsible for” https://wp.me/p4aIk1-2JD
What Recruiters Look For and Don’t Look For When They Scan Resumes https://wp.me/p4aIk1-1By
Don’t Forget . . . https://youtu.be/Xs-ruj9MBCA
Attitudes Are Contagious https://wp.me/p4aIk1-gwi
Figure Out Where You Want to Go https://wp.me/p4aIk1-12S
What Recruiters Know That You Don’t: They Aren’t That Effective https://wp.me/p4aIk1-ocE
Interview Prep on Camera https://wp.me/p4aIk1-ob4
Staff Retention Lessons from The New York Yankees https://wp.me/p4aIk1-75
Spotting the Signs of a Layoff And What to Do https://youtu.be/hxe8dsibQNA
How to Use ChatGPT to Prepare for Behavioral Interview Questions https://wp.me/p4aIk1-m11
X’s Untapped Potential https://wp.me/p4aIk1-ocO
What to Do When You’ve Had Multiple Roles at the Same Company https://wp.me/p4aIk1-ocT
Six Questions To Ask In The Interview To Avoid Any Surprises Your First Day On The Job https://wp.me/p4aIk1-9vW
Age Bias Is Real—But You Might Be Hurting Yourself, Too https://wp.me/p4aIk1-o8e
The Surprising Power of Volunteer Experience https://youtu.be/MAj3Ju8rLGw
Schedule a free discovery call with me at www.TheBigGameHunter.us/schedule to discuss my coaching you. My calendar has gotten full. I work with more senior-level talent than with individual contributors.
Subscribe to No BS Job Search Advice Radio in Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to or watch podcasts. Every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I release new episodes.
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#BeGreat
Jeff Altman
The Game Hunter
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👇 Drop a comment: What is working for you when you write your resume?
