Defining Resumes

JobTabs has succeeded in eliminating the vast majority of the administrative functions of your job search. However, there is one administrative function that only you can do. Of paramount importance is the organization of your resumes. Whether you have many resumes or only a few, organizing them properly will greatly simplify your job search. Done right it will actually make the job search fun and engaging. We have guidelines to assist you, but first a little terminology.

General Resumes - A general resume is a top level resume (see the graphic below). It is not a child of any other resume. Naturally, general resumes tend to be broad, all encompassing resumes which should qualify you in some capacity. A general resume is a resume you would put up on a web site or submit to an employer without knowing exactly what skills that employer is looking for. General resumes are characterized by

Disqualify Not - You shouldn't put anything on a general resume that would disqualify you from consideration.
Keywords - A characteristic of a general resume is to have lots of keywords that an employer or recruiter would use to find you. Think of key words like this, "Keywords are words a keyword searcher would key into a keyword box." Tactful repetition is a good thing.

You can list the keywords at the bottom of each project you undertook to 'summarize' the working environment. You could also use keywords to describe what tools you used at each employer in your career.

Shorter - General resumes are shorter than other resumes. If your present resume is three pages, you should generalize it, cut it down to two pages and make it a general resume. Two pages? Cut it down to one. Wait until you know more about a particular opportunity before you provide the key details which will make you an ideal candidate.

The purpose of a general resume is two fold.

You want an employer or a recruiter to call you for details.
General resumes act as templates for specific resumes.

For what it is worth, we are not even saying you need a general resume or that you should even circulate a general resume. General resumes serve as an excellent starting point for creating what you are really going to need during your job search - specific resumes that qualify you as a great candidate for what the employer is looking for.

General resume

Specific resume

Specific resume

Specific resume

Specific resume

Specific resume

Specific resume

General resume
- Specific resume

Keep general resumes and specific resumes in your job search.

Specific Resumes - Specific resumes are children of general resumes and other specific resumes. You should expect to have lots of these. As prospective opportunities arise, there may be some particular nuance of the requisition to which you need to qualify yourself in order to be the ideal candidate.

What will most likely land you the job you are looking for is a specific resume. Take effort in tailoring each and every resume. As you need to qualify yourself for this job requirement or that job requirement, create another specific resume and modify it. Soon, having a resume that presents you as a top notch candidate will take no effort at all. In part because you have gotten good at qualifying yourself, and in part because it is now so easy to do so.