How do I tailor my resume to a specific job?

Read the job description carefully, identify the key requirements and skills, then rewrite your summary, adjust your bullet points, and update your skills section to match the posting's language.

What parts of my resume should I change for each job?

Focus on three areas: your summary, your most relevant bullet points (usually 3 to 5), and your skills section. Everything else can stay the same.

Is it worth tailoring my resume for just one job?

Yes, especially if it's a role you're serious about. A tailored resume is significantly more likely to get past ATS screening and catch a recruiter's attention.

How to Tailor Your Resume to a Specific Job (With Examples)

The general guide to resume tailoring covers the full process. This article goes deeper on one thing: taking a single job posting and walking through exactly how to tailor a resume to it.

We'll use a realistic job posting for a Customer Success Manager role and show what changes, section by section.

The job posting

Here's a condensed version of the posting we're working with:

Customer Success Manager Reporting to the Director of Customer Success. You'll own a portfolio of mid-market accounts, drive adoption and retention, and serve as the primary point of contact for customers post-sale.

Requirements: 3+ years in customer success or account management. Experience with SaaS products. Proficiency in Salesforce and Gainsight. Strong communication and presentation skills. Proven track record of meeting retention and expansion targets.

Read it twice. The first pass is for understanding the role. The second pass is for pulling out the specific terms and requirements you'll need to reflect in your resume.

The key terms here: customer success, account management, mid-market, adoption, retention, expansion, Salesforce, Gainsight, SaaS, communication, presentation skills.

The original resume (before)

Let's say the candidate has relevant experience but their resume is written generically.

Summary: "Experienced account professional with a strong background in client services and relationship management."

Selected bullet points:

"Managed a book of business and maintained strong client relationships"
"Coordinated with internal teams to resolve customer issues"
"Created presentations for quarterly business reviews"

Skills: Client Management, CRM Software, Microsoft Office, Communication, Problem Solving

This resume is fine in a vacuum. But it doesn't speak to this specific posting. A recruiter scanning for "customer success" and "Gainsight" won't find those words here.

The tailored resume (after)

Summary: "Customer success manager with 4 years of experience owning mid-market SaaS accounts. Track record of driving adoption and exceeding retention targets. Proficient in Salesforce and Gainsight."

Selected bullet points:

"Managed a portfolio of 35 mid-market SaaS accounts with a combined ARR of $4.2M, achieving 94% net retention over 12 months"
"Served as the primary point of contact post-sale, driving product adoption through onboarding programs and ongoing check-ins"
"Built and delivered quarterly business review presentations to senior stakeholders, resulting in $620K in expansion revenue"

Skills: Customer Success, Account Management, SaaS, Salesforce, Gainsight, Retention, Expansion, Presentation Skills, Cross-Functional Communication

What changed and why

The summary went from generic ("account professional," "client services") to specific. It now names the job title, the account segment (mid-market), the industry (SaaS), and two key tools (Salesforce, Gainsight). Every term came directly from the posting.

The bullet points added three things: scope (35 accounts, $4.2M ARR), outcomes (94% retention, $620K expansion), and the posting's exact language ("primary point of contact post-sale," "driving adoption"). The candidate had this experience all along. The original just didn't surface it clearly.

The skills section replaced vague labels ("CRM Software," "Problem Solving") with specific terms from the posting ("Salesforce," "Gainsight," "Retention," "Expansion"). It also reordered them so the most relevant skills appear first.

The sections most people miss

People tend to focus on bullet points and forget the summary and skills section. But those are the easiest wins.

The summary is the first thing a recruiter reads and the fastest section to tailor. Two to three sentences that directly address the role. If a recruiter reads nothing else, this should tell them you're a fit.

The skills section is where ATS matching happens most directly. If the posting says "Gainsight" and your resume doesn't mention it, the ATS will dock your score, even if you've used it for years. You can also check your ATS score directly to see how well your resume matches.

Try it yourself

Pick a job posting you're interested in. Read it twice. Pull out the 8 to 10 most important terms. Then compare them against your current resume. If the overlap is low, that's where to focus your tailoring.

For more full resume transformations, see before-and-after examples.

Or let Taylor Resume do it for you. Upload your resume and a job description, and get a tailored version back in minutes.

Get started for free. Create 10 tailored resumes and 10 tailored cover letters with no obligation and no credit card required.

Get Started Free