Next in your resume journey: how to match it to the job description. This can be a little tricky because it does mean tailoring your resume to each job. Pro tip: save each version of your resume as something crushingly obvious: VAHospNurseResumeEfrank, or ChildrensHospMedRecordsResumeEFrank. (Adding your name is a nice touch if you attach the file in the application so they can see right away that it’s yours, but it isn’t strictly necessary.) This will keep you from submitting the wrong one, and will remind you to make sure you’re matching your skills and experience to what they’re asking for.
Speaking of what they’re asking for, read the job description thoroughly. I like to print it and highlight things that seem important to them. Then, as I add those, I can make little tick marks by each, so I know I’ve included it. You don’t need to do that, of course, but you do want to make sure you’re matching the language they use as much as possible. The first people to review your resume are probably not people who do what you would be doing, so you don’t want to make them guess about how closely your experience matches. If you’re matching the language of the posting, it’s easy for the reviewers to see and award you points, or whatever they’re doing to determine who to interview.
Once you’ve done that, you can run the resume and job description through a site like JobScan to make sure you’ve matched yourself to the job well.