The Real Pros And Cons Of Your Resume Strategy—Generic Vs. Tailored
6/25/20254 min read
60% of resumes are rejected before they reach a hiring manager due to keyword mismatches.
Imagine you’re a fisherman. Your goal is to catch a specific, valuable type of fish swimming in a vast ocean.
You have two options.
Option 1: The Wide Net. You can cast a huge, generic net across a wide area. You’ll probably catch something—some seaweed, a few common fish you don’t want, maybe a boot. It’s a game of pure volume and luck. You work hard casting the net over and over, but the results are random and exhausting.
Option 2: The Spear. You can identify the exact fish you want, aim carefully, and strike with precision. It requires focus, patience, and skill. Your chances of catching that specific fish are dramatically higher, even though you aren't catching as much "stuff."
In your job search, your resume is your tool. The generic resume is your wide net. The tailored resume is your spear. Which one are you using? Let's break down the real pros and cons of each approach.
The generic resume—the "wide net" approach
A generic resume is your master document. You write it once, listing all your skills and experiences, and then send the exact same version to every job you apply for.
Pros of a generic resume:
It’s fast: This is its biggest and, frankly, only real advantage. You can apply to 20, 30, or more jobs in a single afternoon. In a world that tells you job searching is a numbers game, this feels productive.
It’s low-effort: Once it's written, the work is done. There’s no need to analyze job descriptions or rewrite sections. You just attach and send.
Cons of a generic resume:
It’s invisible to robots: The first gatekeeper, the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), is looking for specific keywords from the job description. Your generic resume probably doesn’t have them. This is why up to 75% of all resumes are rejected before a human ever sees them. Your net is letting the prize fish swim right through.
It fails the 7-second human test: If your resume does reach a recruiter, they will scan it for just a few seconds. A generic resume that lists irrelevant skills forces the recruiter to work hard to find a match. They won't. They’ll move on to the next one.
It shows a lack of interest: A generic resume screams, "I am applying for any job, not YOUR job." It shows no specific passion or interest in the company’s unique needs, a major turn-off for hiring managers.
The results are depressing. The response rate for generic resumes is incredibly low. Sending out hundreds of applications and hearing nothing back is a direct path to job search fatigue and discouragement.
The tailored resume—the "spear fishing" approach
A tailored resume is a version of your resume that has been strategically edited to align with the specific language and requirements of one particular job description.
Pros of a tailored resume:
It gets past the ATS. By including the exact keywords and skills the company is looking for, a tailored resume is designed to get a high score from the ATS and land in the "yes" pile.
It immediately grabs attention. It makes the recruiter's job easy. They can see in a glance—within that crucial 7-second window—that you are a strong match. Data shows tailored resumes are 40% more likely to result in an interview.
It proves your value. It doesn't just list your past duties; it frames your accomplishments to show how you can solve the specific problems this company is facing.
It demonstrates genuine intent. This is perhaps the most underrated benefit. It sends a powerful signal that you’ve done your homework and are genuinely excited about this opportunity.
Cons of a tailored resume:
It takes an enormous amount of time. This is the big one. Carefully analyzing a job description and customizing your summary, skills, and work experience for just one application can easily take an hour or more.
It can lead to burnout. The thought of spending hours tailoring your resume for every single application can feel overwhelming, causing many job seekers to give up and revert to the less effective "wide net" approach.
Precision beats volume, but at a cost
The evidence is clear: the tailored resume (the spear) is dramatically more effective than the generic resume (the net). It leads to more interviews, better opportunities, and less time wasted waiting for responses that will never come.
But the practical problem remains: Who has the time to meticulously craft a new resume for every single job application?
This is the fundamental conflict of the modern job search: you have to choose between the method that works (tailoring) and the method you have time for (generic).
But what if you didn't have to choose?
Get the precision with the speed
The TailorMyResume app solves this exact problem. Using this app, you should never have to sacrifice effectiveness for the sake of speed.
This app empowers you to:
Use Your Master Resume: Keep your core resume ready in the app.
Instantly Analyze Any Job: Copy a job description from your phone and paste it in.
Generate a Perfectly Tailored Resume: In seconds, our AI rewrites and reorganizes your resume to be a perfect match for the role, optimizing it for both the ATS and the hiring manager.
You get all the powerful benefits of a custom-built, tailored resume without the hours of manual, frustrating work. It’s the smartest way to fish.
Stop casting wide, empty nets. Start landing the jobs you actually want. Download TailorMyResume from the App Store today.
