OK I bit. I had to click on the career advice article telling applicants NOT to customize their resume to the job since that is often the FIRST thing I tell people to do.

So why does the Nike head of talent acquisition say tailoring the resume is a “waste of time?” He explains job descriptions often don’t line up to the job because they could be written by the HR team and not by the hiring manager. For in-house jobs, however, I find it’s still the hiring manager who writes the job description, so you DO need to line up your resume to the job requirements.

Amid the bad advice, I do agree that you need to know what in that laundry of list of needs/experience is actually required. The best way to suss that out is to talk to someone at the company. I also agree to list 4-6 bullets per role on your resume, and the bullets should include the result of your work.

But “beyond that, you just have to hope the things you’ve done and the skills you have are what the employer is looking for”? Absolutely not. You do need to tailor your resume, and here is how.