The word “tuned” gets used loosely. People mean either “I’ll add some keywords” or “I’ll rewrite the whole résumé.” Neither is right.
A tuned résumé has four targeted edits:
- Title at the role’s altitude. More on retitling.
- Top bullet of the most recent role aligned to the JD. This is the bullet that gets read in full.
- Verb density matching the JD. Execution-flavored JD → execution-flavored bullets. Method.
- 3–4 specific bullets rewritten to mention the JD’s tooling, scope, or domain. Pattern.
That’s it. ~10 minutes per role with a diagnostic. ~60+ minutes per role without one (because you don’t know which bullets are the problem).
The shortcut: use the diagnostic
Run a diagnostic. It tells you:
- Whether your title needs to change for this role.
- Which bullet to lead with.
- Which 3–4 bullets to rewrite.
- Verb-density score so you know if you’re done.
Apply, re-run, ship.