You are open to anything.
Strategy. Operations. Transformation. Digital. Healthcare. Financial services.
Any office.
Any practice.
Surely that makes you easier to hire.
It can do the opposite.
For an experienced professional, being broadly qualified is not the same as being clearly useful.
And the application that says “I could fit anywhere” can leave the recruiter wondering where to put you.
A specific role feels limiting... until you see what the recruiter sees
Imagine a practice needs someone who understands procurement transformation.
Your resume contains eight years of procurement, supplier negotiations, cost reduction, and supply-chain work.
But you applied to a broad experienced-hire pool and rewrote your resume to sound like a generic strategist.
The match existed.
Then you hid it.
Specificity can create the first conversation.
A role aligned with your background gives the recruiter an immediate hypothesis:
“This person may solve the problem we are hiring for.”
That is much stronger than:
“This person seems generally impressive.”
For a deeper look at how to make the application itself fit the opportunity, read Tailor Application Consulting Firms.
But tailoring is not copying the job description
This is where candidates overcorrect.
The role says “transformation.”
Suddenly every resume bullet contains “transformation.”
The posting says “stakeholder management.”
Now you are apparently the global leader in stakeholder management.
The language matches.
The evidence does not get stronger.
Mirroring words is not tailoring.
Real tailoring changes what you prioritize.
If the role is built around commercial growth, your revenue, pricing, GTM, customer, and market evidence moves up.
If it is an operations role, process, productivity, cost, implementation, and execution evidence becomes more prominent.
Same career.
Different argument.
What changes when the role becomes specific?
| Generic application instinct | Role-specific move | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Show everything | Prioritize relevant evidence | Makes the match visible |
| Lead with title | Lead with useful scope | Connects you to the work |
| Use broad skills | Prove the required ones | Reduces recruiter inference |
| Mention every industry | Emphasize the closest context | Creates credibility faster |
| Say you are flexible | Explain why this role fits | Makes motivation believable |
You are not trying to become a different candidate for each job.
You are deciding which part of the real candidate deserves the spotlight.
Seniority makes this more important, not less
At junior levels, firms can hire heavily for potential.
As your experience grows, the recruiter can reasonably ask a more pointed question:
Why this person for this seat?
A ten-year professional costs more, arrives with stronger expectations, and may enter with a narrower transition path than a new graduate.
That makes fit more consequential.
Not just cultural fit.
Role fit.
Level fit.
Practice fit.
Experience fit.
If you are unsure how experienced-hire seniority changes the application decision, Apply To Consulting Firms Junior vs Senior goes further into that distinction.
“But I want to be a generalist” is not the end of the argument
You can still want variety.
You can still want to move beyond your current industry.
You can still target a broad consulting path.
The question is how you get through the door.
Your current expertise may be the most credible reason for a firm to speak with you today, even if you hope your career broadens tomorrow.
Entry point and eventual identity are not the same thing.
That is the reversal many experienced hires miss.
They try to prove how little their past constrains them.
A recruiter may be much more interested in what that past makes them capable of immediately.
So before you submit the broad application, search once more.
Not for the firm.
For the role that makes your resume look almost suspiciously relevant.
That might be the application worth sending first.