Whether you're looking for a job or outlining your life,
having a resume that actually gets read and acted upon is
critical. A vast majority of resumes end up going from the
envelope or "in-box" into the trash. Creating a resume that
rises to the top of the selection pile, and stays there,
requires a few key points.

Know your objective

As you go about creating your resume, understand what you
are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to tell the reader
what your job skills are or do you want to present your
life's work. These two ideas may appear the same, but when
you start to think about it they take on two differing
ideas. Once you pass this idea, select those aspects of
your skill-set that highlight your skills and present them
as they relate to the desired end. Get to specific skills
that address the end you want and remember that your space
limitations.

Narrow your skill set

You may have a wide skill-set, but do all those skills
apply to the position you are applying for? Narrow your
skill-set down so that the skills you list apply closely to
the end you are looking for. If you have a skill-set of 15
abilities, narrow the list to the top 5 or six most
applicable to the position in question. The rest can wait
for a personal interview. Do the same limiting exercise for
the interview with the remaining skills but make sure to
remember to work them into the interview conversation.

Highlight your strengths

Once you have your skill-set under control stick to those
skills through the resume. In essence, these skills are the
theme of your resume. The theme can change from position to
position, depending upon the position, but these skills are
the ideas you want to "punch" throughout the
résum&# 233;.

Be clear

Remember that you are competing for the attention of the
reader. The reader will spend very little time reading your
resume the first time around. Don't over complicate the
issue with longer words of concepts. In this respect,
consider yourself an advertising copy writer. Hit them hard
with a short description and move on. Generally, think
about a smart person with a very short attention span.

Use grabbing techniques

Since you are trying to get noticed, you need to use ideas
that will stand out from a distance. Use visual cues that
might be noticed if a person is walking past a desk and
glances at a pile sitting on it. But remember, just because
the resume is on top of the pile doesn't mean that it will
stay there for long. Ideally, you want your resume to be
picked up and read by a person just sitting down or quickly
thumbing through a folder that was just opened and begun to
be looked at. Use %, #'s, $ or bullet points for a
noticeable quick read by the person making the first "cut."
Another great idea is the use of action words.
Interestingly enough, action words not only say that you
are a "doer" but they stand out on a page within a
sentence. Visual flow is important

Give some close thought to the layout of the resume. If the
reader has to think about picking up the resume to read it
you have likely lost the battle right from the start. Your
name, of course, needs to stand out and be right at the top
of the page because that is what gets the call back made
easily (if they want to call don't make it hard), but
remember that you need to start the readers eye working
down the page. Consider how you might use fonts to attract
and move the readers' eye and attention. Remember not to
muddle up the resume with to many fonts. Two at most is
best with a readable size. Don't go below a 10 point font
size. The big thing is that you do not want the reader to
have to work at getting through the highlights of the
resume.

Use "white space" to advantage

Many people believe that they need to cram as much
information as possible into a resume. In reality, it is
often the abundance of "white space" that gets the resume
noticed. This does not suggest leaving out your strengths
and theme but rather using the space you have to advantage.
An extra line space here or there makes the readers eye
travel toward that next relevant item on the page easier.

Know your audience

Although you may feel that you need to stick with one
resume, don't, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot
use more then one resume. Create several resumes using
different skill-set themes and layouts for differing types
of positions. The closer you can get to the skill-set that
attracts that type of person associated with that type of
job the better. Each person expects certain words to appear
on the resume outlining the person for that job. Finding
and using those "right words" is the trick.

About the Author:

If you are tired of working a day job then learn how to
make money online at:
http://www.affhelper.com/make-money-online.html
Also, check out these strategies that make me instant cash
every day: http://www.easyformulaforprofits.com