A resume is a one- to two-page document summarizing your career objectives, professional experiences and achievements, and educational background. At the top of the resume is the heading. There is where you name and any contact information is placed. Along with your address and phone, you may also want to include your e-mail address. The body of the resume should be broken into the following sections: career objective, profile/summary, professional experience, achievements, scholastics, and references.  With a couple of sentences, tell your employer about your goals and objectives. A compressed profile or a summary should explain who you are and how your skills and experience are a good fit for the job you are going after. The summary, along with other parts of your resume, should not contain personal information that discloses ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, age, living situations, or any other personal information that is not directly related to your career. Personal profile/summary should only have a few written sentences that convey what you can bring to the table in terms of the specific job. Use this section to attract the employers attention, however stay professional in your attempts to being creative.  Your experience listing should include information on your past work experience, starting with your current or last job, and listing previous positions in chronological order.
You will need to include your start and end times of employment, the name of your past empoylers, and the location of where the place of employment resides (full address of employment is not necessary). List what your title was as well as your responsibilities, with emphasis on duties that apply to the type of work you are seeking.  Your education should include college, graduate and post-graduate work, as well as any courses or professional certifications that are relevant to your career development. Volunteer work and other past experiences can be mentioned as long as they pertain to your past experiences. References should be listed if requested; It is a good idea not to list a statement about references being available upon request because this is already understood.

In todays technological world of job searches, your resume represents you to potential employers. It serves as your tool to attract attention, get the interview and/or get a job. A great resume will make you stand out from other candidates by showcasing your aptitudes. Think of your resume as your sales pitch, you will be using it to sell yourself to possible employers. Do some research and invest some time in developing a powerful resume. Check and make sure you have no errors ,double check your grammar and spelling, pay close attention to school and company names. If your resume possesses any small errors, it will give your potential employer an impression that you do not have attention to detail, fail to double check your work, and have poor communication skills. Also, make sure that your resume has a good format to it. Stick to basic fonts, like Arial and Times New Roman.  Keep the font size and color standard; do not use large fonts or multicolors in your resume. Try not to be too creative with bold, italicized, or large-cap text. Keep your format consistent and make sure that your resume looks great whether it’s viewed online or printed out. Keep your resume to one or two pages,  any additional pages give an impression that you either are not able to summarize your past experience and education, or you are just trying to beef up your resume by displaying a lot of unnecessary information. If you have never written a resume before, you can find reference books, internet resources or seek assistance from a professional resume writing service. Having a well prepared resume can be the tool you need to landing your dream job.

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