A resume can be a hard thing to write. This little piece of paper needs to include all of your accomplishments and achievements, show your determination and work ethic, and make you stand out from all the other applicants. Luckily, there are plenty of tips you can use to help create a fantastic and eye-catching resume.

1. Have great titles.

When employers have a stack of resumes sitting on their desk, they don’t take the time to read them all thoroughly. At first, they typically scan through them to see if anything pops out. During this scan, they will probably look over your job titles. If your titles are too generic, it will not give these potential employers an insight into what you were responsible for and what you have experience with. For example, “Regional Client Manager” sounds much better than “Client Manager” because it shows that you managed clients on a regional level.

2. Don’t include unnecessary information.

If your resume hasn’t been updated since you graduated college, there is probably a lot of outdated and unnecessary stuff included. When you graduate college, you tend to list part time jobs you had while in high school and college. Now that you have years of real-world experience under your belt, there is no need to include that you were a delivery driver on your resume, especially if it has no correlation to the job you’re applying for.
This doesn’t mean that you should pick and choose what to include, it simply means that you need to take a fresh look at your resume and remove anything that has absolutely no relevance or bearing on the job at hand.

3. Results matter.

Most people make the mistake of only listing their responsibilities under their job titles. While this is great, as employers do like to know what you were responsible for, they also want to see what you can achieve. Instead of solely listing responsibilities, also include results. For example, did your new filing system increase office productivity? Did you implement a new process that helped the company? Showing that you had an influence as to how your last company was run will make you stand out from other applicants.

4. Proofread.

This is by far the most important thing you can do. If you have any misspelling in your resume, do not expect to get a phone call for an interview. Having a misspelling in your resume shows that you don’t care enough about the work you produce and you don’t go the extra mile to make sure it’s perfect. Make sure to always proofread your resume before sending it to ensure it is error free.

Writing a great resume will take some work, but if you put the effort into it, you will have a better chance at captivating the employer’s attention and getting an interview. Once you’re in the interview room, the rest is up to you.

About the author: Mark Weatherford is a high school English teacher and published author who loves to write in his spare time. He is currently looking through information on Cape Town resorts as his daughter is getting married in a Cape Town wedding venue this summer and he wouldn’t miss it for the world.