Help Writing a Resume - It is All About First Impressions

Speaking from personal experience, not all jobs are a bed of roses. We take a job so we can make money to pay the bills and basically survive. But is that really how it has to be? The only thing that might be stopping you from that dream job is, at best, a lousy resume. Want to get your resume on the top of the pile, and employers interest's tweaked? If you need help writing a resume, and all that makes you stand out above the rest, read on.

With the flood of resumes that a company receives, it is easy for your resume to get lost in the paper shuffle. Employers are quick to preview all resumes, usually 30 seconds, and unless you can impress them instantly, your resume quickly ends up in the reject pile. Here are a few basic guidelines to follow that will help you stay in the "I'm interested" pile.

• Be Concise - If they are bored to tears within the opening few lines and are unclear about what your intentions are, they will quickly put you aside and continue their search. Don't be overly wordy and avoid the use of shorthand or abbreviations. A stunning resume should be one page, at the most, two pages.
• Be Descriptive - What I refer to here is how you present yourself in the resume. For example, instead of a 3 to 4 word description of your skills, beef it up a bit with action words. Do not use the same dull and overused words the majority of the competition will use. Get your reader interested; have them saying, "This candidate has what I am looking for".
• Be Accurate - Spelling and grammar mistakes are completely unacceptable to many employers. Whether they just plain believe you cannot spell or just keyed a typo, errors are a sign of laziness. If you are not going to take care to get it right, what effort will you put into a job with them?
• Be Neat - Resumes that are dog-eared, ripped, stained with "who knows what", smudged, corrected and re-corrected, and disorganized will be lucky to even get a first look. You first impression needs to be professional. Use a quality paper, printed on a high quality printer. The layout should include good borders and spacing, and a sensible font - nothing cute or hard to read. It goes without saying: avoid colored paper.
• Be "Sell-able" - One of an employee's first thoughts is: "Does this applicant have what I need?". What can you give to them that no one else can? You must sell yourself on paper essentially. If you do, and they buy into it, an interview will be the next step.

As I stated above, first impressions are everything in the job hunt. A great resume is sometimes the only difference between the applicant that gets the job, and the one that does not. Which one do you want to be? Are you happy with the way things are right now?

Probably not, after all, you are still reading this.

Take action now!

Get help writing a resume You have what it takes for the job, it is just a matter of selling yourself to the prospective employer. That all starts with a great resume. For more information on writing a great resume, visit my site: howtomakeagoodresume.com