By David Wright

Job hunting is an extremely cut throat business and making sure you receive the kind of attention you deserve can be quite difficult. When applying for a job you are relying on a document no longer than two pages to properly represent you to a potential employer. Putting together a basic resume that will outline your goals and achievements is fairly common knowledge, but following a few of the following tips can help you edge out the competition.

Pick the Best Format

Chronological

This resume will list your work history and education starting with your most recent position. This resume format is best used when you have a lot of specifically related work experience, or you have shown rapid growth within your field. This style of resume works best for candidates with extensive work experience, however, recent graduates and others with limited work experience should use a functional resume.

Functional

This resume will focus on your skill set, rather than your previous work experience. Using this format will draw attention away from lack of experience, while highlighting job relevant skills you may have gained elsewhere. Rather than listing jobs, you’ll list your skills and accomplishments, for example “Management Skills” , “Leadership Ability”, and “Excellent Communication”. Be sure to back up any skills with evidence: Excellent leadership ability shown through my ability to lead both large and small groups during completion of university assignments.

Key Words

The average screener takes no more than 10 seconds to review a resume for the initial scan. Resume’s will be dumped in a “yes” or “no” pile based on what the screener sees in those first 10 seconds. The best way to get through that first scan is to determine which key words the reader is looking for and prominently display them. There are several ways you can do this. The first is to draw attention to words by either Bolding, Italicizing, or Underlining them. This will make your choice words pop out from the sentence so they are easily read. Another way is to list these words with a brief description in a special skills section; for example, to draw attention to your computer skills:

Special Skills :

Computer Skills: Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Power Point

If you possess all of the skills in the job description be sure to use those exact words in your resume as companies are now able to use computers to screen resumes. The computer is programmed to look for specific words and save only files that contain all of them. For example, if a company is hiring a receptionist they may input phrases such as: Microsoft Office, Communication Skills, and Self-Motivated. If your resume does not contain all of those words, it will not pass the initial screen and be automatically deleted.

Finally, when creating your resume be sure that it contains all of the essential components. Included should be a job specific career objective, a personal profile, education, work experience, skills and abilities, and any awards or accomplishments you would like to highlight. Be sure that your resume is no longer than two pages in length and free of any spelling or grammatical errors. You’ll also want to make sure that the layout is attractive and easy to read, if a resume is difficult to read it is unlikely that your potential employer will take the time to decipher it.

Remember that every time you send a resume the skills and accomplishments you highlight should be specifically related to the position for which you are applying. Do not rely on only one resume when you are applying for several different positions. Have several different versions handy to increase your likelihood of multiple interviews, which will hopefully decrease the amount of resumes you’ll have to create before being hired into your perfect job.