Resumes speak for the individual applicant long before the interview takes place. Resumes function as your sales pitch - the advertisement of "you." Every bit of information contained in your resume defines you. Let's make sure your resume stands out from every other one in the stack.

From the get-go, prime yourself with the mantra "less is more." You're going to pare down your resume, tighten up your writing, and create a document that actively talks about your skills. Clear and concise writing enables your reader (potential employer) to immediately see why you would be a great person to hire.

Investigate the Job Description

Dig into the job advertisement, hunt for key words and make a list for use in your application. Employers often indicate, in very subtle ways, just what they might be looking for in an employee.

For example, X company states in their ad, "As a small advertising firm, we like to give our employees more attention, support and training so they are better able to service our clients and success is created."

What can we pull from this? This company obviously thrives on attention to detail, customer and employee support. Success is important. What are they missing? Obviously, folks to fill these positions to meet their needs. Tailor your resume to meet these needs. Tell the company exactly why you can help them if they hire you.

The Nuts and Bolts of Tight Resume Writing

As you read this article, check out how few times I use the words "is, are, be, have, will, and had." Writing tight involves using action verbs to convey energy and meaning in your sentences. My verb use in this article aims to engage the reader with proper sentence construction and descriptive verbs. Use an action verb to begin every bullet that describes your work, skills, and accomplishments. Never use pronouns such as "I" or "We." Just don't do it.

Consider this opening sentence for my article, "I will be showing you how important your resume really is when you send it to a potential employer."

Instead, I chose to write actively, by saying, "Resumes speak for the individual applicant long before the interview takes place."

Pretty clear difference. I created the second sentence by combining more than one thought, packing a punch by adding one reason for you to be reading my article.

Active writing grabs the reader. Simply stating, "I worked as a bank teller doing…" will lead to boredom with potential employers and possibly a trip to the round file (trashcan) for your resume. Let's avoid that by using active verbs in our sentences, like this, "Managed banking activities for an unlimited number of daily customers…" See the difference? Fill your resume with active writing with past tense verbs (ending in "ed").

Some common resume action verbs include:

*directed
*managed
*planned
*increased
*enforced
*authored
*authorized
*incorporated
*documented

Visit this link for even more action verbs broken down by occupation/skill set.

Still a little confused? Try this trick. Write a sentence as you normally would. Look at your sentence and see which word can become your new action verb. Then, rewrite your new sentence around that word.

Design

Resumes need to be simple, not only in the information contained in the resume but also in overall design. Fancy scroll work section breaks, thick vellum paper, and multiple fonts don’t make a great resume. Instead, they'll make a big headache for any potential employer.

Keep your design simple. Center your name, address, e-mail, and phone at the top of the resume in a bold, larger font. You'll be choosing active, engaging headings and titles for each portion of your resume so lines aren't necessary. Bold headings in larger fonts for the descriptive resume sections will catch your reader's eyes just as fast as a triple-lined section break.

Break up your skills with bullets for easy reading. Empty spaces in the margins, between headings, and between sentences (also called white space) break up the document in a manner pleasing to a reader. Set your font to standard 10 to 12 points and condense your entire resume into 1 to 2 pages at the most.

Main Sections

Before you plug in one single sentence, decide your major headings. The more catchy the heading, the better. You should follow a general order to your resume but by no means do you have to be predictable in your title choices. Tailor your resume by job, highlighting what each employer is specifically looking for. Moving sections around takes no time at all. In general, you want to order your resume as follows:

Job Objective
*Example: A challenging and rewarding position as a school counselor.

Qualifications (Key Skills)
*Start with the most important skill and work down.
*Example: Strong problem solving skills…

Professional Experience (Work History or Career Highlights)
*Work backwards from the most recent job.
*Engage the reader with active verbs and good descriptions of your work experience.
*Example: Audited other financial service clients including banks and asset management companies.

Recent Accomplishments (or Professional Affiliations)
*Include any outstanding job related accomplishments such as membership in professional organizations or committees.
*This section toots your own horn but be specific to your potential new job.
*Example: Board of Supervisors, ABC Banking Committee

Education
*Include college level degrees and above.
*Include job-applicable training.

Omit the Extraneous

Sharing your love of your two dogs, hamster or ferret means nothing to your potential employer, nor does your love of backpacking or your mom. Leave out the specific personal details of your life. As a general rule, omit the following unless the employer specifically requests this information:

*social security number
*hobbies
*pay rates
*health information
*age
*"References available upon request."

Get to it! And remember to PROOFREAD! PROOFREAD! PROOFREAD!