1. CONTENT! CONTENT! CONTENT!
Employers glance over resumés and decide in less than 20 seconds. Note specifics that demonstrate your abilities, your accomplishments, and your past experiences -- these are crucial to making your resumé get their attention.

2. VISUALLY APPEALING
The appearance of a non-electronic resumé cannot be overemphasized! It should catch the eye. Watch for spacing and margins. Allow for lots of WHITE SPACE and BORDERS. Make use of italicizing, CAPITALS, underlining, bolding, indentations, and bullets to emphasize your important points. Use a laser printed copy of your resumé to give it a sharp, professional look.

3. USE A ONE PAGE RESUME
Be brief & concise! One page, to the point works best in this competitive marketplace. Be a skillful editor, deleting the portions which are not relevant or least helpful to your securing that particular position. Emphasize your more recent experience in the last 5 - 7 years.

4. BE TARGETED
Focus every resumé to the job title being applied for. It's actually better to create a different resumé for each job title (i.e., one resumé for Trainer, another for Program Director) and incorporate only the information pertinent to doing that job. This will eliminate the tendency to crowd your resumé with too much non-related information.

5. SHOW ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Employers like proof that you can do the job. Be sure to demonstrate results of your work and how your former employers benefited. Use numbers and percentages that show money or time saved. List anything you did that helped the bottomline.

6. BE CLEAR
No vague generalities. Say exactly what you mean, using the smallest number of words to make the point.

7. BE ACCURATE
State your skills, qualifications, and experience as positively as possible without exaggerating or misstating the truth. If your job responsibilities are not adequately described by your job title, indicate your abilities with appropriate terms (i.e. Events Coordinator, instead of Staff Coordinator).

8. FORGET USING GIMMICKS
Employers are very suspicious of gimmicks believing they represent a person who lacks proven substance and accomplishments. Overnighting a resume won't bring you to the head of the pile so save the expense.

9. APPROPRIATE TYPE SIZE
Use type size of at least 12, but up to 14, for easier reading.

10. AVOID GRAPHIC DESIGNS
Designs are often distracting to the reader. Colors are not the key to making you stand out. Lines, boxes, shadings or fancy borders should be avoided. Lines are often read as page breaks when employers scan a resume so delete. Plain, but nicely formatted white or cream, high quality paper have all tested well with employers.

11. BE COMPLETE
Spell out names of schools, cities, abbreviations, and titles completely, since employers may not recognize abbreviations or acronyms.

12. USE ACTION VERBS
Start each sentence with a descriptive action verb - such as established, managed, organized, developed, planned, etc. They add power to your sentences making it easier to note your actions and the important results those actions created.

13. MAKE POINTS QUICKLY
Complete sentences are not necessary in resumé writing; it is better to use simple descriptive statements to make a point. Be sure any technical terms are understandable to non-technical personnel.

14. PROOFREAD
Don't trust computer spell checkers. Read every word out loud to be sure it is correct. The computer will not correct "SEA" which is a word when, unfortunately, you see.

15. BE PERFECT
The resumé you send out must be flawless. No mistakes or typos, no white-out, no crossing out information to update. Sloppy resumés don't get interviews. This is the employers #1 complaint in our survey of 600 Hiring Managers.

16. MAKE IT READABLE
A crammed, cramped resumé often gets left unread. Make deletions wherever necessary to achieve a readable product.

17. DON'T INCLUDE PERSONAL STATISTICS
It is no longer considered professional or wise to include information about marital status, gender, height, weight, health, or a picture on your resumé.

18. DON'T WASTE SPACE
Employers know you'll provide references if they request them, therefore it is not necessary to put "References upon request" at the end of your resumé.

19. DON'T ADVERTISE NEGATIVE INFORMATION
The resumé is the wrong place to advertise that you were laid off, fired, or had an extended illness. Never state why you left a position; simply list the dates of employment.

20. BE CURRENT
Update information every six months, allowing you to quickly submit your resumé for promotions or new opportunities whenever you hear about them.

21. EDIT IT
Clearly sell your most marketable abilities. Does your resume clearly and quickly communicate to employers that you can do the job? Do your strengths come across? Does everything support the job you are targeting? Should anything be removed? Final test: are employers calling? If not keep improving your resume until they do.

 Copyright 2003 Robin Ryan. All rights reserved.

Robin Ryan has appeared on the Dr. Phil Show, Oprah, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, CNN, CNBC and is considered America’s top career coach. She is the best-selling author of: 60 Seconds & You're Hired!; Winning Resumés; Winning Cover Letters, and What to Do with the Rest of Your Life. She's the creator of the highly acclaimed audio training program Interview Advantage and The DreamMaker. Robin's passion is helping people find better jobs which she successfully does through her career counseling practice where she offers individual career coaching and resumé writing services. A popular national speaker, Robin has spoken to over a thousand audiences on improving their lives and obtaining greater success. To purchase her books and audio training programs click here: www.robinryan.com To contact Robin email: RobinRyan@aol.com or phone her at 425.226.0414.