These are the same essential elements you'll need in an effective resume and these tips will help you design one to work for you. If you would prefer to let our experts do the legwork for you, contact us and we'll be happy to assist.

You will learn the following:

• Resume Writing 101
• Do's and Don'ts
• Resume Styles
• Resume Formats
• Page Length
• Page Design
• Editorial Content

RESUME WRITING 101

Before you can begin creating a winning resume you must first understand what a resume's is and what it's designed to do. Quite simply,  a resume is a summary of your qualifications. The French word résumé means "to summarize". Your resume should describe you, show what you can do and how an employer can benefit from it.

An effective resume will not get you a job all on its own. It will pique a prospective employers interest in you and make you stand out from the crowd, ulitmately leading to a job interview.

DO'S AND DONT'S

Do's

Address the employer's needs.
Employers hire people who can fill specific needs. Communicate that you are that person and you have the skills and knowledge to solve their particular problem.

Show the employer how he/she will benefit.
Stress your accomplishments and show the employer you're an excellent prospect with talent to offer. Provide results-oriented data that proves you've handled previous jobs well and have consistently contributed to the success of the company.

Be clear and concise.
Employers sort through piles of resumes everyday and really only glance at a resume for about 30 seconds or less. Make your information clear, sharp, and easy to read to   capture and keep their attention.

Proofread your work.
A poorly written resume full of errors in punctuation, spelling and grammar can spell disaster. Make sure your document is free of inccorrectly spelled words, grammatical errors and inconsistent punctuation. Check the accuracy of dates, addresses, telephone numbers, and proper names. When you have completed proofreading, have a friend double check the document for you.

Dont's

Don't be intimidated.
Anyone can experience writers block. Writing a resume is not easy. A well-prepared and well-written resume will take time and more than one draft, but the rewards are worth all the effort.

Arbritraliy include an objective.
Don't include objectives just for the sake of including one. Use an objective only when you are specifically seeking a position in a prticular area such as sales management and will not look at any other opportunities. However, if you want flexibility in using your resume for a variety of positions, don't use an objective. Cover letters are much more effective at conveying your objective.

Overuse dialogue words.
Avoid overuse of words like responsible, mine, my, I, and also. These words can appear vague, give narrative overtones, and sound too conversational. Try to perform as much "tight writing" as possible by eliminating these types of words to keep the document crisp without losing the meaning.

Don't list references.
There is no need to list references on your resume. The only exception might be on a Curriculum Vitae for use outside the USA. A reference list should be developed and sent only when requested.

RESUME STYLES

In this 21st century, resume styles have expanded from the traditional resume on paper to electronic versions for use in electronic mail and the Internet. The style of resume you will need depends on the type of employer and company you are applying to. We will show you how to develop each style for use in your job search.

Emailable Resume
With an emailable resume, you can get your resume to an employer within minutes.An emailable version of your resume incorporates the same features as an ASCII (askee) or Text File. Most email messages are sent in this format.

After you have saved your resume to a computer disk, you will need to re-save your document as an ASCII text file which will completely strip the document of all formatting codes including boldface, italics, underlines, fonts, margins, tabs, smart quotes ("), mathematical symbols, em-dashes, en-dashes, and other characters that does not appear on your keyboard. Bullets can be replaced with some of the symbols on your keyboard such as +, *, >. And be sure to use a lot of white space and paragraphs. 

Shorten the length of each line to about 60 characters since most browsers and email clients will not display the text properly. To avoid wrapping your sentences to new lines, press the enter key at the end of each line.

An emailable resume can be longer than one page but since your goal is to grab the readers attention, start with your qualifications summary and work backwards. This version of your resume serves a unique purpose but remember you will need to take a hard copy of your traditional resume to the interview.

Internet Resume

An Internet resume allows you to provide a 24 hour visual presentation to anyone who has access to the Internet via a URL (Universal Resorce Locator) address that you specify. If you have web designing skills and understand Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) which is the language used to create documents for use on the world wide web, then you are ready to create an Internet version of your resume. Some software programs such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and other editors make this proces much easier, but you should still know the basics of HTML.
Once you have completed your Internet resume you should get the word out to potential employers and networking contacts. List your URL address on your business cards and

Show determine appropriate information to include, omit, the correct order of placement, and the quality of the presentatrion. Priortizie the information based upon impact to the reader. Paint a picture of yourself that you want the employer to see