Three Things That Apply to All Resumes

Resume writing is an art form that many prospective employees are unable to master even after years of working on them. Although these documents have changed since the 1990s due to the advent of technology and the Internet, the basics of composing a polished, short resume remain the same.

Three main tenets apply to all resumes, whether you are a 16-year old writing one for a fry cook position at a fast food chain or a 50-year-old CEO looking to land an executive role at a tech giant. Unless you build your document on these three bases, chances are your prospective employer may not give it a second look.

Just the Facts

Proper resume writing includes fact-based statements rather than fluffy, qualitative descriptions. Explain exactly what you did for five years in Acme Brick's customer service department. Write that you "answered 20 phone calls per hour at a front-line call center" rather than "helped customers with their product issues." Quantify your professional experience so the hiring manager can verify this information. Avoid subjective, superlative verbiage, and present hard skills and experience such as typing 65 words per minute or implementing cloud computing software to mitigate data management risks.

Customize It for Each Position

Tailor your resume writing to each position you apply for. This tactic does not need to take as much time as it seems at first. Keep a master document on your computer that includes your contact information, skills and dates of previous employment. Those facts do not change very often. When looking at a new position, copy and paste new information from the description of the potential job into the resume and work those terms into your original text.

Modify the keywords in your skill set and job duties to reflect those in the posted job description. Start sentences with action verbs, such as "Overhauled customer service department to improve social media presence." Locate keywords in the job posting, and customize your short resume with a few terms found in the most important sentences of the post. Remember, your resume writing needs to be powerful and applicable to the position.

This Document Does Not Get You the Job

Like it or not, your resume will not get you the job. Great resume writing prevents you from failing early in the process thanks to the hard facts and viable skills you include in the document. However, you still have to tell your story with a cover letter, show you mean business in a Skype interview, and then wow your future company during your in-person interview.

Resume writing needs to be laser-precise thanks to keyword searching technology that eliminates candidates early in the hiring process. Get to the next stage of your job search with a finely tuned resume that reflects these three basic tenets that lead to success.

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