by D. Trump

Created on: March 31, 2007   Last Updated: October 05, 2008

Let's face it, your resume is good, but it could be better. If you want to get more out of your resume, then this is the article to read. I will give you some of the best tips to make your resume better than ever before.

There are accepted standards to follow when completing a winning resume. If you want to create the best resume possible, you have to find out what is acceptable at that specific time and follow them as closely as possible. One of the best ways to find this out is to visit an employment office in the area, or even the local university of college job office. Some of the current trends are:

1. Write short descriptions- This is popular because they are easy to glance over and they showcase your best qualities at the manager's first glance. The reason for this is that the managers are getting more resumes than ever before through email, so they would rather throw a resume away than read a long paragraph.

2. Start with your skills- The newly accepted order is: skills, education, then move to achievements, and finally job experience. Try to tailor your skills to each job opportunity. They want to see skills that related to the job they are hiring for. Managers are looking for specific skills, not general ones.

3. Try to make your resume different- Managers like things that stand out. Maybe use a special paper, or annything just a little different. Make your resume show why you are different and better than everyone else. AVOID using the same phrases that many others use. Things like "good written communication," or "works well with others" are on every resume. Managers have seen these thousands of times, and it means nothing to them.

4. Do not include hobbies- Managers just don't care about hobbies. There can be an exception to this if you have a hobby that directly relates to the job. In other cases, you are probably better off leaving it out. One time I was reviewing jobs for an entry level position in my company, and I had a person who put on his resume that he had built approximately 40 model cars. I still laugh about it to this day.

5. Always add a great cover letter- A great cover letter goes a long way in a job application. I once wrote a cover letter so good that got me an interview within one day for a job that I didn't qualify for. I used the words "Endlessly shattering sales targets."

Remember, finding a job takes time and effort. It is often said that it takes one month for every $10,000/year of salary. Be patient and do not sell yourself short. You deserve a good job with good pay. Another good idea is to make sure your resume is constantly evolving and kept up to date at all time, too many people make the mistake of only updating their resume when they need a new job. This often backfires because they hastily put their resume together without thinking through the points that will attract the most positive attention.

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