A resume is a selling tool that illustrates your experiences and skills so an employer can see at a glance how you can contribute to their company. The whole purpose of a resume is to get you to the next step - the interview. If your resume doesn't convince the employer within seconds that you're worth a closer look it has failed. The most effective resumes are to the point and address the employer's requirements for the position. The more you know about the duties and requirements of the position as well as the company the more effectively you can organize your resume to fit the job.

Creating a professional look
Paper selection is the first step in creating a look that tells an employer you're a candidate to be taken seriously. Choose a good quality, smudge free paper in a light color such as white, ivory or light grey. Avoid bright or unusual colored papers or inks. It should be printed in black ink using a single typeface that is simple, unadorned, and easy to read.

Types of resumes
Finding the right type of resume to highlight your skills and experience. Two of the most common types of resumes are the functional resume and the chronological resume.

Functional: This resume allows you to arrange your employment history to highlight applicable areas of skill and experience. The functional resume is perfect for someone just entering the the workforce, graduating from school, or someone who's work history has no common thread uniting the positions they've held.

Chronological: This resume is arranged by job titles with the most recent position listed first. A chronological resume is best suited to those with solid experience and a clear logical work history.

Email Resume
Many people ask why do I need two different resumes? Why can't I just send an employer my paper resume? With the ever increasing growth rate of technology in business, more and more employers have begun to request candidates send resumes via email. For them the advantages of having email resumes far out weigh the disadvantages, as they do for you.

Preparing an email or plain text resume is very simple. Open your resume in the program that was used to create it. Most resume writing and word programs will allow you to save your resume as a plain text file. These are often refered to as ASCII, Text Only, DOS Text, or Plain Text. After the file has been saved open it in a text editor such as Notepad for Windows or Simple Text for Macintosh. If you were unable to save your resume as a text file you can also copy and paste the text directly to a new document in one of these text editing programs.

Once you have the file open in the text editor you will most likely need to fix the spacing and formatting to make this file file resemble your original resume. Each line in your resume should be no more than 65-70 characters across. It's a good idea to use unique characters and bullets to highlight your skills, etc. as you did before. Once you have spell checked the document are satisfied with it's design save this copy as text. It is a good idea to save a copy of this file to both your hard drive and on disk as a back up.

Some companies will request "a plain text document sent in the body of the message". To do this, simply open your text file resume, select all of the text and copy it. Open a new email message and paste the text into it. The subject line of the email should refer to the job title and/or reference number used in the job posting.

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