Job seekers are seen often trying to outmaneuver each other in an aggressive and competitive job market. In recession times it is much more arduous to succeed in finding a suitable job. The job hunt is often found to be challenging, strenuous, confusing and tedious with plenty of career search advice to remember and strategies to implement. One of the mysteries that affect most people is that they apply to jobs tirelessly, online and offline, but nothing happens. Companies receive hundreds of applications for even a single post and consequently, short-list and finally pick out a few candidates, if not just one from the array of submissions. Under siege from job seekers, employers filter out unqualified applicants, at every level, as hard as they are trying to get in for an interview. How is it that only a few candidates attract the interest of the company and bag those coveted jobs, while others go jobless? It is the dream of every candidate to lure the attention of the company and want to emerge as the chosen one. The solution to the quest of the job aspirant is the acquisition of the talent to sell his skills. A job applicant who does not put his best foot forward or cannot capture the attention of his prospective employers with the first string of words he utters or composes is liable to fall by the wayside, suffering much damage to his self-esteem and future prospects in the process.

A resume forms the first, and if poorly written, the last impression on an employer. A resume is the first, and sometimes the only, glimpse a prospective employer, has of a job aspirant. Therefore, much emphasis is laid on the profile of the job seeker that would make the recruiters know of his talents, skills and abilities as well as his potential for growth in his resume. If he fails at this stage, it may take much effort and time to retrieve the situation. Hence, resume writing is a critical first gateway to success and has to be handled with extreme care and sophistication. As a matter of fact, resume writing is a highly individualized task and it requires a lot of preparation. Woefully enough, most of the freshers from colleges and universities are neither familiar with or given any career guidance in resume writing, including cover letter structuring. As a result, they mess up preparing a resume and a cover letter. One might have noticed that many resumes with cover letters contain poor grammar, bad punctuation, poor sentence structure, misspelled words and much more. These cover letters and resumes submitted by the job applicants are neither fresh nor good red herring which the employers are unable to understand either head or tail of what do the applicants want and why.

All candidates might possess the skills advertised as a pre-requisite for the post. However, what stands out one apart from the others, is the presentation of these very skills. A job seeker needs to adopt a lucid pattern to present his skills in a manner that would attract prospective employers. To remain competitive and stand out from the masses while looking for a job, you need to write a stellar, high impact resume.A well-written resume increases the chances of getting interview calls and eventually a job and since recruiters spend less than 30 seconds scanning the resume, it is of paramount importance to prepare a stellar document to garner their interest. Recall your career plan, as this will be your basis for determining the resume format that will suit you most. While there is no single standard resume format, the resume format you choose can make a difference in the impression you make. It is important to choose a design and approach that is concise and effective and highlights the skills your prospective employer is looking for in an applicant. So the job applicant has to makes his resume tailor made to reflect his key skills suitable to the job on hand.

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