Landing a great job starts with writing a great resume. There’s no doubt that in these financially difficult times it’s never been harder to find the ideal job, and you won’t with a second rate resume.

Job applicants have to compete with hundreds or even thousands of other job applicants for every good job. Your personal job history is important to you, but to anyone in charge of making those all important job interviews, if your personal job history doesn’t jump out and hit them in the face when they look at your resume chances are it will end up in the trash, like hundreds of others.

Your resume is your summary of your skills and job history. It has to be good to stay in front of the person who decides who gets the interview. Will your resume get you the interview? Or will someone else’s trump yours?

If you don’t get the interview you’re dead of course. Even if you’re the ideal person for the job.

So when it’s time for you to write your resume do you know how to do all this?

1. Create a compelling headline. Do you even know the importance of the headline?

2. How to best demonstrate the good parts of your job history, and minimize the parts that aren’t complementary?

3. How to craft your objective statement. In fact do you even know what an objective statement is?

4. How you should present your qualifications?

5. Know what a reference sheet is?

6. How do you write a cover letter?

Confused already? No idea how these critical steps in the resume writing process should be undertaken? Don’t even know where to start? Don’t worry.

There are certain well worn paths to follow when you write a resume. It’s well known how to do it, you just have to follow the right formula. Then you should have your application end up on the top of the interviews stack instead of in the trash pile.

If you know how to apply the formula then you’re in front of the majority instead of fighting with everyone else.

So remember, having a great, eye catching resume and cover letter is the secret to job application success. Learn the correct principles, apply them religiously when writing, and you’re job application should be sitting right there on top of the pile. It all starts with your resume.

I’ve written a book about it showing you all the steps, get the book on my website to find out the secrets of writing a great resume.

Image taken on 2009-11-09 18:45:08. Image Source. (Used with permission)