I am sure that I am not the only person who find preparing a resume a painful task. I hate it and this maybe the reason I have not updated mine. In this article, I will share with you the basics of preparing your resume.

A resume is a tool used to gain a competitive edge during the process of obtaining job. I say 'competitive' because you will be competing with others who want the same job you are applying for. It is a first impression that you make on a prospective employer. Therefore, it is important that your resume provide as much relevant information as possible about you. Keep in mind these points before preparing your resume:

1)A resume should be kept brief as possible usually one page on a 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper. However, as your extent of work experience increase, this may change. In this case, try to not go more than two pages.

2)Use an even margin spaces on both sides, top and bottom. A margin format of 3/4 inch should be good.

3)It should be neatly typed using single spacing.

4)Use special highlights such as underlining, capital letters, bold and italic type, and bullets or asterisks to emphasis important information.

I will now go into a more detailed of the actual preparation of the resume. Begin your resume with a heading or header. This is usually positioned at the top of the page. This heading includes your name, address, home or work telephone numbers, and email address. Age, marital status, and other personal facts is not necessary. This heading can be laid out in any way you find appealing to you as long as space allows. A resume is divided into four main sections which are career goal, work experience, educational background, extra-curriculum, and reference.

1)Career Goal: Include this section if you are looking for a specific job type or position. However, omit it if you are considering any possible job position or career. An example of this section can go like this: "CAREER GOAL: Systems engineer responsible for monitoring, maintaining, and improving plant facilities."

2)Work Experience: Most resume starts out with a chronological outline of work experience with the current or most recent experience outlined first. List the date or period of work, the job title or position. For each job listed the important duties and skills involved should be described. In some cases,relevant high school or college employment, internships, and part time work can be included, depending on how much 'real world' experience you have.

3)Educational Background: Outline your educational background in the same chronological way as the work experience section. List the date of graduation or period during school years, the name of the school or course attended, and certificate or diploma obtained. You may include a more detailed description of your higher education, depending on your extent of work experience. If you are a college student you may list your high school and any pertinent coursework or special achievement.

4)Extra-curriculum: List any work done with civic or charitable organization as well as any awards or certificates of recognition you have received. If you have no such background then leave the section out.

5)Reference: In this final section, list the name and contact information of individuals you previously worked with who can vouch that you are a worthy candidate for the position applied for. Family members or friends are normally not recommended as they will be biased. There are times when individuals may write "References Available Upon Request". This is unnecessary because anyone looking at it will assume you can provide references at hand and will ask for them.

So there it is, I have shown you the basics of preparing a resume. Following this helpful information should get you on the easy path of preparing a resume.

More and more employers are using electronic resumes to help them find the right candidates for a position. And this means they aren't reading your resume. They aren't even glancing at it to decide if it goes into the reject or possible pile.

No, instead, they are using software programs to scan the resumes for certain words and phrases. If your resume isn't designed with those words and phrases, it will never get seen by human eyes. And that means no job interview, and no job.

And it doesn't matter that you may be, by far, the most qualified person for the job. Your potential employer will never know. And you'll still be job hunting.

Here are some things you need to know to make sure your electronic resume gets read.

Use nouns, not verbs. Nouns are the dominant words in an electronic resume. Words like account, sales executive, vice president, etc.

Use Keyword Descriptors. These are very important. Keyword descriptors have to do with your accomplishments and skill set. Keyword descriptors include words like educationm, experience and accomplishments.

Forget fancy. This means nothing in an electronic resume. The simpler, the better. You don't need different fonts, etc.

Simple, Simple, Simple. No fancy graphics, tables, or even bullet points.

Don't Use Abbreviations. Forget BA. Spell out Bachelor of Arts.

Put your name first and then your contact information on another line.

White space is good. Make sure to leave spaces between sections of your resume. This makes it easier for the scanner software.

Use words everyone understands.

The whole process of applying for a job may be likened to an Olympic race. All may be highly qualified, possibly training to bag the actual trophy (in this case, the job) but only one gets the gold. It's like a battery of games which may or may not bring you the much-needed job. Your cover letter is your arsenal that will help propel you to reach greater heights and get lucrative job offers.

A job offer is not complete without the issue of the salary. The declaration of salary is double-edged sword in your cover letter. It is a game, and a tricky one at that. If you want to be able to nail that job, you must be able to maneuver your way into this salary game, among many other things. The companies are particularly sensitive on the issue of salary expectations of their prospective applicants. Depending on their manner of screening applicants, your salary expectation may be formed for or against you.

It is very difficult to find the balance between a reasonable salary, an overly declared one or an underpaid one. If you put in too little an amount in your cover letter of your salary expectation, they might hire you but you will be at a losing end since they will no longer allow you to negotiate for higher pay beyond your salary declaration in the cover letter. On the other hand, if you declare a very huge sum, they might get turned off and boot you out of the list of applicants to be considered due to that.

The best way to avoid the nuances of the salary game is not to play the game at all. You heard me right. Do not ever declare salary expectations in your cover letter. Given that it is possible to decline stating your salary expectations, this is what you must do. However, if you should be forced to give an amount by the companies, you must give not an exact amount, but a range with which you can flexibly negotiate should you proceed higher and land that job offer. The range must be comfortable enough come actual salary negotiation time.

The range of salary that you will be giving must not be a product of whim. But it must be something based on research of people who have the same job. Know the average net worth of that job and base your salary range declaration according to that. This way, you will have enough justification for declaring such and such an amount. This will also lessen resistance on the part of your potential employer, who probably knows as well as you do how much this job is really worth.

You must also know the profile of the company you are intending to work for. Are they highly profit-oriented and willing to sacrifice the quality of screening applicant in lieu of lower employee compensation? Or are they generous? If your potential employer proves to be the former, you might as well think twice before filing for an application and being forced to play the salary game in your cover letter. Typically, the really good companies would not mind shelling out huge compensation for deserving applicants. And if you are the deserving applicant, why settle for less?

You can make your cover letter and resume stand out amongst the rest by opting for various fax resume distribution services out there. There are 2000 resumes reviewed for any position available. Only 100 are granted for a personal or telephone interview. If you want to make the cut, then your cover letter must be something that is visually appealing to any reader.

Fax Resume Distribution services deliver your cover letter and resume to recruiters that specialize in the career of your expertise. With the cost-effective medium that gets a distinct handling upon receipt, your resume and cover letter maximizes your career opportunity with these firms. You will get the exposure that you deserve.

Fax Resume Distribution services are the solution to any job hunter’s problem, considering the amount of competition he or she finds himself in nowadays. By resorting to these services, an applicant’s resume and covered letter will fall to the desk of those executive recruiters who need their services as soon as possible.

The processes used by fax resume distribution services are the following: 1. The cover letter and resume of the applicant are reviewed in order to determine how effective the attached documents are. Of course, the applicant must have the very best because it will guarantee him years of wonderful experience in the working world.

2. By clearly indicating your objectives, experiences and geographical preferences, fax resume distribution services cross-matched the industries and firms that are perfect for you. The selection is quite efficient, therefore saving your time as well as that of the recruiters. You have control of the number of executive firms that have access to your resume and cover letter.

3. Once your resume and cover letter have been approved then these are available through fax transmission. This is addressed individually to prospective recruiters and potential employers in manner that is distinctive and most personal.

The key to getting the attention of the employer and to be granted an interview is to be different amongst the other applicants. Your resume and cover letter clearly goes to the hiring firms and executive recruiters who are looking for an applicant like you so that already gives you an edge. Of course, what they can read on your documents is the next crucial part.

1. You have to review the contents of your cover letter and your resume. This is to determine how effective your documents are in getting their attention.

2. Because these are delivered to the hands of recruiters who are looking for applicants who can offer what you can offer, your cover letter and resume will be more effective if you indicate your interest in working for them, as well as what you know about their company.

The staff behind this business critiques the spelling, grammar and diction of your cover letter first and foremost. They help you in strategizing the cover letter and resume that will get the attention of the reader.

Preparing for these documents take a lot of time and if you want to get the interview in the industry that you really want to work for, you have to make sure that the fax resume distribution services are able to get that point across on your cover letter and highlighted on your resume.

Fax resume distribution services have so many tactics in improving the dialogue between the applicant and potential recruiters that all you have to do is wait for the scheduled interview.

According to recent World Internet Usage and Population Statistics there are approximately 233,188,086 internet users in North America. With 70% of the population using the internet it's no wonder that more and more employers are utilizing electronic resume and cover letter submissions.

We like to use email because it's faster and easier, right? Such convenience may come at a price if your resume and cover letter don't travel well (electronically!) Follow these four tips to ensure your electronic personal representation bodes well when sending via email.

While Word .docs may be your word process or choice, make sure you save both your resume and cover letter as a txt file. Not everyone uses words and depending on a number of variables it may not arrive in the same format as it was originally sent. Also replace all formatted items that mess up (like bullets) with dashes (-), asterisks (*) or arrows (>) – those are more universal symbols.

Again, it may look like a masterpiece on your end. That does not mean the receiver will view that same Pièce de résistance! Use a simple divider to designate where the cover letter ends and the resume begins. This will alleviate confusing the recipient. (=== Begin Resume ===)

Keep the width of your cover letter to about 65-70 characters wide. As a point of reference – a standard page with 1.25 left and right margins, font size 12, typically holds 75 characters without spaces included and 90 with spaces.

Address the hiring person by name. Make every effort to find out the name of the person reviewing the document. It will show that you've done your homework and may give you an extra edge. Many people just say Dear Employer… too impersonal! Dear Mr. Boyd – is much better. By all means, avoid using To Whom It May Concern. That just screams Form Letter!

Putting together a winning cover letter and resume takes quite an investment of time, creativity and in some cases financial resources. If you're investing time preparing these important documents – and you should put substantial effort into this step – follow the above tips to ensure it gets read by the reviewing official.

The buzz around video resumes has been going on for some time now, yet we have seen an explosion on the usage.

With the low cost of webcams and the ease of implementation of video recording software and technology, more and more companies are moving away from traditional marketing means such as print ads and TV commercials to online video advertising. People have found that short video clips are easy to digest and deliver (Share with a friend!). It is also a known fact that images and sound sell much better than words written on a piece of paper (or words shown on your computer screen). The biggest benefit of using online video advertising is that it creates a more personal bond with the viewer.

Therefore, video resume seems to be the logical evolution to traditional paper resume because you can form an instant bond with the reviewer to better market yourself; you are no longer just a piece of paper in the reviewer’s hands.

However, why hasn’t video resume been widely adopted by hiring companies?

First of all, when a job position opens, a company would usually receive hundreds of applications. Recruiters would need to sort out resumes in a timely manner to set up interviews. Because of the time crunch, the average time a recruiter spends on going through a copy of printed resume is about 20 seconds, no more than 30.

If a recruiter hopes to spend the same amount of time sorting out applications in order to achieve the same timeframe to start the interview process, it means a video resume would need to have a length of no more than 30 seconds.

What can you say in a 30-second video that’s presentable without rushing? Not much.

Keep in mind, too, that while viewing your video, the reviewer needs to make notes on points you’re making. He or she may need to replay the video again to catch some of the points. Now a 1-minute video may turn into a 2-minute view, which would delay application filtering process.

This is a scenario where written words can pack in much more information on a piece of paper than a video clip.

Secondly, because you are able to see the face of the applicant prior to making a decision on calling the candidate in for an interview, some companies may not want to adopt this method of job application due to possible gender, racial, or age discrimination issues.

A written resume allows the applicant to remain faceless and allows the hiring company to be mostly neutral about the applicant’s gender, race, and age. Traditional resumes allow applicants to compete fairly for an interview based on skills and qualifications presented to the hiring company in the same format.

Traditional resumes could offer protection to hiring companies from possible lawsuits.

With that said, I am not completely dismissing the use of videos in job application process. Video is a great technology and a useful tool. If anyone would like to use videos in this process, my suggestion is to use a hybrid approach: Replace traditional cover letters with video clips that are no more than 30 seconds, and keep resumes in printed format.

This method makes sense because the applicant would be able to make an introduction in person via video to talk about basic qualifications and skill sets allowing the “best possible first impression” to be made, and leave all the glory details in the traditional format that is easy to scan by the reviewer. This way, recruiters would still be able to sort out applications efficiently within a reasonable timeframe, while making highlights and notes on applicants’ resumes to determine eligibility for an interview.

The use of video resumes can be effective and exciting. However, traditional resumes will never go away… Just like email will never replace fax.

The most important secret you must always remember at every job interview is that you will only land the position if you stand out above the crowd in a positive way. Job interviews have always been very competitive and quite often there ends up being a huge crowd of people all competing for a single position or just a few positions at best.

But how does one stand out in a job interview? Actually the best strategy revolves around doing plenty of research and then focusing on a case study from your past where you solved a problem similar to the one the organization you have a job interview with is grappling with.

There are many obstacles that are bound to hinder you from doing research on an organization that you are about to join and from getting useful information. In many cases you may already be working somewhere else and getting time off to do some serious research may not be easy. This is where the web comes in. It is possible for you to miss your lunch break or even come in an hour earlier to concentrate on doing some serious research on the company you intend to join. There is also the option of you staying in late to read every relevant article and piece of information that you can lay your hands on.

This is the most important job interview secret because your prospective employer will not be able to resist your knowledge and understanding of their business and the fact that you have the proven skills to solve the problems they want to tackle by filling in the position you are interested in.