I think we all can agree that it’s a tough job market out there. With that said, your resume has to make a great first impression. Have you ever sent out what feels like hundreds of resumes only to get no response or the dreaded rejection letter? Well, you’re not alone! For every open position, a hiring manager could receive as many as one hundred resumes. This is why you need to make sure yours stands out.

Your resume should showcase all of your accomplishments, but be done in a way that is not overwhelming for a hiring manager to read. You want your resume to be clean. What I mean by that is, it’s not full of graphics, fluff or flowery words. You basically want to create a road map telling an employer about your skills and abilities and how they will benefit the company. It should never contain what you want from a company, your salary requirements, why you left your last job or be more than two pages long.

Creating a great resume isn’t as hard as you might think. It should contain the following: Contact Information, Objective Sentence, Education (if college degree) Professional Experience, Training/Education (if no college degree) and then a Summary. The Summary is your chance to shine, so list some great qualities about your-self. It is also a place where you can showcase some of your previous job titles by simply putting at the end “other positions held include”. When creating your resume, try to think like a hiring manager. Keep it short and on point and you will be fine. Remember, your resume is your first impression, so make it a good one.