When it comes to finding the perfect job, the right resume is crucial. Not only is it a record of all your skills, qualifications, and accomplishments, but it’s your first interaction with a potential employer. As first impressions are usually the most important, you want your resume to stand out from the crowd, and to highlight your talents in the best way possible.

There are three main ways to write a resume: functional (sometimes referred to as a skills-based resume), chronological, or a mixture of the two. Choosing the best one for the job you’re going for will ensure you’re resume highlights the most important things.

Functional resumes emphasise the skills and talents you have, rather than where you’ve worked. In most cases, people choose a functional resume in the following situations:

Chronological resumes emphasise your work history, but you should still emphasise your accomplishments within each described role. Chronological resumes are best in the following situations:

From: Individual Software

Combination resumes are a good balance, and can be used if you want to highlight both your skills and your work history, especially if you perhaps worked in the industry you’re applying for but not for a long time.

Once you’ve picked the right resume structure, it’s time to start writing things down. In any resume, it’s most important to list your achievements, rather job responsibilities. For example, if you were an office manager, it would sound better to write, “Reduced office expenses by 15% in six months,” than “Responsible for managing office expenses.”

It’s also important to use statistics wherever possible. Numbers are particularly impactful for two reasons: one, they draw our eyes in, and two, they qualify your experience. A statistic demonstrates how well you carried out your duties, and that’s what employers want to know. It’s therefore important you keep track of your performance – if you’re stuck, ask a colleague (or boss, if you can do it discreetly) to get your performance data for you.

Once you’ve decided on the right format and have listed your accomplishments, describing them can still be a challenge. If you’re struggling to write down your ideas, we recommend using the award-winning Resume Maker Professional Deluxe 20 .

From: Individual Software

As the bestselling resume-making software in the market, ResumeMaker has helped thousands of people find the perfect job. Not only does it guide you through building your resume, but it teaches you how to answer interview questions – and even negotiate a better salary.

Many of us spend hours stressing about what to put in our resume, usually because we don’t know what to say or how to say it. ResumeMaker guides you through the writing process by asking you a series of simple questions to draw out the most important details. If you’re still stuck, simply use phrases from ResumeMaker’s library of over 14,000 job types. You can then compare your resume with over 1,250 different samples to get the right colours, fonts, and designs to make your talents shine.

Once you’re happy with your resume, it’s time to start job hunting. ResumeMaker’s job finder searches all the most popular recruitment sites like Indeed and Dice, and you can post your resume on social networking sites like LinkedIn and Google+. Never want to miss a new job opportunity? ResumeMaker will send you push notifications every time a new job is listed matching your search criteria.

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Writing your resume can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. ResumeMaker does a lot of the hard work for you, helping organise and articulate your skills and experience in the best way possible. So download ResumeMaker Professional Deluxe 20 today and ensure you stand the best chance of landing your dream job.

From: Individual Software