We see hundreds of resumes during any given month and while we agree that you should 'never judge a book by its cover', there should be no secret in the fact that a well written resume may grab more attention than one that isn't well written. Writing a resume shouldn't be hard - a simple resume is an effective resume.

TIPS FOR WRITING AN EYE-CATCHING RESUME

Contact Details
A resume should contain all of your main contact details, including your full name, address, phone/mobile number and email address. Try to use a professional sounding emailng address and avoid gimmicky nicknames (i.e. crazybear@).

Layout
Keep it simple. Choose a font type and size (i.e. Arial size 11) that is easy to read and bold your headings. Don't use tables, these only take up extra space on the page, and keep all of your text aligned to the left.

Key Strengths
List your key strengths as dot points before you detail your professional and education history. This can be seen as a snapshot of what you can offer your potential new employer. Ideally, list around five (5) points and keep them short and sweet. For example;

• Five years experience maintaining and repairing construction machinery

Professional History
In reverse chronological order (most recent position at the top). Include your job title, employer, dates of commencing and concluding your employment (unless you are still working there, in which case the dates for example would be February 2007 - Present) and tasks undertaken.

• Employer details: as the majority of your work experience will have been with an overseas employer, add a short description about the company you worked for, i.e. The largest maufacturer of scaffolding materials in Ireland.
• Tasks undertaken: it is not necessary to list every single task that you undertook for your employer, only list the key tasks that you were responsible for.

Education & Training
List your qualifications starting with your highest qualification first, this can include in-house courses and professional training.

Referees
Listed at the end of your resume, include names and phone numbers and included "Written references available upon request" if relevant.

And finally, double-check your resume when finished. Or better still, ask someone to double-check it for you!