Laura DeCarlo

Your resume is your professional marketing document in digital form.  It’s often the first (and sometimes only) change you get to show employers how you deliver value. In an era of applicant tracking systems (ATS), AI screening, and six-second human scans, your resume must prove relevance fast, clearly, and in the employer’s language.

Today's employers are inundated by resume submissions in a world where multitasking and information overload are already the norm. If you try to use a Core, one-size-fits-all, resume, your resume will end up in a black hole.Even though the computer age is upon us, fully customizing a resume remains a time-suck in busy lives — like preparing a five-course meal from scratch.

The formatting, content, and presentation of a creative resume can give you an edge during a job search. Desktop publishing and design software, first made widespread in the 1980s, has enabled some people to elevate the marketing and advertising strategy in their resumes.Anyone can use some creativity in a resume to help it stand out in a stack of plain resumes.

How much are you worth to employers? Your resume inspires an employer's first best guess, so you want to ensure that it’s a compelling portrait of how your strengths and skills benefit the enterprise that you’re hoping will write your next paycheck.One key element that comes into play is how you present information in your resume.

When you’ve just walked the cap-and-gown line, you can sidestep “no experience” potholes by impressing employers with your vim and vigor, accomplishments, and up-to-date knowledge. Here’s a primer on putting together a resume for a recent graduate that can help you break into your desired field. Check out award-winning new graduate resumes created by professional resume writers at CareerDirectors under the Find a Career Pro navigation button.

Only the luckiest job seekers have a straight-line career path upward. The rest of us have steps back (whether by choice or by force), and some of us change jobs like the British royals change hats.Employers can detect demotions or backward job steps with just a glance, and they often frown on them — or at the very least, wonder what happened.

Resumes are the gateway of getting the job you want, so you want to make sure you have a resume that will impress prospective employers. New graduates are more likely than experienced job seekers to make the following mistakes: Falling short of image standards: If you present an online resume blemished with the type of shorthand used for tweets and texting, or a paper resume flawed with typos, or a persona degraded with whoopee pictures or a goofy profile on a social media site, you flunk.

A well-crafted resume contains only the information that proves you’re a qualified candidate. Eliminate resume clutter by removing useless information that potential employers often view as filler and a waste of their time. Here’s a short list of the worst offenders: “References available on request.” Listing the actual references on your resume is even worse.