Do you shop online? Most of you probably do. So do I - almost to the exclusion of going to brick and mortar stores at all!

It's pretty straightforward when you're purchasing a commodity like office supplies or software, but not as easy to make a good choice if you're buying something like clothing. Until you've got some kind of knowledge about a manufacturer and know how their products tend to fit you, and have a feel for their quality, it can be something of a hit or miss proposition.

At the brick and mortar retail store, you can examine quality by looking carefully at a garment. You can find out pretty quickly how it fits. Online? Hard to tell. The better the website is at providing the information you need to make an informed decision, the better the odds that you'll make the purchase. But it's always a little harder to sell an item online than it is in person.

You may be wondering what this has to do with your resume.

In a word? Everything.

You face exactly the same challenge with your resume. The hiring manager isn't looking at you, or speaking with you. All she has to "size you up" is this document you've submitted. At this stage, it's the only mechanism she has to make a judgment about you.

Your resume has to work hard...it must convey a sense of professionalism and it must communicate clearly. There's no room for ambiguity (she's not going to call you for clarification), no room for missing information, and absolutely no room for sloppy errors like typos and grammatical mistakes.

She's probably got a hundred resumes on her desk representing people vying for the same position. She's looking to weed people out. Documents containing mistakes, those that are vague, those that lack quantifiable results - they're the ones she immediately eliminates from contention.

Consider your resume from the perspective of someone who has never met you and knows nothing about you. Does it clearly summarize your experience? Are your significant accomplishments easy to spot? Do you highlight enough accomplishments...or is it simply a recitation of a series of job descriptions? Is it clear how you contributed to previous employers' bottom lines? Is it obvious what type of job you're seeking?

Don't count on the hiring manager to wade through your resume in hopes of finding relevant information. She won't. You need to get her attention right away, make it clear why your qualifications are a fit, and give her a reason to keep reading.

Let's go back to the retail analogy: if you're in the store and a garment doesn't strike you immediately as interesting, you don't continue to examine it in hopes you'll find something about it that will change your mind. You move on. Same idea here.

Don't blow your chances before you even get out of the starting gate. Craft a mistake-free resume that makes it clear why you should be given the opportunity to interview for the position.

Rebecca Metschke is the author of The Interview Edge, a comprehensive career guide for those who are serious about their careers. Gain a professional advantage using proven tips, tools and strategies that will help ensure you're as marketable as you can be. http://www.TheInterviewEdge.com