Resume writing is one part science, one part art and three parts pure marketing. What you must realise is that you need to change your writing style to produce the most compelling document that demands a reaction from the reader. If you keep on with the same document for every occasion, you'll get the same result every time. Why not dare to be different with your resume writing and see what a difference it makes to your results?

Although you will be told many times what a good resume should look like, don't get too hung up on any particular style or layout. Your resume writing is not about producing a 'document of record' where you include everything youve ever done. That's like throwing the whole store-cupboard into a pan then asking someone to detect the flavour they like.

So get smarter with your resume writing and try to think about the way a marketing copywriter produces a glossy brochure for new cars or exotic holidays; the intention is to produce desire and action!

The subtle message you receive when you read a glossy car advertizing brochure is about how good things are going to feel when you get the latest product. They don't blind you with all the technical specifications, but rather they sell you an image of an improved future where you are the envy of your friends and neighbours.

Now you can't claim to go from 0 to 100 in 10 seconds but you can create the expectation that employing you will lead to the better corporate future or the increased sales or the new patents they are looking for. In other words you need to put forward not just what you have achieved (past tense) but also the sense of greater things to come (future tense) which are the benefits they are hoping to find.

Do this by quantifying your specific achievements that become increasingly more substantive; add to this the element of continuous learning and improvement and you will personify the growth that adds value.

When you get smarter with your resume writing, and you dare to be different and do things differently from all the other prospective candidates, you stand out. And when you stand out - for the right reasons - you get picked.

Peter Fisher
http://www.better-resume.com