1. How long should your resume be?

The accepted “wisdom” is that your resume should never be more then one page. To be honest if you ask 100 employment specialists 50 will say that is correct and the other 50 will disagree. Ultimately what employers care about is if the resume is easy to read and illustrates the skills that make you a good fit for the position. The length of your resume should be appropriate to you. With that being said, NEVER go longer then three pages. You are not getting paid by the word. If your related work experience only fills up one page that is fine.

2. Does your resume illustrate you as the right person for the job immediately?

Your resume is your 10 second commercial for your product (you). The person that is filling the position you are applying to is only go to take a few seconds to see if you have the skills and experience they need for the open job. Be direct and to the point and don't waste time putting in skills and experience that don't relate to the position you are applying to.

3. Have you double, triple, quadruple checked your resume for typos?

There is no good reason for a typo. Your resume has to be perfect. Remember, your resume is the very first impression your potential employer will ever have of you. Having a typo in your resume is the kiss of death. Check your resume multiple times for typos. Also have some one else read your resume before you send it out. What you write down might make perfect sense to you but if it doesn't make sense to any one else it doesn't matter.

4. Have you put specifics in your resume?

You need to put your achievements in the proper context for your potential employer. Here is an example: “I increased total sales from previous year.” That says absolutely nothing to the potential employer. Did you increase sale by 1 or 1,000? On the other hand: “I increased sales 210% over previous year.” By making that simple change you are able to give the potential employer specific information that illustrates your contribution to the success of your previous employer.

To summarize, be direct and to the point. Only highlight qualifications that are going to help you get the position and a single typo is completely unacceptable. By following these simple rules you put yourself in a much better position to land the position you want.