Whether you're looking for a job or outlining your life, having a resume that actually gets read and acted upon is critical. A vast majority of resumes end up going from the envelope or "in-box" into the trash. Creating a resume that rises to the top of the selection pile, and stays there, requires a few key points.

Know your objective

As you go about creating your resume, understand what you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to tell the reader what your job skills are or do you want to present your life's work. These two ideas may appear the same, but when you start to think about it they take on two differing ideas. Once you pass this idea, select those aspects of your skill-set that highlight your skills and present them as they relate to the desired end. Get to specific skills that address the end you want and remember that your space limitations.

Narrow your skill set

You may have a wide skill-set, but do all those skills apply to the position you are applying for? Narrow your skill-set down so that the skills you list apply closely to the end you are looking for. If you have a skill-set of 15 abilities, narrow the list to the top 5 or six most applicable to the position in question. The rest can wait for a personal interview. Do the same limiting exercise for the interview with the remaining skills but make sure to remember to work them into the interview conversation.

Highlight your strengths

Once you have your skill-set under control stick to those skills through the resume. In essence, these skills are the theme of your resume. The theme can change from position to position, depending upon the position, but these skills are the ideas you want to "punch" throughout the résumé.

Be clear

Remember that you are competing for the attention of the reader. The reader will spend very little time reading your resume the first time around. Don't over complicate the issue with longer words of concepts. In this respect, consider yourself an advertising copy writer. Hit them hard with a short description and move on. Generally, think about a smart person with a very short attention span.

Use grabbing techniques

Since you are trying to get noticed, you need to use ideas that will stand out from a distance. Use visual cues that might be noticed if a person is walking past a desk and glances at a pile sitting on it. But remember, just because the resume is on top of the pile doesn't mean that it will stay there for long. Ideally, you want your resume to be picked up and read by a person just sitting down or quickly thumbing through a folder that was just opened and begun to be looked at. Use %, #'s, $ or bullet points for a noticeable quick read by the person making the first "cut." Another great idea is the use of action words. Interestingly enough, action words not only say that you are a "doer" but they stand out on a page within a sentence. Visual flow is important

Give some close thought to the layout of the resume. If the reader has to think about picking up the resume to read it you have likely lost the battle right from the start. Your name, of course, needs to stand out and be right at the top of the page because that is what gets the call back made easily (if they want to call don't make it hard), but remember that you need to start the readers eye working down the page. Consider how you might use fonts to attract and move the readers' eye and attention. Remember not to muddle up the resume with to many fonts. Two at most is best with a readable size. Don't go below a 10 point font size. The big thing is that you do not want the reader to have to work at getting through the highlights of the resume.

Use "white space" to advantage

Many people believe that they need to cram as much information as possible into a resume. In reality, it is often the abundance of "white space" that gets the resume noticed. This does not suggest leaving out your strengths and theme but rather using the space you have to advantage. An extra line space here or there makes the readers eye travel toward that next relevant item on the page easier.

Know your audience

Although you may feel that you need to stick with one resume, don't, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot use more then one resume. Create several resumes using different skill-set themes and layouts for differing types of positions. The closer you can get to the skill-set that attracts that type of person associated with that type of job the better. Each person expects certain words to appear on the resume outlining the person for that job. Finding and using those "right words" is the trick.