Getting your resume or CV right is perhaps, other than actually knowing what you're doing, the most important part of the recruitment process. It's the piece of you that potential new employers are going to see before they see you. Indeed, if your resume doesn't make them want to see you then they're not actually going to, are they?

It's at this point that we should emphasize who the professionals are in this process: the recruitment consultants at Talisman. They are not acting simply as gatekeepers for the companies that pay them their fixed fees to find staff. Anyone could use a human resources department (and sadly, some do) to do that. Rather, they are there to find the best available people for their business clients. There is therefore no shame in turning to one of those very consultants to make sure that your resume is indeed all in order.

Here we'll just talk about the very basics. At the most basic, but unfortunately one that all too often gets missed: proof read it! Spell checks are great pieces of software but they won't catch things like 'form' for 'from' because both are valid words. Please, make sure you have it set to the correct language as well: there are all too many people wandering around with the American color on such things.

Resumes work in reverse chronological order. A potential employer might indeed be interested in the fact that you were a blackboard monitor (although that might be too great a level of detail perhaps) but they are certainly going to be a great deal more interested in your experience of demountable body systems if you're looking for work in the commercial vehicle sector. So the most relevant material goes first, moving back in time until we get to that triumph of milk monitoring.

Along with work experience, any future employer is going to be interested in anything remarkable you have done: if you've sailed around the world, climbed Everest or been awarded the MBE they really would like to know this.

But when you work with your recruitment consultant at Talisman, or compile your resume at home after buying half that bookshop, remember the absolutely most important thing about it: don't lie! Yes, people really do check references, yes, people really do look up the lists to see if you really were awarded that medal. A reputation for a touch of exaggeration is no bad thing (especially in sales) but one for lying is fatal to career prospects.