Your resume is a key component of your online presence because it specifies your skills and experience. You may need more than one resume if you have multiple career options and want to target specific job requirements.

Since your online presence allows you to describe your capabilities in various ways in the pages of your web site, you can keep your resume format clean and concise and fill in the details in your bio and portfolio pages. The printer friendly version of your resume can include more of the details you have included on your web site if you so choose.

Most prospective employers scan resumes looking for key words as a way to screen applicants for the required experience and abilities, and then seek more detail for those applicants that potentially have the skills and experience appropriate for the positions they must fill. A resume that is cluttered with unnecessary detail is difficult to scan and may be discarded in favor of more concise resumes. A little trick to finding effective key words is to scan appropriate job listings and pay attention to the key words used by employers that match your skills.

Essential Parts of a Resume

Your contact information must be complete and correct at the beginning of your resume, and must include your name, location and/or mailing address, a contact phone number and email address. There are many style options for presenting this information, which should be prominent at the top of the first page.

Capabilities and experience are the most important factors a prospective employer scans to screen applicants. Your accomplishments in the performance of prior job requirements indicate to the employer how well you may be able to accomplish the tasks in the job that must be filled.

Present you accomplishments in concise statements containing action verbs such as “Directed the activities of work teams” or “Solved problems related to achieving work objectives” to indicate to the employer what you are capable of doing. For example, “Directed the planning activities for the engineering department of a major oil company” indicates to the employer both a skill and the level at which this skill was applied within the organization. This component of your resume is located first after your contact information. See the article on action verbs to get ideas for your own resume.

This information can be listed as a set of skills and experiences or can be listed in the more traditional format under the headings of each job that you have held. In either case, the focus should be about your skills and capabilities in the position you held and not about the company for which you worked. Be sure that your capabilities and experience statements indicate your special abilities such as computer skills, language skills and leadership.

Education is an important factor for entry level positions and becomes less important for people who have extensive professional experience. However, all resumes should indicate the extent of educational achievement and professional training that is relevant to the position for which you are applying. You can also include any special licensing or certifications you may have in this section. This component can be presented near the end of your resume.

Personal data can be kept to a minimum in the resume and presented in more detail in your bio and/or portfolio pages. Some employers want to know if you have had military service and if you belong to any professional societies. This information can be presented at the end of your resume.