You probably have about 30 seconds to convince a potential employer that you deserve an interview. A resume summarizes your accomplishments, your education, and your work experience, and should reflect your strengths.

What follows is an outline of a typical chronological resume — best suited for entry-level job-seekers or those who have stayed in the same field. Career changers and those job-seekers with varied work experiences and accomplishments may want to utilize a functional resume style.

Not sure what kind of resume you need? Check out our Resume Resources for more details.

Here are the key components of a standard chronological resume:

Identification

It is essential that a potential employer can reach you.

This section should include your name, address, phone number(s), and e-mail address. If a college student, this section might also include a school address and a permanent home address.

Job Objective

A job objective is optional and should only be included for new college grads and those changing careers. Otherwise, use your cover letter to show your career interests and job objective.

Key Accomplishments

Some resume experts are suggesting adding a section that highlights your key accomplishments and achievements. Think of this section as an executive summary of your resume; identify key accomplishments that will grab the attention of an employer.

This section should summarize (using nouns as keywords and descriptors) your major accomplishments and qualifications

This section can also be labeled “Professional Profile,” “Summary of Accomplishments,” “Key Skills,” “Summary of Qualifications,” “Qualifications Summary,” or “Qualifications.”

Education

For new college grads, this entry should be your next. For others with full-time work experience, this section should follow your experience section.

This section should include school(s) attended (including years of attendance), majors/minors, degrees, and honors and awards received.

For new grads only: There appears to be a growing trend of employers wanting your GPA in this section. If you decide to do so, make sure to use the GPA that puts you in the best light — either overall GPA, school or college GPA, or major GPA.

Professional Experience

This section can also be labeled “Experience, “Work History,” or “Employment.” We like using experience — especially for new college grads, because experience is broader than work history, allowing you to include major school projects that showcase your skills and abilities.

This section should include company name, your job title, dates of employment, and major accomplishments. List experiences in reverse chronological order, starting with your most current experience.

List your accomplishments in bullet format (rather than paragraph format). Avoid discussing job duties or responsibilities.

If you don’t have a lot of career-related job experience, consider using transferable skills to better highlight your work experience.

Finally, make sure to make use of action verbs when describing your accomplishments.

Affiliations/Interests

This section is optional; include only if you have room on your resume for it. Items from this section are often used as an ice-breaker by interviewers looking to start an interview on an informal basis.

This section should only include professional memberships and non-controversial activities/interests.

References

Many experts say this section is passe, but if you have room, include it. If nothing else, this section signals the end of your resume.

This section should only include a statement saying references are available upon request.

Do not include the names of your references on your resume.

Tool : Resume Creator Cover Letters Creator

As a resume writer, I see hundreds of resumes, and the vast majority of them are much weaker than they could be. I see the same mistakes over and over. This article describes the 10 I see most often. All are easy to fix.

Don’t make these resume mistakes:

1. Resume lacks focus.
A sharp focus is an extremely important resume element. Given that employers screen resumes for between 2.5 and 20 seconds, a resume should show the employer at a glance what you want to do and what you’re good at. In a recent study by Career Masters Institute, employers wanted resumes to show a clear match between the applicant and a particular job’s requirements. A “general” resume that is not focused on a specific job’s requirements was seen as not competitive. In an even more recent study by CareerBuilder.com, 71 percent of hiring managers preferred a resume customized for the open position.

One way to sharpen your focus is through an objective statement. Your objective statement can be very simple and straightforward; it can be simply the title of the position you’re applying for, which can be adjusted for every job you apply for. Or you can embellish your Objective statement a bit with language telling how you’ll benefit the employer. Something like:

Objective: To contribute strong ________ skills and experience to your organization in a _________ capacity.

In this day of being able to manage our own computer files, you could have several versions of your resume that are essentially the same except for the objective. A specific objective is always better than a vague or general one.To sharpen your focus, you can also add a section called something like “Summary of Qualifications,” “Profile,” or the like. Such a section can contribute to powerful resume opener that draws the reader in; it can be part of the top third of your resume that showcases your best selling points, catches the prospective employer’s attention, and immediately demonstrates your value as a candidate. “Think of this section as an executive summary of your resume,” writes my partner, Dr. Randall Hansen. “Identify key accomplishments that will grab the attention of an employer.”

You can use your Profile/Summary section to position yourself for each job you target by tweaking the wording to fit each type of position.

2. Resume is duties-driven instead of accomplishments-driven.
Resumes should consist primarily of high-impact accomplishments statements that sell the job-seeker’s qualifications as the best candidate.

Never use expressions such as “Duties included,” “Responsibilities included,” or “Responsible for.” That’s job-description language, not accomplishments-oriented resume language that sells. After all, if you were an employer and wanted to run a successful organization, would you be looking for candidates who can perform only their basic job functions, or would you want employees with a proven track record of accomplishments? In these days in which most resumes are placed into keyword-searchable databases, you won’t find employers searching resumes for words like “responsibilities,” “duties,” or “responsible for.”

Instead, focus on accomplishments that set you apart from other job candidates. In each job, what special things did you do to set yourself apart? How did you do the job better than anyone else? What did you do to make it your own? What special things did you do to impress your boss so that you might be promoted? What were the problems or challenges that you or the organization faced? What did you do to overcome the problems? What were the results of your efforts? How did the company benefit from your performance? How did you leave your employers better off than before you worked for them? How have you helped your employers to:

• make money
• save money
• save time
• make work easier
• solve a specific problem
• be more competitive
• build relationships
• expand the business
• attract new customers
• retain existing customers

Accomplishments are the points that increase reader’s interest, stimulate a request for a job interview, and really help sell you to an employer — much more so than everyday job duties. In the above-cited study by Career Masters Institute, content elements that propel employers to immediately discard resumes include a focus on duties instead of accomplishments, while documented achievements were highly ranked among content elements that employers look for..

Some job-seekers list accomplishments in a separate section or isolate accomplishments from duties/responsibilities when describing their job functions. I don’t support this practice because everything on your resume should be accomplishments-driven. If you label only certain items as accomplishments, the reader’s assumption is that the other things you did were not accomplishments.

Be sure also that the accomplishments you list support your career goals and that you tailor them to the job you’re targeting with this resume.

3. Resume items are listed in an order that doesn’t consider the reader’s interest.
“The Resume Ingredients Rule,” set forth by Donald Asher, author of numerous resume books, says that information on a resume should be listed in order of importance to the reader. Therefore, in listing your jobs, what’s generally most important is your title/position. So list in this preferred order: Title/position, name of employer, city/state of employer, dates of employment. I can’t tell you how many resumes I’ve seen that list dates first. Dates can be important to some employers, but they’re generally not as important as what your position was and whom you worked for.

Education follows the same principle; thus, the preferred order for listing your education is: Name of degree (spelled out: Bachelor of _____) in name of major, name of university, city/state of university, graduation year, followed by peripheral information, such as minor and GPA. If you haven’t graduated yet, list your information the same way. Since the graduation date you’ve listed is in the future, the employer will know you don’t have the degree yet.

By the way, the Resume Ingredients Rule is also the reason that experience and education are listed in reverse chronological order on your resume; it’s assumed that your most recent education and experience are most important and relevant to the reader.

Also consider whether your education or your experience is your best selling point and which should therefore be listed first. Generally, brand-new graduates list education first, while job-seekers with a few years of experience list experience first. When job-seekers add value to their education by attaining an MBA or other graduate degree, they often switch education back to the more prominent position because it now becomes the hot selling point. In fields such as science and higher education, in which education remains a more important selling point than experience, education tends to be listed first consistently. In many countries outside the U.S., education is also considered more important than experience.

4. Resume exposes the job-seeker to age discrimination by going too far back into the job-seeker’s job history.
The rule of thumb for someone at the senior level is to list about 15 years worth of jobs. Age discrimination, unfortunately, is a reality, and even more likely, employers may think you’re too expensive if you list too much experience on your resume. Similarly, don’t provide the date of your college graduation if it was more than about 10 years ago. Read more in our articles,

5. Resume buries important skills, especially computer skills, at the bottom.
There are few jobs today for which computer skills are not important. Yet many job-seekers, even those in technology fields, tend to tack a “Computer Skills” section to the end of their resumes. If computer skills are relevant to your field, list them in your Summary or Profile section. That way, they’ll catch the reader’s eye in the first third of your resume. If you are in the technology field, list your technical skills in a separate section called something like “Systems Proficiencies,” but be sure it’s on the first page of your resume. You may want to set your skills up in a reader-friendly table, as in these samples:

Similarly if language and international-business skills are important in the type of job you seek, list them in your Summary or Profile section, not at the end of your resume.

6. Resume is not bulleted.
Use a bulleted style to make your resume more reader-friendly. In the above-cited study by Career Masters Institute, use of bullets was the 2nd-highest ranked preference by employers, and density of type (paragraphs rather than bullet points) was ranked highly as a factor that would inspire employers to discard a resume.

Use bullets consistently. Some job-seekers bullet most of their resume but don’t bullet the Profile/Summary section, for example. Or they will list the overall scope and responsibilities for each job in an unbulleted section before beginning a bulleted section describing accomplishments. Given that the reader can’t easily discern a rationale for why some material is bulleted and other material isn’t, it’s best to bullet consistently throughout the resume.

7. Resume uses a cookie-cutter design based on an overused resume template.
Most resumes created from a Microsoft Word template are instantly recognizable to employers as such. There’s nothing wrong with that except that employers have seen a million of them, so they don’t stand out. The employer immediately senses a certain lack of imagination in the job-seeker. These templates are also somewhat inflexible and contain problematic formatting. “Using a template or any kind of boilerplate to demonstrate your value to a company is the worst thing you can do to yourself when job hunting,” says Nick Corcodilos of Ask The Headhunter. “You’re supposed to be uniquely qualified so the company will choose you instead of some cookie-cutter drone — right? Do you really want a template?”

8. Resume lacks keywords.
Job-hunting today increasingly revolves around the mysterious world of keywords. Employers’ reliance on keywords to find the job candidates they want to interview has come about in recent years because of technology. Inundated by resumes from job-seekers, employers have increasingly relied on digitizing job-seeker resumes, placing those resumes in keyword-searchable databases, and using software to search those databases for specific keywords that relate to job vacancies. Most Fortune 1000 companies, in fact, and many smaller companies now use these technologies. In addition, many employers search the databases of third-party job-posting and resume-posting boards on the Internet. Pat Kendall, president of the National Resume Writers’ Association, notes that more than 80 percent of resumes are searched for job-specific keywords.

9. References are listed directly on your resume.
Never listed specific references directly on your resume. List them on a separate sheet, and even then, submit them only when specifically requested by an employer.

Even the phrase, “References: Available upon request,” is highly optional because it is a given that you will provide references upon request. If you couldn’t, you would have no business looking for a job. The line can serve the purpose of signaling: “This is the end of my resume,” but if you are trying to conserve space, leave it off.

10. Resume’s appearance becomes skewed when sent as an e-mail attachment and/or resume is not available in other electronic formats.
Have you ever noticed that when you send a resume (or any document) as an attachment from your computer to someone else’s computer, it sometimes doesn’t look the same on the other person’s computer as it did on yours? Maybe it has more pages on the other computer, or maybe Page 2 starts at the bottom of Page 1, or maybe the fonts are different.

If you are regularly sending your resume as an e-mail attachment, you may want to experiment with sending it to friends’ computers to ensure that the formatting appears consistently from computer to computer.

Tool : Resume Creator Cover Letters Creator

2004-Present LPL Financial,California.

Financial Associate-Accounts Payable:

* Audited documents which includes expense and loses, invoices, check requests for payment.
* Generated compensation instructions for accounts.
* Established and validated traveling compensation programs.
* Maintained income tax information on retailer.

Assistant Manager:

* Resolved problems related with cheque that would have been failed to clear transactions.
* Maintained petty cash funds and accounts.
* Posted receivables and month-end journal entries on technical software application.
* Performed all related accounting procedures and functions.
* Solved queries of different departments and provided outcome to requester.

2002-2003 Woodland Hills,California.

Bookkeeper:

* Brought company to full operational condition.
* Responsible for maintaining inventory, sales, odres and supervised part-time employees.
* Does all bookkeeping and accounting, banking, sales, payroll.
* Keep track on bank reconciliations statements.

EDUCATION

Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey, CA.
Masters in Accounting, December 2001.

Tool:Amazing Resume Creator

Bill Grid
173, Pecos Road
Nevada, LV.
01234
(123) 456 789
EXPERIENCE :

1990-Present
Town and country bank, Nevada.
General Accounting Manager :

* Supervised 4 accountants, to manage accounts payable, fixed assets, cash, and payroll functions.
* Prepared monthly and quarterly accounting and employee benefits reports.
* Monitored licensing agreements.
* Examined monthly reports and annual capital budgets.

1986-90.
Cost Accounting Manager :

* Arrange monthly manufacturing accounting report.
* Administered 4 cost accountants.
* Patented product royalties calculation and payment.
* Maintained general written and verbal communication to deal with operations, upper management and staff people.

1984-86
The Raisty Group, Nevada, LV.
Senior Financial Analyst :

* Monitored annual budget preparation of departmental budgets.
* Prepared financial details for use by internal management and parent company management.

1982-84
Staff Accountant.
Audited and prepared tax returns for real estate developers and limited partnerships.

EDUCATION :
University of Nevada, Nevada, LV, 1982
Master of Business Administration degree in Finance.
Nevada, State College, Nevada, LV, 1980
Bachelor of Arts degree: major in Accounting, minor in Business Administration.

CERTIFICATION :

Passed all four parts of the Certified Public Accountant exam. May 1981.

MEMBERSHIPS :

National Society of Certified Public Accountants, October 1981-Present.
New Members Committee Chairperson, 1984-85, Vice Chair 83-84.
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1985-89.

Tool:Amazing Resume Creator

Jerry Wills
253, Ellis Street
Phoenix, Arizona 01234
(123) 678 344.
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

1990 to Present BNC National Bank, Phoenix, AZ.
Accounting Manager

* Monitored a staff of 5 people.
* Ensure that resources are spent and handled according to the goals, objectives and missions.
* Predicted client needs and resolved their requests and queries.
* kept an outstanding service record throughout the growth period to smooth the progress of our team’s asset accountability from $8 billion to $10 billion in 16months.

Accounting Assistant:

* Monitored and executed currency and security settlements in global markets
* Maintained inbound and external audit requests by effectively integrating all legal tender and security inconsistency with customers and sub-custodians.
* Make sure the funds are being spent as per the budget planned.

1989 to 1990 Deserts Hills, Phoenix, AZ.
Fund Accountant

* Matured equity transactions in the state markets.
* Prepared weekly and monthly accounting and financial statements for mutual funds.

EDUCATION

University of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ.
Master of Science, 1992
Concentration: Finance.

Phoenix Advantage charter School.
Bachelor of Science, 1989.
Concentration: Finance and Economics.

COMPUTERS
Software knowledge: Microsoft Word, Lotus 1-2-3. Pascal, FORTRAN
Tool:Amazing Resume Creator

* Bachelor degree in Commerce in 2000 from University of Chicago Law School
* Course in business administration.

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:

* Knowledge in telephony, wireless, LAN connectivity.
* Microsoft word, excel, power point.
* Excellent presentation skills.
* Demonstrated ability to execute results against strategy & meet critical deadlines.

BASIC STAGE OF THE EMPLOYMENT / INTERNSHIP:

* Worked as computer operator in print media for 1yr.
* Initiated 6months in Hexaware, a business firm in Chicago as sales executive. scheduled appointments, contributed in presentations.

EFFICIENCY:

* Contributed in technical sales and business knowledge by participating in educational opportunities.
* Resolving issues, monitoring competitive products and reactions from clients.

EXPERIENCE:

* currently helping a multi production company since 2001 as an Executive Accountant.
* In 1999 joined a software company as an junior production manager analyzed financial and statistical data and revitalized current and fixed assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses.
* Adopted numerous marketing strategy to boost the production and sales on the basis of a balance maintaining between demand and supply.
Tool:Amazing Resume Creator

QUALIFICATIONS:

* 3-4 years experience in accounting field.
* Excellent communication knowledge like hardware, programming and networking.
* Self-motivated; implemented decisions and set valuable priorities to achieve both urgent and durable goals.
* Improved personality, having dealt with experts, clients, and team members.

EXPERIENCE:
Montrose Accounting, NY.

Accounting Assistant:

* Verify purchase orders and invoices.
* Solved areas where their were problems.
* Prepare, scrutinize, and maintain computerized bills payables and receivables.
* Observe accounting system for domestic software companies.
* Implemented a billing system to maintain satisfying relations with clients.
* Also worked as troubleshooter.
* Designed an employee cash checking center within company.

Accounts Receivable/Payable Clerk:

* Maintained Accounts Receivables And Accounts Payables.
* handled outgoing communications by fax, word document, and mails.

Robert Half finance & accounting, NY.
Accounting Assistant:

* Generated income statements, general ledger, checks and reports.
* Deposited monthly rent checks.
* Maintain books of accounts.

EDUCATION:
Bachelor in Cost and Works Accounting, New York University.

COMPUTERS:
Proficient in Microsoft Word and programming languages like JAVA, .NET
Tool:Amazing Resume Creator

Lance Oliver
570, Ellis Street
Chicago, IL 46469
(123) 436 879
OBJECTIVE :
A career in the financial backgroung where budgeting experience will be advanced.
SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS :

* Continues 6 yrs of experience in budget control management, and sales.
* Good oral and written communication skills.
* Flexible in understanding new concepts.
* Proficient in handling diverse tasks all together.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE :

1985-Present
state treasury, Chicago, IL
Accounting Assistant

* Negotiate contract work.
* Attend state domicile meetings.
* Act as liaison with Budget department and accountants.
* Make the most use of IBM and Hewlett Packard Computer Systems.
* Interface with clients from presentations and determining needs through completion of services.
* Assist with public relations, payroll & opening/closing monthly and yearly budgets.

1980-1985
CRAVEN TRANSPORT, Midway Airport, Chicago, IL
Budget Director

* Set up/implemented $7 million budget and payroll for main branch and subsidiaries.
* Discussed contracts with air freight agencies operating directly with owner.

1974-1980
NANETTE CONSTRUCTION, Elsah, IL
Budget Director

* Actuated original budget for new company; ensured appropriation of moneys for payroll.
* Controlled all official work utilizing IBM Computer. System.

EDUCATION
Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL Major: Business Management.
Tool:Amazing Resume Creator

Senior Financial Analyst(May, 1990 to Present) Allstate Insurance company, Kansas city, MO.

* Helped manager in preparing financial statements and reports.
* Examine job of staff accountant and approve journal ledger for data entry.
* Support in preparing and maintaining budgets using Excel and Word for Windows.
* Developed annual budgets for Allstate Insurance company.
* Helped outside auditor in doing audit process.

Senior Accountant (March 1989 to July, 1990)
George k.Baum & company.

* Coordinated in all aspects of monthly closings and financial reporting.
* Supervised staff of 3 (Accounts receivable, Accounts payable, general ledger, payroll).
* Prepared Balance sheet, reconciliation statements including inventory.
* Performed investigative analysis regarding profit and loss account.

Staff Accountant(March 1987 to July 1989)
Kansas City Ballet, Missouri.

* Processed accounts payable entries.
* Assisted in company accounting reconciliations.
* Worked for completion of sales tax filings.
* Keep track of petty cash accounts.
* Worked with vendors to make sure that accurate sales tax rates are charged.
* Assisted other team members of accounting department when required.

EDUCATION

* Master of Science in Accountancy, expected completion August, 1993
Kansas Wesleyan University, Kansas, MO.

* Bachelor of Arts in Business Management, December, 1986
Southwestern College, Kansas, MO.

COMPUTER SKILLS

* Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 (Windows),
* Solomon General Ledger,
* Networking.

Tool:Amazing Resume Creator

* Worked as Administrative Accountant in a small sized motor works manufacturing company serving overall national market.
* maintained accounts, journal entries and recording auditors statements and documents.
* Two years experience with Certified Public Accountants.

EXPERIENCE:
Discover Financial Company, Illinois. 2000 – Present.
Accountant:

* Developed, and maintained all aspects of business accountancy, marketing, and data processing of company.
* Worked on financial budgeting, capital expenditure, cash flow and foreign-exchange dealings.
* Established close relations between bank executives, and auditors, ensuring conformity with all regulatory bodies.

Tribune Company. 1998 – 1999.
Accounts Payable Clerk:

* Applied a new software program which helped in increasing department productivity and reduce errors by 15% .
* Providing excellent customer service on a consistent basis which ensures customer value.

Auditor: 1996 – 1998.

* One year experience in auditing private, public, holding, and government companies.
* Prepared financial statements, profit and loss accounts, balance-sheets and schedules.

EDUCATION:
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.
Bachelor’s Degree, with major in Accountancy, Masters in Banking and Finance, 1997.

Tool:Amazing Resume Creator