Your resume is often your ticket to an interview with a prospective employer. That document is your first opportunity to make a great impression on a hiring manager. It is a written record of your work history, skills, accomplishments, and education. It is critical that your resume be well written: clear and concise, while including all necessary details.

In addition, these days almost all employers use electronic applicant tracking, so it is important that your resume is "scannable," regardless of the way its submitted. It is best to submit your resume to Certified in MS Word as an e-mail attachment.

Four ways to make your resume scannable:

• Use standard, clear, legible fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman.
  
• Use a font size of 10 to 14 points at standard, "default" word processing settings.
  
• Avoid italics, underlining, or reversing type, as these effects may cause the software to misread letters.
  
• Some bold or capital lettering is fine; just make sure the letters do not touch.

To ensure your resume comes up in searches, use of keywords that apply to your experience and skills is critical.

• Use "concrete" keywords and phrases to describe your job titles and skills (typically nouns such as: receptionist, biologist, programmer, manager, and law librarian)
  
• Skill keyword examples: MS Excel, electronic assembly, PowerPoint, HTML, packing and shipping.
  
• Your Staffing Specialist will be glad to help you update your resume - just ask!