Is Your Resume All Fluff and No Flavor?

Professional resume writers are not the only ones being bombarded with resumes from job seekers who are having no luck with their job search. Recruiters are too. That is to be expected since we are experiencing challenging economic times and a competitive job market.

The 2008 increase in online job searches is just one indication of how many resumes recruiters are wading through. CareerBuilder.com alone saw a 68% increase in online job search visitors in 2008. Yahoo Hot Jobs had a 250% increase in job seeker traffic.

This online job search activity leads to recruiters who are flooded with resumes. Too many of those resumes contain more fluff than flavor and really do not stand a chance. When you have 20-30 seconds to impress a recruiter or hiring manager as they complete a power scan of your resume, fluff won't help you make it to the "keep" pile.

Here are 5 key tips to ensure that the top 30% of your resume packs a lot of punch, offering less fluff and more flavor: (check out the sample resumes illustrating the tips)

1. Limit name, address and other contact details to two lines maximum. That is all you need. This may be harder with college resumes with a temporary and permanent address or some addresses in other countries, but two lines can usually do it.

2. Audit your resume objective for relevance and focus. Get to the point quickly!

3. Try a powerful summary of qualifications. One trick to writing a powerful summary of qualifications is to write it last.

4. Consider a resume header.

5. Create a professional highlights section where you can list all your significant career accomplishments.

The key is to make sure there is nothing in that top 30% of your resumethat puts the recruiter off. Your goal should be to help the recruiter get to the other 70% of your resume where you share relevant skills, education and talk about outstanding outcomes.