What's the purpose of a resume? It's not to get you a job. No resume can do that on its own. A successful resume is one that gets you to the next step in the recruitment process: that is, it gets you an interview, some valuable face-to-face (or on-the-phone) time with a busy professional who might be able to give you a job.

Are you sure your resume is doing the best it possibly can for you? After seeing thousands of resumes from screening and checking out potential candidates for a wide variety of positions (e.g., production artists and designers, production managers, IT and HR professionals, salespeople, account managers, customer service representatives, accounting and finance personnel), I have put together what I think are the must-haves for building a great resume no matter the desired position or industry.

First of all, keep in mind that recruiters and/or hiring managers are generally looking for the following:

1. Someone who is qualified for a specific position
2. Someone who has the right aptitude and work approach for the position/company
3. Someone who is a good fit for the company and team
4. Someone who really wants the job

Your goal is to prepare a resume that can meet the above criteria and catch the recruiter’s eye quickly. Very often, those charged with hiring have a very limited amount of time to review individual documents. So, here are my ten tips to help ensure your resume catches the recruiter's attention and gets you into the shortlist for the job.{C}{C}

1.  Choose a file name.

Always, always include your name in the file name (e.g., JohnSmithResume2011 or John_R_Smith_CV_Sales). Very often, the recruiters file away your resume in their databases so that they can look up the information again later. Recruiters may receive tens or hundreds of resumes every day. You want to make yours as easy to locate as possible.