As for the information, the resume is about you, but write it in a way that tells employers what you can do for them. Think of it from a customer service point of view. “What can I do for you today?”

Everyone’s resume is unique and should not look like what you find in a book or website. You can use these sources as a “resource”, but your resume will still be quite individualized. Also, you will have a few resumes, not just one. I can be applying for an HR position, along with a teaching position at the same time, therefore I will have two resumes.

Just my two bits…. BTW.. I help immigrants look for work in Vancouver, BC! Been doing it for 9+ years now.

You’ve perfectly captured the keys to a killer resume. So perfectly, in fact, that I am sending this to a high school career counselor for whom I volunteer a few hours a year to conduct mock job interviews. The poor kids keep appearing with resumes that are patterned from a resume guide that must have been written in the 1950’s.

One commenter wrote about CV’s. A CV is very different from a resume and serves a different purpose. Academics are perversely interested in your personal history and the CV neatly wraps that up in a format prepared for ridicule or great impress. I am now seeing academic people provide both a CV and a resume, each written to respond to the different uses and requirements. Most of these resumes/CV pairs have resumes meeting the suggestion you outline above.

If I may suggest one more item to define a killer resume, ten items is boring and everyone appreciates a bonus these days: active voice writing. Kill all the passive voice phrasing. Write in short declarative sentences. Be brief and clear.

And now I’ll sign off because this is getting too long!