When faced with a blank page it's easy to become a victim of analysis paralysis. You end up thinking about all of the things you could do rather than actually doing something. So my first piece of advice is to start writing. As ideas come in to your head, let them flow into your resume. At this point there is nothing that is wrong so just keep writing. Eventually you'll hit a point where you're out of ideas and you have nothing left to write. It is at this point that you should begin the editing process.
Knowing when to stop working on your resume is also a tough call. There always seems to be some portion that you can rewrite or some design phpect you can tweak. What you need to realize is that such continuous changes have diminishing returns and eventually are not worth doing. Save the file, close it, and start working on the actual process of landing interviews.
I think a professional resume should be like this:
Name
Street Address
City, State, Zip
E-Mail Address
Professional Profile
Type professional profile here.
Education
Name of Institution, 199X
Degree, Area of Degree
Concentration
Relevant Skills
• • •
• • •
• • •
• • •
• • •
Career Highlights
• Type highlight here.
• Type highlight here.
• Type highlight here.
• Type highlight here.
Professional Experience
Name of Company Month and Year - Present
Job Title, Group (if applicable)
• Type responsibility here.
• Type responsibility here.
• Type responsibility here.
• Type responsibility here.
Name of Company Month and Year - Month and Year
Job Title, Group (if applicable)
• Type responsibility here.
• Type responsibility here.
• Type responsibility here.
• Type responsibility here.