If you are out there looking for any professional positions, then the professional resume you use for the purpose is the one thing you cannot afford to get wrong. The professional resume is, after all, your ‘advertisement’ for your services to the prospective buyers of the services (the employers); and could go a long way towards determining whether they proceed to procure those services you are offering them, or whether they opt for another ‘service-vendor.’

You might not think much about the mechanics of professional resume writing, until you get to hear of people who lost out on positions they were very highly qualified for to people who were obviously less qualified – not because of underhand dealings – because of how the two sets of people appeared through their resume. In this regard then, it is important to take note of the fact that your professional resume is essentially a ‘forerunner’ you send before yourself when searching for a professional position; and as a ‘forerunner’ to you, your resume could present you in good or bad light, depending on how you go about developing it.

There are a number of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ to keep in mind when writing a resume.

Starting with the dos, it is important to ensure that you tailor your resume according to the type of position you are looking for, and for the specific employer whose favor you are looking for. The ‘one size fits all’ approach certainly does not apply when it comes to resume writing. So ‘tailoring-making’ is the first do whenever writing a resume for any position.

Another ‘do’ you have to observe whenever writing a professional resume is to keep it brief. This is tricky, because whenever people are told to keep their resumes brief, many end up sacrificing important information that should appear on the resume at the altar of brevity. Ideally, then, you should be concise in your presentation of information on the resume, so that you pack all important information in a small amount of space, ending up with a brief – yet comprehensive – document.

Yet another ‘do’ as far writing a resume goes is to ensure that you do it with the end in mind, all through. This carries in it a lot of other bits of advice on professional-resume writing. It is, for instance, when you are writing the resume with the end in mind that you will be in a position to write for your targeted audience in mind, so that in case you are seeking an academic position, your resume appears in the academia’s language; and if you are seeking a corporate position, your resume appears in the ‘language of business.’

The don’ts, as far as writing a professional resume goes, are just as many. You for instance, to avoid use of superlatives (even when your performance was indeed ‘super’) as over-use of such superlatives makes you come across as arrogant. Use of clichés is to be avoided, as far as professional resume goes, as you have to come across as a creative person – and these are just some of the many things to keep in mind when writing a professional resume.

Job seekers who are actively looking for jobs now have the option to search through thousands of job postings online or advertisements posted by headhunters or recruitment agencies on these sites. Searching for a job online is the easiest and the most convenient way of looking for the most appropriate jobs. If there is something that suits their requirements they can easily register on the site and apply.

It is also possible to conduct a passive job search through these sites as sometimes people are happy with their current jobs and are not actively looking for new employment opportunities, but don’t mind if they are “searched for” or identified by a recruiting agency for a vacancy that matches their skill sets.

This can be achieved by the jobseeker posting their resume on the online job search portal. Resume uploads are normally free and these job portals have filters and intelligent tools that do not divulge the person’s name or current employer to safeguard their privacy.

There are times when retained job search is still the way to go, particularly for very senior positions. Whilst there are a small number of executive recruitment search sites, online job search is not as appropriate for very high-level jobs as the employer typically defines the segment or companies from where their future employees have to be sourced, narrowing the potential field significantly.

Online job sites have however become the primary method used by employers to fill entry and mid level positions. These employment portals also help companies that seek to fill many positions in a short period of time because they give access to a database of resumes ready for them to search through and line up interviews.

The employment portal charges a fee to employers and recruitment agencies to access their database of resumes while the job seeker gets to upload their resume for free. There are a small number of online job search websites that charge a fee to jobseekers if they wish to register to apply for certain jobs.

These online job search websites also provide news and information on the job market and resume building and profiling services for jobseekers who want to create a professional resume or when they want their resume to match the specifications of a particular job.

There is no doubt that online job sites and the ability for so many people to conduct an online job search have significantly changed the recruitment landscape and made it easier for employers to find new recruits and for jobseekers to land the job that they were looking for.