Writing a resume is as easy as three simple steps:
1) Assess yourself.
2) Consider your audience.
3) Communicate your message.

Assess yourself. Sit down and honestly assess your strengths, weaknesses, what motivates you and your personal preferences. Ask co-workers, friends or family for feedback.

Consider your audience Your goal is to effectively communicate to your potential employer all your transferable skills. Each employer prioritizes skills differently. You need to carefully read the job posting or description of the available job (if there is one), and express your skills in way that matches the employers "wish list". If you do not have a job posting, read a few similar job postings for that industry and look for key skills that employers often seek. Make sure your resume highlights those skills.

Communicate your message Tell a unique story of who you are and how you stand out. Differentiate yourself from every other potential job candidate. Focus more on accomplishments and results, less on duties and responsibilities. Make sure you select the most important results, not every single thing you have accomplished in your career.

Here are the key items to include in your resume: Heading - your name, address, phone numbers and email address Summary of Qualifications or Key Career Goal - write one sentence that sums up your qualifications or key goal. Work Experience- Past/current experience in reverse chronological order. Include titles , locations, dates of employment and skills acquired. Write a few short sentences on what you accomplished followed by a few bullet points that answer the following questions:
What was the challenge?
How did you deal with and overcome the challenge?
What were the results of the actions?
What is significant about this accomplishment?
Why would they care?

Be specific, use action words and quantify where appropriate (increased sales by 30%) Education - degrees conferred and name of educational institution. Date of degree is optional Personal - add only relevant information - languages spoken, outside affiliations (board member of XYZ non-profit) sports and hobbies. Avoid marital status, number of kids, age related information.