The most financially important document you will ever own. When it works, the doors of opportunity open for you. When it doesn't work, they won't.

a written description of the basic tasks, duties, and responsibilities required of an employee holding a particular job

If you owned a company, there isn't any other reason you would add workers to your payroll. Your resume sells why you are the right person.

No one reads resumes unless they have to, so when your resume does get read, it means that a job exist. Whenever a recruiter searches a resume database or reads a resume, she s doing it with a specific job and the language and priorities of that job description in mind.

Your resume must first have been pulled from a database by a recruiter with a specific job and the language and priorities of that job description in mind.

Your resume works when it matches your skills and experiences to the responsibilities and deliverables of a specific target job.

Your resume

The simple recitation of all your accomplishments and activities results in a hodgepodge of what you think is important, not what potential employer knows what is important. Speak to the priorities of your potential employer.

This is the job you can make the most convincing case for on paper, the strongest argument for in person, and the job where, when you hit the ground running, you won't trip over your shoelaces.

Focus on the target job and its responsibilities from the point of view of the recruitment process and the selection committee.

Collect 6-10 job posting of a single job you can do and would enjoy doing. The most productive resumes focus on a single job

Create a new document and title it TJD for [your chosen target job title].

Take the job descriptions and ask, "When employers are hiring people like this, they tend to describe the job title with these words." Write down the variations in your TJD.

Read through your 6-10 job descriptions and and look for the requirements that are common for your samples. Take the most complete descriptions write them down in your TJD document.

Read through your 6-10 documents and identify the problems to be solved, and your list your examples of how you solved similar problems. Write this down in your TJD document.

Identify the behavior profile of success. Think of the best person you have ever known doing this job, and what made them stand out. List the behaviors you need in your TJD.

Identify the behavioral profile of failure. Think of the worst person you have ever known doing this job and what made the person stand out in a negative way. Write down the behaviors to avoid in your TJD.