Every word of a resume costs something. Does that sound foreign to you? It shouldn't.

Somebody is reading that resume. Maybe several people. That person's time is worth money. The more time you take to sell yourself in your resume and your cover letter, the more "expensive" your resume is for the people reading it.

In today’s competitive job market, it is impossible to stress enough the importance of writing not just a good, but a terrific resume. With job recruiters and human resources managers getting as many as 400 resumes per job listing, it’s vital to write a resume that stops them in their tracks.

Resume Writing doesn’t have to be a solo gig

Resume writing can be the bottleneck to advancements in your career. If you find yourself getting writer’s block consider getting help. You can find experts who have written hundreds of resumes; they can help you, too. A good first place to look for help is online job search sites such as career builder or monster.com.

Get help writing resumes that will get you hired

Some experts say NEVER bother with resume objectives. While others say they should be an essential element on every resume.

So, how do you know who is right?

The simple answer is... no one is absolutely right. Your decision on whether to use resume objectives will depend on your circumstances, job search goals, and—in some cases—the person who reviews your resume.

Hunting for a position in a new career field? Trying to take your new education or skills and transform them into a job with a future?

I’ve spent the last few weeks working in a placement service trying to help people find that first “career” job; trying to help them make the transition from student to employee. I see the same mistakes over and over again. Here are a couple of things to be aware of as you search for that fresh start.

Employers and recruiters receive hundreds of resumes for every position they are trying to fill. To select their shortlist of candidates to interview, they look for the most common resume mistakes most applicants make and eliminate them first.

To increase your chances of getting an interview, make sure you avoid these common mistakes.

Ten Resume Mistakes to Avoid

When hiring, do you rely on resumes alone or do you also require job candidates to fill out a comprehensive ‘Application for Employment’ form? Relying on resumes alone is definitely a big mistake. Here’s why:

1. Studies show that up to 60% of resumes contain significant misrepresentations concerning qualifications, skills, education, and work history.

Your resume is your sales document. It tells the world of your achievements, capabilities and roles you have enjoyed. It should standalone and represents you well. To impress your potential employers there are a few guidelines that will help you create an amazing resume.

Create a captivating covering letter – use friendly language, refer to the job advertised and allow some of your personality to show through this document.

It's never too early to update your resume, even if you're not searching for a new job. Why? Updating your resume is a valuable reminder to yourself of your practical value to employers.

Refer to it when preparing your business case for a raise request or when preparing for your annual performance evaluation. Your resume is a good reminder of your achievements for your company as well as your capabilities and skills.

All of us involved with helping you get a new job, whether as third party recruiters or as representatives of a company, are evaluating you for employment are all receiving hundreds of emailed resumes a day. Having done professional search work for more than thirty years, I have seen both resumes change and how they are delivered change. The change in delivery means that how you think of your resume being seen needs to change too.

All of us involved with helping you get a new job, whether as third party recruiters or as representatives of a company, are evaluating you for employment are all receiving hundreds of emailed resumes a day. Having done professional search work for more than thirty years, I have seen both resumes change and how they are delivered change. The change in delivery means that how you think of your resume being seen needs to change too.

A career transition is no longer about getting your hands on a list of contacts, networking with headhunters, or going online to look for work. It’s better than that.

Want to neutralize most of your rivalry? Hot-swap the traditional means of securing a job with these new tactics and you’ll warp-speed your search:

• Stop looking for a job

• Increase your visibility

• Decrease your competition

Is your resume dead? Don’t be so quick to say, “No way!” Of the hundreds of resumes I’ve seen written by job seekers of all backgrounds and educational levels, easily 95% qualify to be labelled as dead-but-not-yet-buried.

Are you in denial about the lifelessness of your resume? If you are reasonably qualified for the type of work you seek, yet your resume is consistently failing to win you interviews, then you need to face the reality that your beloved document is dead.

Try these professional resume writing techniques to resurrect your resume and your job search today:

Problem #3: Resume Is Blind

A resume may not be who you are, but to a potential employer, it may be all they see of you and make or break your chance for your next interview. While many of us either spend long hours crafting the perfect resume (or pay someone else big bucks to do it for you) and may not want to mess with perfection, not updating your resume may cause more harm than good.

In today's competitive job market, a first class resume is an essential tool for winning an interview. The way in which you present your skills, achievements and experience on paper will profoundly affect the way in which a hiring company considers your application.

It's shocking how many people don't have the slightest idea how to write a resume.

If you've been in the professional workforce at any level for any amount of time, you've likely needed a resume. Most people I've known slapped something together that they thought looked and sounded good. Many of them spent some time without jobs.

Since college I've been told that a resume ought to have an "objective statement" at the top. Maybe you've been told the same.

I'm here to tell you somebody's been lying to you!

Well, not necessarily, but maybe. Every resume has an objective, but not every resume has to have an objective statement. So before you get the urge to search online for sample resume objectives, keep reading.

The resume objective statement is typically something that trips people up.

Confronted by the silent challenge of the blank page, most folks Google for "sample resume objectives". They hope that'll help.

Probably not.

Sample resume objectives. When a harried and possibly panicked job seeker finds one he thinks is good, he feels like the drowning man who just got rescued.

But as Shakespeare said, there's something rotten in Denmark. Or in that sample you thought would save you.

The problem is that sample resume objectives all tend to miss one thing. It's truly shocking to me that they do. But they're usually free, and often they're worth about what you paid.

Almost everybody I've ever helped write a resume has said something like, "If I just had an example to follow..."

The problem is, most people don't follow the example, they copy it.