Accomplishment Statements

• The absence of accomplishment statements is a "common weakness" among resumes, according to Scripps College. An accomplishment statement should tell the employer what specific action you took to achieve a result, and what tangible, quantified benefits followed. These statements may be included in your summary of qualifications or in your work experience section, depending on the type of format you choose. For example, beneath your job position as an assistant marketing manager you may have stated "designed and implemented back-to-school advertising program. Turn that into an accomplishment statement by adding the result, such as "which led to a 25% increase in sales in August 2011."
  
  

Targeted Objective

• The objective statement on your resume may not be appropriate for all of the jobs for which you are applying, even if the positions are similar. Consider what the employer is looking for before you send your resume, and rewrite your objective to state your career goals in a way that aligns with the type of employee he is interested in hiring.
  
  

Action Verbs

• Resumes are typically only one page in length, which is not a lot of room in which to describe all of your duties, skills and achievements. Every word you use counts, and should therefore be as powerful as possible. Boston College recommends using action verbs in your resume when you make a statement about yourself, such as in your list of skills, your summary of qualifications or in your work experience section. Aim for action verbs that relay a variety of types of skills. For example, "mediated" and "enlisted" are action verbs which demonstrate communication skills, "organized" and "analyzed" demonstrate management skills and "identified" and "surveyed" demonstrate research skills.
  
  

Eye-Pleasing Layout

• Because employers tend to receive large quantities of resumes when a position becomes available, they scan each resume quickly. Look at the layout of your resume without reading the actual information to determine whether it is eye-pleasing. The University of Utah Career Services recommends fonts such as Times New Roman and Arial, which are easy to read. Your resume should also contain white or blank space, as long, solid blocks of text are a strain on the eyes. Using formatting options such as bold, italics and bullet points can also help employers quickly find the information they are seeking.