A good resume opens the door to fresh and new opportunities. This is the first thing that a prospective employer reads to create an impression about you. Thus, it is very important that you put as much emphasis on writing a great resume as you will put on dressing up yourself on the day of interview.

Depending on the industry, there are normally two types of selection processes. In one process, knowingly or unknowingly, the prospective employer advances through the process of elimination. In this process, the employers eliminate one after another resume to shortlist the best people for the position. This process works when the employee is looking to hire experienced and specialists for the available posts. One need not say that, these posts are highly rewarding in terms of money and position.

In the second process, the prospective employees select for people that meet minimum criterion set for the post. Companies that want to employ in bulk often go for this type of selection process. Especially in case of posts that are performance or commission driven, companies adopt this technique. Otherwise, these posts are for fresh candidates.

This is the inside story about how the selection process actually works. This is the first filter that you must pass to get into the next level. In addition, in this round, everything depends on your resume. In addition, that is why it is very important to design a great resume.

If you note my words, you will see that in the last sentence, I did not write, "it is very important to write a great resume". Instead of using the word, "write", I used the word "design". It is not just about what you have done or what you want to do. The resume is actually an opportunity to hook the prospective employers.

There are some basic elements of a resume. For example, you can think of important details (name, address, contact information etc.), objective, achievements, experience, qualification etc. Now, you need to arrange these details according to your focus area.

Now what is a focus area in resume writing? Think about a situation where you are a fresh candidate who has just passed out of college. In this situation, your educational qualification can be the focus area that may hook the prospective employer. You can put your educational qualification at the top of the page, right under the career objective.

Now think of a situation where the same person has gained 5 years of experience in a reputed organization. Therefore, now, the focus area will shift to his or her work experience rather than the educational qualification. You need to change your resume accordingly.

However, how do you find out if your resume is in good shape or not! If you have submitted your resume in an online job board, you must have noticed that they show you how many people have last visited your resume. Now count the number of how many people have actually contacted you. Do not forget to deduct number of the unrelated people. This will give you some great information on how your resume is performing.

A good resume is always work in progress. You must update it regularly to attract new employers.

Steve McMains is a media professional and writes for different online publications on media and advertising industry. For more information on resume writing or preparing for a job interview, he recommends you to visit http://www.mediajobmarket.com