It's not your fault . You don't write resumes for a living. I see many people blow it because college professors, friends, and neighbors give hearsay advice. It's confusing.

Let's look at 3 deadly resume writing mistakes and misunderstandings and move to what you should do instead.

Mistake #1 - Using Bill Gates' Word Resume Templates - Why not? It's easy. Fill in the blanks. Done. Stop. Ask what would happen if all applicants used Microsoft resume templates? What one word would recruiters, interviewers, and prospective employers think? My guess: "lazy."

What To Do Instead - Focus on prospective employer (reader). Find a real person resume you like. Does the result look professional and customized to a job opening? Is there plenty of white space? Are margins at least one inch wide all the way around text? Is type size bigger than 10pt; ideally 12pt? Is there an absence of ruled and underscore lines? From scratch adapt what you see to your needs. Read rest of this article to avoid two other deadly mistakes.

Mistake #2 - Failing to include results (accomplishments, achievements). Too often people bang out performed tasks (copied from job descriptions). They are Key Job Requirements (KJRs). Boring. Your resume is not alone. It will be one of hundreds seen by underpaid resume screeners, secretaries, and HR "analysts." Their job? Find reasons to NOT keep your resume.

What To Do Instead - Showing results under a tight one or two-line summary of the job's purpose causes the screener to spend more than the typical 11 seconds (not minutes) with your document. Don't bullet KJRs. Only bullet results. Train the reader: "Bullets mean achievements or accomplishments, not job tasks." Start with the result. Use numbers, dollars, and percents. Next, state action, e.g., how you achieved the result? Short. Brief.

Mistake #3 - Listing three, four or more juicy references - Wrong, not right! Cart before the horse. Your top purpose is to get a phone or in-person interview. You have rights. How do you know you will want to work there? If the organization is interested, you will supply list of references. Please don't say, "References on request." That's hokey. Not cool.

What To Do Instead - Wait. Wait until the employer rep asks for references. Then match each reference to person contacting your references. VPs want to talk to VPs. HR wants to talk to HR people. Director level to director level. Crucial. Include title and your relationship with each reference. Supervisor? Owner? Champion? These are work references, not ministers, pals, or family members.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your Free Access to sample professional two-page resumes, resume templates, biographical sketches, and other search tools to help you land your new job faster. Visit http://www.resumesteve.com/ and take part in a confidential, Free, live, and interactive job search, resume and cover letter critique teleseminar Sundays at 9PM US EST. Thank you for reading this entire article.

Stephen Q Shannon The Free Teleseminar Resume Guy!