Many people who need a resume fast forget there are many traps facing them and end up blowing it.

Read these 3 deadliest resume mistakes and see what you should do instead.

Mistake #1: Thinking the resume is all about you when it is actually all about the employer's needs. You list all your Objectives not realizing the employer is not interested in what you want. You fill your resume with "glittering generalities" about how great you are. "Quick on your feet." "Go-to person." "Team player." Sound familiar? Because it is.

What to do instead: Peppering your resume with specific skills and abilities is critical (beneficial) to the prospective employer. If you are paid 70k annually, in 10 years, minimum, it's a 700,000k decision. The employer wants to know about your results, achievements, accomplishments, fluency, proven skills, and abilities that match her needs. She is not interested in what you think about you.

Mistake #2 - Using MS Word Resume Templates - Why not? It's easy. Fill in the blanks. Done. Stop. Ask what would happen if all applicants used Bill Gates' resume templates? What one word would pro recruiters, interviewers, and prospective employers think? My guess: "lazy."

What To Do Instead - Focus your search on prospective employer (reader). Find a real person's 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? 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.

Mistake #3: Believing the resume is a job application. You are imprinted at birth with what others believe a resume should look like. They have made up your mind that you should bare all: everything should be dated; give pay rates for past "6" jobs; insert address and phone number of former employers; show supervisor name and title; and list references. Not.

What to do instead: The purpose of a resume is to get an interview, not to get a job. Focus. Like a golf game, fewer keystrokes the better. Remove clutter caused by too many dates, bullets, phone numbers, addresses, and names of supervisors and references. Don't repeat the same word or phrase again and again, job to job. More white space, the better.

And now I'd like to invite you to claim your Free Instant Access to your own one-on-one live and recorded tele-conference when you visit http://www.resumesteve.com

Get your job search, resume, and cover letter questions and more, answered. You'll receive one hour, more or less, YOUR schedule permitting, with Stephen Q Shannon.

From Stephen Q Shannon - The Free Teleseminar Resume Guy