OK, the structure of a good resume. Of course you're going to start with the contact information, and by the way, don't put your contact information in a header or footer. Sometimes those don't show up when they're received. So your contact information on the top, and your first section is going to deal very, very briefly about Qualifications, and right under that is a Highlight of Accomplishment section. And these are going to be the most relevant accomplishments, so they may not be the most significant accomplishments a person has had through the years, but they're going to be the ones that relate most closely with what the person is going after. And then from there, the next section would be the employment section. In the employment section, this is where the chronological portion lays out, because you do need to keep that chronological. but here's the mistake I see often. In those employment entries, people tend to put out all their information in bullet points, and really the proper structure, or more the most effective structure, is to have the responsibilities listed in a small block of text, no more than four lines, and then save bullet points for accomplishments. Only accomplishments go in bullet points. And of course, be sure to include the title, the company, and the dates when that took place. Leave off the months, just use the years.

You want to keep accomplishments in bullet points, first of all so that there's a visual difference between responsibilities and accomplishments, because the reader is going to intuitively understand the information in the text are your responsibilities. And they're going to intuitively understand that the things outside of that text, in bullet points, are something extra special. And it's even fair, and a very good idea, in those accomplishment statements, or even throughout your resume, anywhere that you have something quantified, any sort of number, dollar sign, percent sign, bold it, so that the eye snags on that and really sees that. Now once you've gone back in your resume, through the employment entries, then you'll want to include that resume with an Education Section, and then if it's appropriate a section for professional associations. And that's the basic outline for a respective resume, and whether that's two pages, or three pages, that really depends on the individual.