About two years ago I sat down to apply for my first internship without a resume and without a clue of what it should look like. I emailed my uncle and a friend from college to received their inputs and they both came back with completely different pieces of advice.

Two years later my resume looks nothing like it did when I first sat down. Not only have I added more experience, but I have also changed my format numerous times.

The Hiring Hub recently wrote a blog about how to get your resume right the first time. This blog is a few years too late for me, but I will take their tips and apply them to my resume every time I update it for a new job. I hope it will help you.

They give two great pieces of information everyone writing their resume, either for the first time or the hundreth time, should remember:

• Your resume is yours. It represents you and it is how you sell yourself.
• You can’t please everyone all the time. What one employer may not like, may be the very reason you get an interview with another.

Your resume shouldn’t include everything you’ve done in your career, only the information that is relevant to the job you want. So unless you’re applying for a job in the food/beverage industry it’s probably best to leave off your time as a waiter. The Hiring Hub says your resume is “a simple communication tool designed to show someone that you can do the job, and to help you get an interview.”

They also say the best way to make sure your resume is up to par, so you don’t have to rewrite it again and again, is to:

• “Ask someone who understands what you do or what you want to do to critique your resume. Have them critique the flow and whether or not it accurately describes what you do and the level at which you can do it.”
• “Ask someone who has corporate/agency/non-profit experience but doesn’t know what you do to critique your resume and see if they can understand what you do.”
• “Ask an industry expert to review your resume.”
• “Once you have two or three people review your resume and you’re comfortable with it then send it out. If your resume is not getting results, you may need to redo it.”

What are some tips you’ve received for writing your resume?