The thought of writing a resume fills many people with dread. However, all you need is a plan that covers both lay out and content.

The plan below should help you produce a resume that is easy to read and packed with facts employers want to know.

Contact details

Centre contact details at the top of the page. Include name, address, phone number, mobile and email. Make sure your name and phone/email contacts are on each page just in case the pages get separated after being printed out in hard copy. Only use professional-sounding email addresses. Emails used by couples or zany nicknames like evilpixie@ should be replaced. This is a marketing document promoting you so use some variation of your name.

Birth date and marital status

You are not legally obliged to include either detail. Including marital status in this day and age just looks plain weird to me. As for age, MANY recruiters advise against it - there is just too much age prejudice out there. However, if you think displaying your birth date would be an advantage to you, then go ahead.

Lay out

Again, this is really open to debate but the best advice I've heard is "keep it simple". Font style should be easy to read like 11 point Times New Roman or Arial. I've noticed many candidates use a table format but I find this wastes a lot of space and is hard to follow and ugly. Centring contact details and your Career history or Career summary is fine and then placing the other information flush left.

Bold for headings is easier to read than bold and underline (overkill). Use dot points if you want, but just the one type. Also avoid colours. The content of the resume is the most important thing.

Summarising your strengths upfront

You can do this two ways, either via a list of Key Strengths represented as dot points or by creating a section under a heading like Career Profile.

Key Strengths

Based on my conversations with recruitment consultants, a key strengths area represented with dot points is the popular option. The aim of the section is to give the person reading your resume a quick snapshot of what you have to offer in the hope they instantly place you in the short list pile.

To maximise the opportunity

For example:

• High level computer skills including Excel, Word and Powerpoint.
• Five years experience in customer service both face to face and phone based.

And you fill in the rest. As a guide, six points is good but there is no real rule. Another tip, be specific. I see a lot of "Excellent Communication Skills" but what does that mean?

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills acquired via study and customer service work.

Career Profile, Career Overview, Career Summary, Career Objective?

Many people start a resume with a Career Objective. I think this is fine for school leavers or recent uni grads. For the rest of us, a career overview or Career Overview might be better. Employers want to know what you are going to do for them. Putting your expectation of your next employer in the first line of your resume could be off putting. By all means conclude with a career objective eg - "While currently a product manager, my career goal is to move into general management".

A Career Overview should provide the reader with a quick preview of what he or she will find in your resume. It should be a few sentences and written as one paragraph. It should include a smattering of your professional, academic and industry training. Some personal attributes are optional. As stated, your career goal could serve as the last sentence.