How to make a professional resume?

Here you go.

I would ignore the tool @marinelife suggested. It’s better to do it yourself in Word. Google around for a pre-formatted template from a business school. I think this format is good and very contemporary, but there is way too much text on it and the content is terrible. I’d take that and change the copy so that there is more space between the lines, and less gets said.

When you send out a resume, it’s not bad say as little as possible. Keep in mind that whoever looks at it is probably looking at a lot more, and it’d be best to make the point obvious. Just say what you need to say to relate your experience to the job, and try to write a bang-up cover letter. This means never sending out the same letter and resume twice.

Other advice:
* don’t bother with objectives
* make what you’re currently doing present-tense, everything else past-tense
* don’t waste lines on skills you won’t need; focus on what you do need

I like creating yourself in word the best and I recommend CVMAKER as a good free tool if you don’t have word.

I like to use bullet points and action words to simply but accurately describe the various duties and responsibilities I had at previous jobs.
For example:

Employer
Location, Period of employment
Job Title
• Performed …
• Established …
• Assisted …
• Maintained …
• Implemented …

^ This way makes it easy to summarize the aspects of your work experience, because as @bolwerk pointed out, you should keep resumes short and relevant.

Do you want to make a resume or do you want a job?

Are you at the beginning of a job search? If you are, a resume is not the right place to start. You need to do a lot of preparatory work before you can make a resume that will help you.

If you know what your skills are and you know what kind of work you want to do, then you can start making a resume. Except, first you need to research the places that you might want to work for to see what they are like and what they are looking for.

Once you have those pieces of information, you can start writing a resume targeted to the company and job you want.

The start of the process is deciding what kind of resume you want—a skills resume or a historical resume. There are other choices, too. What you want is something that will best display how your skills match what the company needs.

The goal of the resume is to get you an interview. Therefore you have to appeal quickly to the person who is reading through a ton of resumes. If that’s how you are doing your job search. Of course that’s the wrong way to do it.

What you want to do is network and talk to a person or two at the company, and make a connection and then have them ask for your resume. Now you know who you’re talking to as well as which company.

In fact, the resume usually plays little role in the job hunt. People who send their resumes to MOnster.com jobs are pretty much playing the slots. It works sometimes for some people, but in general, it’s a waste of time. If you search the way I’m suggesting, it really won’t matter what we say about a resume. You’ll know because you’ll know who you are writing to.

I use Word to make my own, but I sometimes use one of their templates just for ideas and format. If you go to the help menu and look up “resume”, you can find a template to use.

I also second what @wundayatta said about websites like monster.com is a waste of time. I’ve never known anyone to actually land a job on any website like that (including hotjobs, careerbuilder, etc.). Unfortunately, a lot of companies will tell you to go to their website and fill out an application. A lot of stuff is done online now. But if you can get in to speak with a manager or supervisor, that will really help. I got my first job thanks to my sister, who also worked there. My second job was by a simple email. And my third and current job was through an online application. However, I know I’ve been lucky. That isn’t how it is for most people.

It depends on where you are in your career, your field, and if you are looking for work in the same field or are making a career change.
Parts:
Contact information
“The Pitch” -what do you have to offer and what are you looking for.
Metrics to support what you have to offer
Employment history with role progression
Education and professional certification.

If you are just out of college, education will come after “the pitch”, then metrics (this is where volunteer work is crucial if you don’t have work history)

You want to use words that show achievement and responsibility – led, managed, developed, integrated, organized, etc.

By metrics support, I mean sayng things like “responsible for organization and execution of Fall fund-raising gala, including managing 150 volunteers and 6 committees. Gala raised over $100,000 in contributions, an increase of 17.3% from the previous year.”

Hire a professional to make one for you.

My advice is similar to @YARNLADY ‘s.
Use your resources. It is VERY important to have a good resume. I used the career services department at my university (it was a free service my school offered for current students or alumni).
If you have access to something like that you should use it.

Other tips (most of which have already been mentioned):
Keep it to one page (if possible)
use past tense for previous positions
use bullet points
create one main resume but be sure to personalize it for each specific job.