Competition for your dream job position can be fierce. Chances are the résumé you send will be just one of hundreds. So how do you stand out from the crowd enough to get an interview? Here’s how to make your résumé shine.

First things first: introduce yourself with a cover letter! Résumés show potential employers what you’ve done, but not who you are. Your cover letter shows them your personality. It’s important to do a good job on your cover letter since it’s a potential employer’s first impression of you, advises Surrana Sandy, president of Résumé Solutions, a consulting firm based in Toronto.

“They’re an employer’s first impression. If it’s poor quality I, as an employer, can predict the quality of the applicant’s work based on the quality of the résumé,” Sandy says. “If you want to make a good impression, you want to make sure you have a flawless cover letter and résumé.”

Your cover letter is the place to talk about why you want the position you’re applying for and why you’re the right person for the job. Talk about yourself, your experiences and how you can make a contribution to the company. Your cover letter should be about three-quarters of a page in length. It should include your name, contact information, date and the job position you’re after at the top.

Keep yourself organized on the CV too. A résumé doesn’t only have to look good, it also has to be strategically organized. Potential employers won’t have the time (or patience) to read over every single résumé from top to bottom. So put the most important information (for the employer) at the top. For example, if you’re a recent business grad but have no work experience related to the position you’re applying for, you should position your education at the very top.

“In the case of new grads it’s good to keep your education at the top if it applies to your field of interest,” says Karen Shane, a certified professional résumé writer. “Employers look at the first three-quarters of your first page, so the key is to highlight things there and to make them want to read on.”

When it comes to your work experience the most recent job should be at the top, followed by a backwards chronology of previous positions. For each job, give your job title and describe your responsibilities. Go one step further by including a few lines about your accomplishments in each job.

And remember, neatness counts. Keep fonts and alignment consistent and, most importantly, make sure there are no spelling mistakes.

Chances are you’re not the only person who is going to respond to the wanted ad. If the position is posted online, there may be thousands, especially if the employer is a major company. Employers know this, and have implemented computer technology that weeds out résumés that aren’t of interest to them, even before they get to human resources.

But there are ways of beating the machine, at least according to Marian Bernard, a certified professional résumé writer based in Toronto. “Employer systems scan through résumés to look for certain keywords or phrases,” says Bernard. “If your résumé has the keywords it will get you to the next level of having people look at it.” Résumé writers should use the words for qualifications listed in the posted job description, Bernard advises.

So why spend all this time on a few pieces of paper? Because you want to show your (hopefully) future boss that the amount of effort you can put in a résumé, you can put into the job.

It’s not just about making it look neat, Bernard says. It’s also about persistence. Use any and all means to make sure your résumé gets to its target. And follow up to make sure it has. One of Bernard’s clients asked her to fax and e-mail in hi résumé to the employer, which she did, but then followed up with the company a few days later only to discover the company’s internet server had crashed. They hadn’t received his e-mail but they did get his fax and he ended up getting an interview.

“It’s okay to do both [e-mail and fax], because when an employer asks you why you did it, you can say that since you’re so keen on working at company XYZ, you wanted to make sure they got your résumé. That makes you look good,” Bernard says. Better yet, hand deliver your résumé the old fashioned way if you get the chance.

If all this seems a little overwhelming, consider hiring a professional résumé writer, Bernard advises: “Some students think that they can’t afford a professional Résumé writer, but a well written résumé is designed to pay for itself.” jp