From the Expert: Your résumé is essentially up to you – you get to decide what to include, and how you want your résumé to look and feel. Nevertheless, there are tried-and-true best practices to know before you begin:

Targeted Message: Ensure a more effective résumé by targeting it to the job you’re after. Focus on illustrating the key skills desired by your target employer.

Smart Style: Use 1-inch margins to help ensure your résumé is reader-friendly – you want white space for readability.

Chronological vs. Functional: Choose a style based on what you want to accentuate. Chronological résumés should go back 10 to 12 years in relevant work experience, beginning with your current position. Functional (or hybrid) résumés allow you to go back farther, which can help capture a specific set of skills required for your overarching objective (and the needs of the position). If you want to minimize any gaps in employment, then by all means use a functional/hybrid résumé.

Build Better Bullets: Select three or four items per position or skill set, and focus on specific skills desired by your target employer. Include metrics (qualitative and/or quantitative); estimates are fine. And be sure to provide the “so what” – why should the reader care about what you’re saying? Remember, you don’t have to be the hero here: You’re just providing the potential employer sufficient information to determine whether you have the desired skills and attributes for their particular need.

Hit the Must-Haves: What are the key elements of an effective résumé?

• Begin with your contact information (name, up-to-date email address, phone number, customized LinkedIn URL).
• Next, include a succinct summary covering two key points: What you want to do (either by role or industry) and your qualifications for doing it.
• Follow this with no more than nine key competencies.
• Move on to your professional experiences, where everything supports the qualifications and skills listed in the summary section.
• End your two-page résumé with your education, beginning with the highest degree first, by degree, degree field, school, city, and state –no need to include the year of graduation. The industry standard is no more than two pages for a private-sector résumé.