Jane, a mid-level manager laid off from a manufacturing firm, spent three months trying to get her resume noticed. She sent more than a dozen resumes out each week to every opening that slightly resembled a job she could do because, after all, the more the merrier. Something would stick, right?

Jane organized her job search like she would any project. Because of the volume of resumes going out, she kept track by putting each ad she answered up on a wall in her home office. Then, she could track their status and her follow-up calls. As she began to receive rejection letters, she posted those also. On many resumes she received no answer at all. Then, one dark day it hit her - the wall had turned into a glaring "wall of shame." It continually reminded her of rejection. Luckily Jane was able to keep her head above water and, instead of letting it get her down, started looking more closely at her resume. How could she write a resume that would get noticed? Here are several resume writing tips she found helpful and several she learned to avoid.

First, there are two basic types of resumes - a functional resume that is most often used for informational interviewing and a chronological resume that is most often used when applying for a job where your job history matches the target and shows a sensible progression of career steps. The functional resume is created around a "theme" and is often used when trying to bridge to a new or similar industry. A functional resume is a great tool but you need to have a good understanding of its purpose for you and your marketing strategy.

Here are resume writing tips Jane found for a functional resume:

Resume Writing Tip #1 - Functional resumes are often great when you are networking with others and exploring other career options where your work experience indirectly showcases those transferable skills you have already mastered. Use it to give an overall view of your background and to position how you work, not where you have worked. The functional resume focuses on what you can bring of value to the industry.

Resume Writing Tip #2 - When using an objective it is important that it clearly state your purpose and target. The objective should be about the value you bring not your expectations about how the company can give you an opportunity to grow your own career! An example of bringing value might be "I am looking for a career as a Crime Scene Investigator where I can use my ability to catch details, create processes and learn new technology to advance an organization's reputation and success."

Resume Writing Tip #3 - With a functional resume, have a good understanding of and outline how you work. Identify and describe your unique patterns of behavior - those that give you success (key success patterns) and showcase the value you bring. Do you see a recurring theme here? What makes you different from the other 300 resumes received for this position? What sets you apart?

Resume Writing Tip #4 - Avoid including so much information that the reader has a hard time following who you are. Do not worry about trying to include something for everyone ("the kitchen sink"). This will only make you look like a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none.

So, the functional resume is most often used in networking meetings and is used in three instances - to explore markets, to clarify and validate that the target market is a fit, and to position yourself in that market. The functional resume should be a document that can express your objective, achievements, and patterns of successful behavior.

After the networking meetings, with a specific job and industry identified, you may want to use the chronological resume if it makes sense to with your job history. When going through the front door to "HR," you will find most recruiters prefer the chronological resume. See our companion article on tips for writing a chronological resume!

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