How can we have a professional yet diverse Resume to apply to jobs and be eye catching without having to create different resumes?

Regarding the use of different resumes... you can create a basic resume to reflect your experience and accomplishments, however, my advice is to review each job opening and then make sure you tailor your resume. You want to make sure you use key words from the position requirements and emphasize areas in the resume that will show what a great fit you are based on your skills and background.

I highly recommend the books by Robin Ryan "Winning Resumes", "Winning Cover Letters" and "60 Seconds and You're Hired " to help with writing a good resume as well as the entire job search process.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS include a personal and powerful cover letter. When attaching your resume to an online application, make sure the cover letter and resume are in the same attachment (and in that order). Most hiring personnel will not open a cover letter, but if in the same doc, your information has a greater chance of being seen with the bonus of getting more key word "hits" by including the cover letter with the resume.

I do NOT recommend paying someone to create your resume for you. Do the work yourself, as your resume needs to reflect YOU and you need to be familiar with every word and phrase.

Spell check!! Grammar check!!

Ingrid, I am a professional Employment Coach and Career Counselor with lots of hiring experience behind me. Ditto on 2 previous comments about needing to have a targeting resume. Your resume should begin to have a thread running through it for each job you've had. Focus on deciding what Job Function you are seeking. to figure that out, evaluate what your major strengths and experiences are. What industry, what skills, etc. Most employers will look at your most recent job to find similarities with their job. You can help to target your resume not by leaving OUT information, but by promoting (expanding on, move those bullets to the top) the experience which related to the job you are applying to. Don't go for more than one job function or type of job at the same time. A scattered approach rarely works. Something that I help my clients to write which is very effective in getting interviews is to write a Profile just below your contact information. This should communicate 1. Who you are (title/level), 2. Your background & experience 3. Highlight a few skills and say something personal about yourself as an employee. This is the recipe that my partner and I created as co-owners of our own staffing firm which is still operating after 20 years. Also, I disagree with below. If you haven't been called in for interviews in this tight job market within 2 months, there is probably a problem with your resume or cover letter. A good resume writer does NOT write their own resume for you. They enhance, revise, re-design and edit your existing resume. I hope this helps!

Sorry, that's the way it is . . . what I tell my customers is to take the time with each resume, When, and only When, it is a job you really want. If it's just another position you are applying to because, well, you need a job, then any resume will do. However, don't expect results either! The other thing wrong with not tweaking it each time is, statistically, you will experience lots more incidents of nobody calling you back after you submit the resume, which, quite honestly, gets pretty depressing. If you walk into an interview already discouraged, odds are you won't do your best.

Bottom line: do your best at everything you do!