Today’s job market is notoriously unforgiving. Applicants inundate hiring managers with executive resumes seeking a perfect career. They intend these career perfect resumes as professional marketing tools, for every position they seek. Job fairs are overcrowded and, if there are only 10 applicants for each opening, a job seeker may actually feel a certain relief.

One result of the tough job market is that hiring managers pay minimal attention to each of the hundreds of executive resumes that land on their desks. With those managers having only a few seconds to devote to a resume before consigning it to its fate, a resume has to stand out from the crowd to make the cut.

No Mistakes
A resume can stand out in good and bad ways and the worst way to distinguish your resume is to deliver it with a typo, a misspelling or an error in grammar. The simplest solution is to proofread, proofread and proofread. If you have any doubt about spelling, word usage or grammatical structure, enlist the aid of someone who knows the rules. If you are still unsure, rewrite your work so that you are comfortable with the result.

Good-looking
We do our best to remember that looks aren't everything, but that world-view inevitably collides with another aphorism: First impressions matter. Your resume has to make the right first impression because it will not get a second chance.

Avoid the templates that everyone else is using. By definition, they do not stand out. Aim for a look that is crisp, clean, clear and contemporary.

Easy to Read
If your resume has received an approving first glance, make the second glance as effortless as possible for the hiring manager. Make the resume easy to read. If you have been tempted to use tiny fonts in order to fit everything on a single page, edit the content instead and keep the fonts legible. Use enough white space to make the text inviting. Take advantage of simple formatting options like bullet points: They draw the eye and add emphasis without adding clutter. Above all, keep it simple. Stay away from multiple fonts and extraneous typographical flourishes.

Well organized
Structure your resume so that the reader knows where to look for your job history, your education and your contact information. A hiring manager should have no doubt about where to look for a given item. A glance should be sufficient.

Keyword-friendly
Much of this advice presumes that the reader is human, but your first reader may be a machine. Many companies have taken to screening resumes by computer before a person gets involved. They do this by identifying keywords and discarding resumes that do not contain whatever words are on the company's list. Applicants do not have access to the list of favored words, but you can make an educated guess. Look closely at the job description and requirements and take your cue from there. You may need to adjust some of the language in your career perfect resume, but you are probably on the right track if you follow the company’s own lead.