As recruiters we all have the joy of seeing an incredible array of resumes. Some of them are absolutely abominable, most of them are "okay" and every once in a while there are some that are astoundingly good.

When a resume isn't astoundingly good, one can always suggest that the candidate read a few books on resume writing and/or hire a professional to help them put something top notch together. However, that's just the start. Of all the books I've read on writing a resume, they usually end up being a style and content guide. Even resume professionals typically see themselves more as document services than resume coaches. To date, I've not found a book or resume service that touches upon what I consider to be the most important parts of resume writing, and that is timing and environment.

Very simply put, a resume is a marketing document that is not there to tell one's life story, rather to generate sufficient interest in a potential employer that they'll want to bring things to the next level. And like most marketing instruments, it needs to be able to send the initial and most compelling message quickly, often within one or two minutes. A resume needs to highlight the candidate's strengths, abilities, accomplishments and value add. Like most creative efforts, a resume needs time and consideration to gain shape and mature.

And time is exactly what most resumes don't get. When the headhunter calls, the resume is dusted off and updated over the weekend. When the pink slip party happens, the resume is pulled out and worked on while the candidate is in the worst imaginable emotional state. In the end, the vast majority of people, recruiters included, are managing their resumes the same way they are managing their careers - reactively instead of proactively.

As recruiters I believe that we have a professional obligation, in addition to our personal incentive, to help a candidate improve their odds of landing the sought after job. What should be happening is that we advise the candidate to treat the resume like a permanent work in progress, being pulled out and updated every six to twelve months, or whenever there is a significant event or change in the professional environment. Candidates should know that when they get a new boss, it is good time to sit down and think about what great things they and the old boss accomplished together. If they wrap up a challenging project to document it! When they are promoted to take some time to think about and document what they did so well in their old job that got them promoted. They should be giving themselves at least a week and schedule the time to review the document every night when they get home from work, not while on holiday.

Most importantly, this needs to be done when they're in their best emotional state. A candidate should always work on their resume while on an emotional high and nothing else. If one waits for the headhunter to call or for things to get uncomfortable at work, then it is close to impossible to get oneself into the right frame of reference and the quality of work generated won't even approach its true potential.

When updating the resume, candidates should take notes on their thoughts and make them as long as need be, then boil them down to their essence and adjust the resume accordingly, but keeping it as long as needed in order to maintain all of the potentially useful information. When applying to a specific position, they should pare the document down to the expected two or three pages by removing anything that is not directly relevant and doesn't specifically serve the purpose of getting them in the door of that particular prospective employer.

A candidate who takes the time to review their resume regularly, while they are on an emotional high and give it a full week of scheduled time, will have ideas will pop into their head that they would otherwise forget. They will get a chance to play with wording and content order to their heart's content. In the end, they'll see that the document they create isn't just a piece of paper with relevant information on it, rather a crisp, clean, informative and powerful work of art that gives them a compelling story and makes them simply irresistible!