As a large part of my career I have had the opportunity to view thousands of resumes, or at least many peoples idea of resumes. The truth is the resume is one of the scariest and most difficult concepts for people to grasp. Everybody wants to create a one size fits all resume, and be done with it, but that is not an effective way to approach the resume process. Every time you send out a resume it should be tailored to the position you are applying for, and contain ONLY relevant key competencies, education and experience.
One of the problems with writing resumes is that everyone wants to use a template to build their resume on, and many of the templates that are out there are outdated, and include headings that are undesirable by today's Human Resource recruiters and managers. The Objective Statement is probably the number one unnecessary and undesirable headings. Recruiters know what your objective is; to get the job, right? So skip the Objective Statement. Second is the Summary of Qualifications, which usually turns out to be a long winded narrative.
Here is the big problem with the items that I am referring to. Many, if not most of todays employers use a software program commonly known as an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). The ATS recognizes and filters applicants based on search criteria, found in the job description. Any language outside of that criteria is unnecessary. Even if your resume ends up in front of a real live HR recruiter it is estimated that they will spend 6 -10 seconds reading it. (refer to link) http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130716133441-7668018-is-your-resume-6-second-worthy
So, avoid templates that would have you use a lot of "action words" and biography narratives. Stick to Bullet Point based templates that focus on Keywords. Limit your headings to skills, training , and experience that are RELEVANT to the position for which you are applying. The relevancy is found in the job description. Everything else is a distraction, or bragging.
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