Once you have all the relevant information together then it’s time to practice putting it all together, many people find it takes several attempts to get their resume perfect so don't be discouraged. Choose headings such as achievements, skills, honors and activities, once you have this then start listing your information clearly under each heading.

Make sure that you list all the experience, skills and achievements you have made than relate them to the position you are going for. If you have had any special training and/or have attended courses then list these as well. Examples of this could be any language skills you have, computer software training in office software or programming.

Pay special attention to any details that emphasise your capabilities and skills which relate to the position you are applying to. If you have done your homework you will know the company and what they expect to achieve in the future, so work this to your advantage with skills you have previously earned.

Make sure that you make good use of active verbs which describe your achievements and yourself in a positive way, great positive words which you could use are resourceful, capable and analytical.

Once you have completed your resume, make sure you go over it with a fine toothcomb and check the spelling, punctuation and also the overall presentation of it. Make sure all fonts are clear and easily readable with good spacing and margins on the sides, top and bottom. Re-read it to make sure fonts show clearly and check again for spelling mistakes.

Make good use of reliable and honest family members and friends. Once you have created the first draft of your portfolio, ask for their honest opinion and be prepared for their honest advice. If necessary make the appropriate changes. Once you have corrected, ask them to read it again.

It's not a good idea to submit your portfolio with typos and other mistakes. It implies that you don't pay attention to details or have poor communication skills. Your resume is your calling card and your very first impression. It requires your utmost attention. You don't get a second chance.

Use a spell checker or dictionary for all employment-related correspondence, even if you're just zipping off a quickie email. Avoid cutesy stuff, like emoticons (e.g., happy faces), shorthand and acronyms (e.g., u for you and TIA for thanks in advance).

Never type your online resume (employment-related emails, forum posts, chat messages, etc.) in all UPPERCASE characters. The Net-savvy call it shouting and consider it rude. But it's okay to type all uppercase characters in a limited and useful way, such as for resume headings.

This is a good idea, so you

• Don't submit your resume more than once to the same employer too soon. It makes you look unorganized.
• Know where to go to withdraw or modify your online portfolio.
• Can determine from which resources your best recruiting responses are originating.

Besides the URLs, also record your user IDs and passwords for all the job banks and employers' sites to which you've submitted your resume. Some assign them instead of letting you choose your own. This will help you remember which to use where.

Consider using a temporary, anonymous email address. In addition to further protecting your privacy, it has other benefits.

• It helps you organize your job search, by keeping all job-related email in one place. Check this account daily.
• It keeps persistent recruiters, opportunists and spammers from cluttering your main email account.
• Once you find a job, you can pull the plug on your temporary account, so you don't keep receiving email you don't want.

You might be able to get a second, free email account through your Internet provider. Sites such as HotMail, Gmail, Yahoo, and AOL offer free email accounts too. To find more, search the Web for the keywords free email account. But be aware that many of these give you a "free" email account, so they can spam you. At least it's only temporary. Still, be sure to read their privacy policies and skip them if they're too nosey.

These days, most U.S. corporations recruit via the Internet. So, there is a chance that your current employer might see your online portfolio. The GREAT thing about a distinct portfolio is that our password protection feature allows you to lock your portfolio and determine who can and can’t view your portfolio.

When submitting your portfolio to job banks where password protection may not be an option for viewing purposes, it might be better if you don't submit your portfolio directly, but rather just monitor their job opportunities. Then, send your portfolio straight to the advertising employers and recruiters. Job banks that offer job notification by email make monitoring easy, and lots of job banks offer it.

This one falls under tricks. Recruiters and employers typically jump on new resumes at job banks and overlook older ones. Online resumes age rapidly. Once responses taper off, perhaps it's time to update your resume if you haven't yet landed a job. Doing so usually makes it appear as though you've submitted a new resume or at least flags it as updated. If you don't have significant updates, just add, delete or move a word or two.

You always want to show yourself in the best possible light so you should always avoid any mistakes you have made in the past, particularly those when you first started work so you shouldn't include these in your portfolio. These shouldn't be mentioned unless of course the interviewer asks you a direct question relating to them which you cannot avoid. If this is the case then try to turn it into a more positive thing by showing what you learned from your mistake.

A sad fact is that age does sometimes count against you; this could be because the employer is looking for a younger person or they want an older person with more experience. Unless the position specifically states that the position is more suited to a person with experience or a younger person then don't give any indication of your age on your resume.

While you can include some interests and hobbies particularly those which might help your situation, for example if you are a computer buff and the position relates to IT but you shouldn't get carried away and list everything you are interested in.

You should make your portfolio personal, don't just use one single template if you are looking for work in any field, tailor your portfolio to match the requirements to those the company is looking for. If you are applying to a few different companies, our Gold membership is a good option as it allows you to create 3 different portfolios.

If when you first started work you flitted from job to job then don't list them all, the employer could see this as a sign that you lack commitment to stay with a company.

An example of this is sexual preference, religious beliefs or your political beliefs.

Listing everything you did in school is pointless, particularly if you went on to higher education, most potential employers won’t be interested in what you did when you were in school.

While you should show yourself in the best possible light you don't want to come across as being big headed, by all means you should include and skills, awards, achievements and certificates you have gained but state them factually and don't brag about them.