I have a lot of experience writing resumes, albeit for more technical positions, but I think it's a good template. It looks like this:
Professional Summary:
This should be a paragraph highlighting your experience. 1st line "Phenom is a (insert job title or profession here) with x years of experience in (list industries, skills, etc). 2nd sentence: Strengths include: x, y, z. 3rd sentence: List soft skills (excellent communicator, team player or leader, etc). 4th sentence: Phenom would make an excellent candidate for any organization seeking (customize this for each job based on a job description).
Work Experience:
Chronological detail of your various jobs.
Company name:
Dates employed:
Title:
Below that you should have a series of bullet points that describe in detail the work you did. 2 things to remember - 1) if you put a skills in your professional summary, make sure there is a corresponding bullet point in this area that expands on that, and 2) Use an actual job description to guide you in what to put here. If a company is looking for someone with x, y, z then make sure you address your experience in those areas on the resume - don't make them guess or assume. You need to lay it out for them.
Education/Training/Certifications:
List all of this at the end, with dates.
Also remember to write a specific cover letter that briefly highlights the skills you have that relate to what they are looking for. This is often the first thing an employer looks at, and you can bet they're getting loads of resumes. The cover letter should be very specific and to the point. You will be repeating yourself a bit in the resume but that's ok. You may end up with a slightly different resume for each job you apply to. You may also want to re-order the bullets and highlights for each one and make sure the specifics on that particular job description are moved higher on the list so they get read first.
I'm a recruiter for a living by the way, so I spend a lot of my time looking at resumes, and I can tell you if I don't see what I'm looking for quickly, I move on. I don't have time to call everyone, so your cover letter and resume are your ticket to a conversation where you can expand and sell yourself.
Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck!
