Your resume of CV is often the first glance that a hiring manager gets about your career. Even if you've been recommended by a friend or current employee, often a manager requires some summary of who you as a few paragraphs on a screen that they can study.

I have my own advice, but this post from a manager at StackOverflow covers quite a few of the same things I recommend. I certainly agree with the first section, writing for humans. Over and over again I hear from people that make hiring decisions that they spend 30-60 seconds on a resume to get an impression.

One minute. You should set a timer for one minute and let someone read your resume. Then take it away and ask the person for their impressions of what you know. In fact, maybe that's a great icebreaker at a user group meeting or SQL Saturday. Find someone that hires others, or is an experienced person in your industry, and ask them to do just that.

We learn a lot from experimenting and seeing what works well and what doesn't. Many of us solve problems in code and realize later that we could rewrite things more efficiently. Why not do that with our resumes? We certainly can control how we present ourselves, be interesting, and more importantly, don't waste the reader's time.

You get one minute, or less, to make a good impression, so spend some time crafting your resume. Control your brand and ensure that you let people know who you are. Do your best to communicate the skills you have, the things you do well, and the ways in which you are a good employee. Most of us will change jobs at some point, so why not be prepared to present yourself in the best possible way you can by working on your resume now.