The importance of spell checking. If there are errors, it goes in the trash.

Make it look nice. Find someone who has experience in print design, and ask them for tips on the font to use, the layout, etc.

Don't overwhelm the person reading the resume, list the pertinent points at the top, like an executive summary on a white paper, and put the gritty details later on.

Cover letters.

Never to use "cute" paper or fancy fonts.
I remember my dad going through stacks when he was hiring someone. Whenever he came across one on rainbow paper or whatever, with some crazy Celtic font, it went right in the trash. God help them if they used scented paper.

Maybe touch on how different industries may have different standards? My IT resume is vastly different from one of my best friend's education admissions resume which is vastly different from another friend's banking resume.

I'm thinking I'll emphasize not just spellchecking, but rereading, and having someone else read it. I've seen too many resumes with egregious grammatical errors, and with comical yes-that's-a-word-but-it's-not-the-right-word moments.

The plan, I think, is to encourage people to use Word's resume tools, and then to customize the templates. Kinda crummy, but we've got to work with the tools we have, y'know?

Cover letters, and the importance of not using generic ones, is an excellent point. I think I'll also mention, in the context of tailoring the cover letter to the job posting, the utility of simple rephrasing.

I frequently encounter folks at the library who make a point of printing their resumes on, like, 80-pound off-white fancy paper. Do some HR folks actually respond to that, or is it just a huge piece of misinformation? If it's the latter, is there a sinister conspiracy between Kinko's and paper companies or what?

And thanks, everybody, for the excellent advice. Any other good ideas?

I page through lots of resumes. Everything above is good.

Remind your students that for just about any job posting, there will be dozens if not hundreds of applicants. The very first task of the hiring person is simple elimination. The stack has to be winnowed down to a range of choices that can be looked at in depth. You can't review 100 resumes in depth, so the ones that go first are, indeed:

-people with the wrong background or skill set for the job. The exception is when they have made a strong, well-written and engaging case for a career change in their cover letter.
-those with spelling errors
-those with grammar errors
-those who neglected to change the 'objective' section, if they have one, to something resembling the job you're offering

Cover letters should err on the short side, be punchy, and mention one or two relevant job experiences in depth. The cover letter is a place to make your case for a closer consideration of your resume - but don't make it too long. Have sympathy for the person that has to scan 100 of them, all using similar dry language. A little more colorful style is helpful here. One thing to avoid in the cover letter is stating and re-stating how much you want the job and what a great opportunity it would be for you nd how you've always dreamed of doing X type of work. Remember that the hiring person is not interested in what the job will do or you, but what you'll do for the job.

I actually like the MSWord resume formats (customized as appropriate, yes). They're clear, simple, easy on the eyes, and direct your attention to the content. Over-stylized resumes, at least in my field, can be a bother. I suppose in PR or graphic design they might be a plus, though.

Good paper definitely does not hurt. It's just one more thing that says "I took the trouble; I take my job search seriously." It's not make-or-break, but it adds to the overall impression of professionalism. Myself, I like ivory textured stock.

the best advise I've ever had is to think of your resume as your marketing brochure.

unless you have a Ph.D. and/or are in some highly technical or academic field, you do NOT need a multipage C.V.

doing this lets you go into moderate detail, specific to the position, during your cover letter spiel.

fine detail can be left for the interview.

the average amount of time an HR person will look at a resume is roughly fifteen seconds, so it has to be clean, succinct, and make a positive impression in about the time it just took for you to read this post.

oh and for the love of all things holy, if you're going to fax it anywhere, use san serif fonts.

Good paper, but nothing flashy. The Word templates are quite good, if uninspiring (because almost nobody uses them or knows they exist, it will usually give an impression of coolness in document design). Don't use fancy folders - they just get thrown in the bin because you can't file a resume in a folder properly.

Spelling, grammar, spelling, spelling, spelling. I used to get a lot of resumes, usually 80-90 for each position I was advertising and my initial selection was to read them for spelling errors and automatically dump any with even a single error. Tough, but I figure if you can't even get something that important right, how are you going to manage with work documents?

Succinct is very important too - people reading these have no time for novels about your life.

Don't include any personal details that are not relevant to the job - marital status, number of kids, date of birth - all that stuff helps form a mental picture of you before the reader gets to the important stuff, then it's too late.