need them and including this statement on your resume is just stating the obvious Contact information A common mistake that is easy to avoid is an unprofessional e-mail address. Don't think that this is just students or young professionals; there are plenty of experienced professionals with inappropriate or unprofessional personal e-mail addresses as well. Also, include contact information that you can actually be contacted at. If you are currently in a job, we strongly advise that you do not give out your company e-mail or office phone number as contact information for prospective employers. You never know when an employer may contact you. Content Focus on measurables -- rather than providing the employer with a job description of past roles, focus on your accomplishments. Use statements that include action words, such as attract, make, save, etc. Examples of measurable statements: Grew sales by X% in a nine state territory to an annual sales revenue of $X Led X number of people in a department that oversaw the marketing of X number of products Successfully attracted X number of new customers within one year, an increase of X% to the overall customer database in the Eastern region Some people like to include a career objective or skills profile within their resume, while this is something that is not standard it can sometimes be helpful to quickly give a snapshot of abilities. If you choose to include something like this, be sure that it is tailored to the job that you are