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More often than not, jobseekers ask why they seemed to have failed to attract the attention of employers despite above average, or even excellent, work backgrounds. When it comes to job-hunting, however, your qualifications are just a single side of the story; it's by no means an automatic key to better opportunities.

Most of the time, it is the resume that is more important. Your resume, or else your curriculum vitae, isn't just a document enumerating your previous jobs and competencies. It is a ticket to an interview, and later on, a new job. Just like any other piece of writing, each resume has an intended audience and purpose, both of which would change with each company or job type you are applying for.

So the first and most significant rule in resume writing is to write purposely for your reader (in your case, the kind of company or position you're eyeing). This means you need to highlight which experiences and competencies you deem are applicable to the potential job. This debunks the all-too-common mistake of writing and submitting a generic resume to employers no matter the industry they are in. Remember the basic objective: you have to write your resume to let potential employers know that you are the person they're looking for.

Secondly, you need to underscore your accomplishments rather than your past job duties. What were the highest points of your previous career? Did you, as a sales manager, aid company sales triple during your stint? Or were you a key in landing your previous company's largest deal yet? More important than your everyday duties, these achievements allow potential employers to evaluate your skills better.

Thirdly, you need to give priority to placing the most relevant information on the first page of your resume, like your job accomplishments. Like a story pitch for a publication, the first page of your CV has to catch the attention of whoever is about to read it so that it won't join all the others in the discarded bin.

So whether or not you are applying straight to an employer or coursing it via a Malaysia recruitment agency, the same standards of resume writing apply. You must remember that your resume should always dress to impress.