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Before you can present yourself to a potential employers in an interview, you send out your resume. Those sheets of paper are you. They’re everything you want other people to know about your professional life and how your skillset can benefit a company.

Let that sink in for a second. Your resume is you. It’s you on a page. It’s everything you want to say in the most eloquent way possible. If your resume tanks, you don’t get an interview and you miss out on opportunities in the job market.

So, how do you write a resume that shines?

Here are a few tips on creating the best possible impression with just a blank page and ink.

What Are You Applying For?

If you’re a tour guide, don’t apply to a law firm. There’s no rule saying you can’t start a new career path, but you’ll need to prepare for something like that at length. You can’t apply to a job you’re not qualified for. Not only will you never get an interview, but the employer in question probably won’t take you seriously should you apply later on when you are actually qualified.

Professionalism is everything. Ensure that you’re well-suited for the position you’re applying to. If they want minimum five years’ experience milking cows and you’ve got two, you’re not for them. Get out there and milk some more cows.

Resumes Are Changeable

They’re malleable, to be precise. A resume that appeals to an employer or recruiter in one industry, may not appeal to those in another. That’s good news for you. It means you can tailor your resume to a specific position, and you should do that.

You want to present specific sets of skills in the best light for a specific position. Your employer is looking for certain assets and they will skim past irrelevant information in search of the juicy tidbits they need.

Or worse: they’ll skip your resume entirely. You clearly don’t care enough to present the information they need well enough, and that means you’re not conscientious and not a good fit for the job.

Tailor Your Resume

If you’re applying for a managerial position in retail, you’re not going to tout your social media management skills – unless that’s a requirement in the fine print of the position you’re applying for.

Showcase the specific set of skills your potential employer is seeking in your resume. That means cleaning out the irrelevant ones and making your job history pop. Don’t include college or summer jobs unless that’s all you have, right now.

Keep your resume recent and do your research. Find out what the company is looking for and highlight those skills in your resume accordingly. They’re in need of a someone who’d good with people? Bring out your history in sales or your stint as a public speaker in college.