There are lots of free resume examples (or free resume samples) on the web.

Try searching for "free resume example" at Google and take a look at the almost 5 million pages that come back (the less restrictive "resume example" gives you 7 million pages, if you've got more time on your hands).

But what good are they?

Plenty, if you DON'T do what most people do with them, which is copy them.

You want your resume to stand out. Sure, all successful resumes have certain things in common, but you don't want your resume to sound just like everybody else's.

If you download some free resume examples, pick one you like, slap your name and address on it, and tweak the job experience to match yours, what have you done?

You've joined the crowd!

Nothing says "run-of-the-mill" quite as loudly as a copied resume. "Adapting" a free resume example by changing a few words and names is a bad move. There's a better strategy.

The wiser thing to do is to create the content of your resume yourself. Use the resume examples you download as fodder for ideas.

This approach allows you to stretch your mind to imagine new ways to advertise what you've done. It can show you new, visually grabbing ways to present that information. And it can help you make your personal marketing message more hard-hitting.

All of those thing make you stand out.

Do yourself a favor and look at LOTS of examples. Don't just look at a few and pick one.

Why do more work?

Because recruiters see hundreds and thousands of resumes. If you pick one template and make no changes at all, you dramatically increase the odds of looking like everybody else. Your resume will be in the bin within a minute.

Look at lots of free resume samples and pick the best features to meld together into your super-resume. You'll avoid looking like everybody else that way.

(c) Copyright 2005 by Roy Miller