Never repeat yourself. You only have one page to sell yourself, so do not waste space. If you have had a few jobs that taught you the same skills, list them under the same heading. Make sure you make it obvious that they are separate jobs that you were at for different periods of time, but your description of each of them does not need to take up a significant amount of space on the page. Bunch them together, and make sure what you are listing is relevant to the position you are applying for. Be specific, not repetitive.
List important skills with examples. People will already know what kinds of skills certain jobs require, so be sure to put down anything extra you might have done. Be as concise as possible when describing generic abilities such as clerical experience, and expand with examples of important tasks you may have done. No one cares about daily tasks. List the times you completely reworked the outdated filing system or expand on the significant number of clinical tasks you accomplished.
Buzzwords aren't so bad. You need something that's going to pop off the page and catch someone's attention. Catchphrases pack a punch for the small amount of space they use up. You may feel cliche if you use them, but you'll fit a lot more onto your resume than you would have otherwise, and you'll sound fresh and more modern. Dress up your page a little also. It won't hurt to steer clear of those online templates that everyone is using. Spend the extra time to make your resume look and sound smarter.
Be unique, but don't boast. Everyone is talented. Everyone has skills. So what makes you special? Whether it's managerial experience, specific computer programming skills, or speaking a foreign language, you have to have something unique, and you need to expand on it. Computer-savvy people are becoming incredibly more important in this technological age, so make sure your potential employer knows you know what you are doing on a keyboard. People are impressed by worldly knowledge; if you've spent significant time abroad, use that to show you are capable of performing well in any kind of situation. Maybe you've published something or spoken at a specific event. Whatever accomplishments you have, make sure you don't sound like a braggart. No one wants to hire people who think they are more important than they really are.
It isn't very hard to make yourself sound smarter and more experienced and, as a result, earn yourself more money. It is, however, incredibly easy to create a resume that is bland, unexciting, and generic.
