The purpose of a resume is to give the employer a good idea about you. In your resume, the employer will find your personal data, your educational achievements and references they need to get in touch with.

You can use standard form of resume wherein you list your experiences and or achievements so that the employer will be impressed. Doing it online even makes it easier since you do not have to deal with formats.  You will be asked for different types of data required by job search websites.

These resume formats are too regular that they could be ignored. Remember that there are probably more applicants today.  Aside from the fresh graduates, there are also terminated employees who want to go back to their career as soon as possible. The 2009 is going to be a very difficult year for fresh graduates.

Because of the vast number of resumes the screener has to deal with, he gets only 10 to 15 seconds to take a look at each resume. If there is nothing there that the screener would find interesting, they would not have any second thoughts in throwing out your resume.

If you just rely on the standard format of resume writing, there is a big chance that your resume will be thrown out even before the screener reaches the reference part of your resume.  That is why you need to do something radical. Something that is unique enough to be noticed but packed with interesting data that could increase your chances of getting hired.

As a fresh graduate, you really have nothing more to offer than your enthusiasm at work. Everyone else have the same or even better education and experience compared to what you have right now.

One form of unique resume that you can seriously consider is the combination of essay and bullet form resume. You have a quick introduction about yourself and then create a resume that combines bullet points and a quick note on what you have learned.

For example, you can have a resume that goes this way:

Name: John Smith
Address: Pine Road, California
Education: AB Major in Psychology.

If everyone else has the same format, chances are you will not be getting a second look from the screener. Why not do this:

My name is John Smith, 22 years old from Pine Road, California. The following are my personal data:

Education: AB Major in Psychology 
Special Training: Clinical Psychology

The above example provides a different tone with the same data. You just added some bullet points to emphasize something.

Basically the main purpose of this combination is to highlight your skills and educational achievements through bullet points. You do not want the screener to read through your personal history – make them notice your skills so that you will be noted at first glance. Although it this provides a risk in terms of acceptability, it is a smart risk wherein you still reach your goal only with subtle difference from the recognized format.