A customer buys functions, features and benefits. What will be "better" because they have this thing than it was before they bought it? Add a little emotion to close the deal and you'll have a sale.

It's the same thing when you're selling yourself - with a resume. You need to give the customer (company or recruiter) an understanding of how you will make things "better". Any clod can draw a paycheck; what will you bring to the organization that will be worth that payment, hopefully worth much more? It's not about "you" as much as it is about "how you will be functional and beneficial" to the goals of the organization. What can you do "better" than someone else, and how do you show a track-record of performance?

Most people don't like the fast-talking "pitch man" selling gizmos on TV; likewise recruiters don't like a resume that sounds like "Micro-Machine man". (For those of you young pups, the toy company hired the Guinness world-record fastest talking person on the planet to do their commercials. It was funny - once. It got old fast.)

Cluttered resumes are a turn-off. If you've done your homework about the company and the opening, you should know which strengths of yours match the requirements of the position. Keep those parts; cut irrelevant parts. Different strengths will be important to different companies, so don't be afraid to "tailor" a resume to an employer and position. "Custom-fit" is nicer than "off-the-rack" for resumes, too.

And remember "one step at a time." Your purpose for the resume is just to get a phone call for a first interview. Your purpose for the first interview is to get a second interview. Your purpose for the second interview is to get an offer.

Almost certainly, you will not get a job offer from your resume alone. But a bad resume will "weed you out" at the first cut. You won't get a job if you don't get the first interview, and a poorly-written resume will prevent you from getting the first interview. What you're really trying to accomplish with the resume is to get a call and an interview. After that you move to the next step.