Killeen, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/09/2016 -- May is an exciting time for college seniors as they walk down the aisle and close another chapter of their lives. Yet, graduation can also be a terrifying time of great change, where the answer to the question, "What's next?" isn't plainly laid out. The lonely road to finding one's career calling begins with a winning resume. This piece of paper forms a first impression that will get the interview or lead to months of depressive couch-surfing.

"After I retired from the Army last year, I looked for a job for a while," explains Dave Hooper, entrepreneur and founder of www.internetdirectsolutions.com. "I read a lot of articles and wrote up many different drafts, but I think I finally have a resume that really speaks to my qualifications and experience – and I'd like to share my findings with new grads." Hooper shares five of the most essential ingredients for a competitive resume in today's challenging job market:

1. A professional email address: No one wants to hire "Lazyboy86@yahoo.com" or "Armybrat69@gmail.com." A domain-based email address is a subtle, but compelling, way to make a resume look more professional. Not only that, but some employers consider outdated Hotmail.com or AOL.com email addresses to be representative of someone who is "technologically obsolete." Setting up a hosted email address is easy and inexpensive at www.OwnEmailDomain.net.

2. Facts: Skip vague, descriptive language that overinflate job tasks or accomplishments. Instead, one should be specific whenever possible. For instance, instead of listing bank duties as "Helped customer facilitate daily banking transactions," one might write "Processed 160-200 teller transactions per day at a high-volume commercial bank." If a candidate upsold financial products that boosted the bank's profits by 20% that quarter and earned "employee of the month" status, that is all relevant information. Prospective employers like to hear about how a candidate improved the bottom line and proactively assisted in solving problems.

3. Streamlined sections: There is no defined "standard" format for a resume. Essentially, students want to highlight their most relevant experiences. For instance, one may want to emphasize skills, academic coursework and extracurricular activities first if there is no relevant "real world" work experience. Instead of putting a "resources" section, resource contact information can be added to each past position – unless those references happen to be big names Warren Buffet or Bill Gates!

4. Standout summary: The generic objective section is often replaced by a "career summary" that highlights a candidate's strength in a nutshell. This short paragraph or bullet list should explain meaningful activities, relevant coursework, and personal qualities that apply to the job. Essentially, it's an introduction to the applicant's "brand." This is a great location to customize content for each employer. This section should not use first person "I/me/my," but should be a third person reflection of strengths. For instance, a professional writer may state, "A versatile and creative writer that blends strong calls-to-action and sales language with corporate storytelling and journalistic style."

5. Custom content: For a truly stand-out resume, language from the job description should be echoed in the skills or objective sections. Irrelevant work experience and skills should be replaced with material that fits in line with the position of interest. Employers are looking for evidence that a candidate is a leader, self-starter, able to think critically, and are able to accept feedback. Sometimes participation in a campus organization, a side hobby, volunteer work, or internships make great opportunities to reflect on these qualities.

Dave Hooper invites college grads interested in starting a business to contact him for free advice on how to get a business website running inexpensively and efficiently.

About David Hooper
David Hooper is a custom domain name registration re-seller from Texas. After 8 years of owning custom domain names, he is sharing the lessons he's learned as a small business owner and helping others find the most affordable, efficient ways to get their dreams off the ground and online

Media contact:
Full Address: 2912 June Street, Killeen, TX 76543
Company and Business Name: InternetDirectSolutions.com
Contact Number: 888 285-6742
Website: OwnEmailDomain.net
Contact Person and Title: David Hooper, CEO
Email ID: MediaSupport7@dnh7.org.