Some job seekers waste an awful lot of time on their resumes. 

That's not to say you should write one draft, call it good and think it's good to go.  No, by now you know resumes take time to write, stack, proof read and design. 

But many continue to tweak their resumes.  If they don't get a response from the first place they send that version to, they change it without giving it a time trial.  And change it again without a time trial if the next version doesn't ferret a response.  Then they rinse and repeat again and again. 

This is a waste of time.  Sure, resumes need to be tweaked every now and then, but they also need to be given a chance to do their job - which is land you an interview.  That means you need to allow a time trial.  Before endlessly tweaking your resume between submissions, develop a strategy so that you provide  time trials.  Here are a few things to keep in mind when developing your time trial strategy:

How long.  Determine a suitable length of time to try out a version of your resume.  One week is far too short, but six months is far too long.  Given many professionals may spend several months hunting for work, it might be wise to give your resume a two week time trial.  If you don't get any responses after two weeks of steadily submitting it, then tweak your resume just a bit.

Process of elimination.  Completely overhauling your resume every two weeks would only prove to be a time suck.  A more efficient approach is to determine what kind of hits you're getting from employers during your time trial and adjust your resume accordingly.  If, for instance, you seem to be getting more responses from your accounting experience than your sales experience, a tweak may be in order.  Ditto if your web site design experience garners more interest than that for your coding.  After a two-week time trial, make an adjustment.  After a few cycles, you will probably lock onto a winning combination - and won't need to tweak your resume any further.

Minor changes.  After giving your resume a suitable time trial, make little changes only.  Again, major overhauls are time wasters.  One or two minor changes per time trial will suit you better.  Minor changes will save revision time and help you through the process of elimination (above) to determine what's working and what is not.

IN THE CARAVAN:  Give your resume a trial time of about two weeks before tweaking it, use the process of elimination and make small changes each cycle.

NEXT MONDAY: Dewey Wins!

Looking for more Resume advice?  Check out these posts and The Lion's Pride section of WildJobSafari.com!

Check out last Monday's post on red flags and half masts.

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