This is a question that seems to come up a lot so I thought I'd just hit it head on. Lots of people want to know how to type a resume, and it can certainly seem like a daunting task. Especially for those that maybe haven't ever had a resume, or haven't had one in a very long time, the idea of trying to start from scratch and put together a resume can be enough to make you want to run and hide.

So how do we kick off the process? The first thing is just to get settled and mentally prepared. You don't have to do it all in one shot, but you do need to plan to spend 30 minutes or so at a time. Try to remove any distractions and or anything that could become a distraction (ie, phone). Also, it's probably a good idea to close down any chat or IM applications, your email, and anything else on the computer other than your word processor. Focusing on what you're doing will help you finish much more quickly and will also let you produce a higher quality resume at the end of the day.

You should decide on what sections will be included in your resume. You don't really want to be too flexible here, as most of your resume should conform to a standard layout. You'll of course want to have your experience and education listed. You may or may not have a section highlighting your skills, objective, etc. Identifying what information you need to include needs to happen first so you are working on creating the correct content.

The next step is to pick one of the areas and start writing. Wow, brilliant, right? In reality though, the best thing you can do is pick the easiest area and just start typing. It doesn't have to be great, it doesn't have to be mistake-free, and it doesn't even have to be organized that well. The goal is to get something written down. You can always re-organize it later. Your eduction is a pretty easy place to start because it's usually rather short and there's not a lot of need for creativity and flare.

After you've written as much as you can come up with on the first section, move onto another. Don't try to go back over your writing or to polish it up. Save that for later. Concentrate on pumping out as much content as you can. If you run out of time or feel like you are burning out, just stop and plan to pick up later or another day. It shouldn't take more than a couple sessions to generate 1-2 pages worth, which is about all you want for your resume anyway.

After you've finished the first draft, you'll need to take a couple passes through your resume to edit and reformat the information. Again, it's best to work on one section of your resume at a time. The key idea is that you work in small, contained blocks. When you finish one, you get a little bit of satisfaction knowing that you accomplished something. This is much better than jumping all over and doing a little bit here or there.

Once you complete one or two rounds of editing on each section, you'll need to take a final run through the whole thing. You'll be mostly looking for continuity, overall organization, flow, and formatting. Make sure that it feels professional, and that the message it conveys is what you want to say about yourself.

And that's it! If you break down the process into manageable steps, you can easily accomplish the towering task of typing a resume. Getting the work done is easy when you do it in short, focused pieces. That's how to type a resume.

You can check out TipsOnWrtingAResume.com for more tips on writing a resume.