Seeking employment can become a full-time job in itself. And with any job, you will always make mistakes and get frustrated. Let's face it, we can't all be perfect because we're only human.

After graduation, I found myself searching for jobs after my regular full-time job. As soon as I would send my resume and cover letter over to an employer, I would find a mistake — even after going over the entire thing multiple times.

Minor mishaps in your resume can hinder your chances of even talking to the employer. I not only know this from my job-hunting experience, but also from my experience on the other side when I handled the hiring for an optometry practice. I often found myself critiquing and judging the candidates solely based off their resumes.

Learn from my mistakes and experience to make yourself better. You need to get your foot in the door of the organization in which you'll fit. To do so, make sure that your resume and cover letter make the "true you" stand out.

A resume is a marketing document designed to sell your skills and strengths rather than just portraying a bio of yourself. Follow these eight tips to create a successful resume:

1. Make an outline

Write down everything you want to include in your resume in a separate document — you may want to create it in a resume template — so that you can see everything you'd like to showcase to an employer.

Iif your list is more than two pages, start trimming down and focusing on the most important aspects. This will allow you to verify that you haven't missed any key element of your employment history.

2. Be unique

You want to make yourself stand out as much as possible to an employer. Create some flair in your resume, and don't be afraid to stray far away from ordinary.

Spice it up — add some color to your name — but keep it simple. The more you overdo it, the worse you'll get. Use bold and italics to highlight key points, but use them sparingly. Key note: Busy, overloaded, resumes are out. White space is good.

If you filled in a resume from a website, it may look normal on your end, but double-check when you're sending it to employers. For example, I was going over a resume for a friend, but when he sent it to me via Google Mail, I saw a second page with a watermark on it from the website the template he used. It also had someone else's full name on it.

When I viewed it in Microsoft Word, it was gone. These tiny things are ones you can't see when building your resume, but have to guarantee won't occur in the process of sending it over to employers.

3. Don't write a novel

When writing your resume, make sure everything is smooth, concise and fits on one page. I repeat, make sure everything fits on one page.

You may have heard that it's OK to go onto a second page now, but employers don't have that much time. When an employer reads your resume, he/she wants to be able to scan through your resume to look for keywords and points.

With that said, avoid generic descriptions of the jobs you held. Focus on what you did in the job and not what your job was. Also, after a one- or two-line description, then list your accomplishments. These can be done by bullet points with short sentences — this will call attention to the most important aspects of your previous jobs.

4. Cater to your audience

Although you have a distinct field you'd like to be in, no job is the same. Make sure you cater to each and every job that you apply for. And yes, this means you need to update your resume for every application.

Research the company so you have knowledge of what they do and some accomplishments they've completed. You may be able to cater your skills to those accomplishments and show that you can enhance their team. Use the job posting to your advantage by using some of the same words and phrases that appear in the job posting in your resume — catering to the job.

5. Focus on your career summary

Or in other words, focus on your objective: You need to grab the employer within the first 15 seconds of reading your resume. A career summary is a brief overview of who you are and what you can do for a company.

Highlight your strengths and make sure you state which specific job you're applying for. Make yourself stand out and steer clear from the generic objectives — "seeking employment with ..."

6. Don't forget the cover letter

Novels are also not needed for your cover letters. Your cover letter needs to be straight to the point and concise. If it's more than one or two paragraphs, it won't be read.

Usually an employer will receive numerous resumes at once and will typically want to hire someone quickly to fill the open space within their organization. This leaves them with the scanning motion of resumes — if you don't catch their eyes in 30-60 seconds, you're pushed aside.

Sell yourself in two paragraphs and move on. You do not want to go into detail about every accomplishment in your cover letter and resume because you want to be able to get your foot into that interview to showcase your accomplishments in further detail.

7. No one is perfect

As I've said before, we're only human. Unfortunately, as much as we strive for perfection, we will never be there.

Just as you would an essay, book or speech, have one or two people proofread your resume. Since you've been looking at it constantly, you will probably miss a few things that a fresh set of eyes will notice.

8. Make connections

Meet every person you can throughout this process. Have friends and family who may know someone in a company you'd like to work for? Send them your resume and get your name out there. Have a copy of it with you at all times — or virtually — so that you're always able to give it to someone.

Some say certain individuals are born with the "selling" technique, but when it comes to resume writing we're all salespeople. Sell and make yourself shine above the rest.

With so many resumes coming through to employers, many are often tossed aside for later. Don't let yours be tossed aside. Stand out in the crowd and become seen over everyone else.