You resume must facilitate a ‘love at first sight’ scenario: as soon a hiring manager reads it they have to be hooked. This means that it has to be easy read and understand at a quick glance—and the best way to do this? Streamline your resume in a few simple steps:

A reader’s eyes naturally move from the top of the page to the bottom. Place your most important information at the top to make a strong first impression. If you are a recent graduate, start with your education. If you are not a recent grad, begin with your most recent and most relevant work experience. This structure helps the reader quickly understand your strongest qualifications.

Each piece of information on your resume should support your goal. It must help convince the reader that you are the ideal fit for the job. Do not try to share every achievement you have ever made. Instead, choose details that show clear professional success. Focus on accomplishments your future employer will value. This approach keeps your resume focused, relevant, and persuasive.

One or two pages is not long—often it is barely sufficient to list everything we would like to on our resumes—so you have to make the most of each word on the page. Don’t fill your resume with filler or ‘fluff’ words to make it sound better; the opposite is usually how it will end up reading. Additionally, try to stick to writing in the first person and active voice wherever possible.

If a resume is cluttered and difficult for your potential employer to read it is likely to be more distracting than captivating. Each effort to streamlining your resume is one more step toward keeping it out of the recycle bin, and this is one of the most noticeable steps. Make your resume eye-catching for the right reasons by placing your header at the top, dividing it up into clearly marked categories, and presenting information in a clear-cut fashion.

Lastly, because each job you apply for will have different qualifications, having multiple resumes that cater to aspects of various jobs is beneficial. More than one resume will also help in the streamlining process because you will not feel pressured to fit all your information into one document—you can cut each resume down to only the most essential items for each job.

Your resume should present your best, most professional achievements; however, if it does not do this in a way that is visually appealing, easy to read, and straightforward it may take away from your eligibility as a candidate. No matter if you are applying for an entry-level or top-level position, streamlining your resume is crucial to getting hired.