In today's tough times, it's even more important to have a great resume and cover letter to present to potential employers than ever before. Employers can afford to be selective because the job market is so heavily saturated with talented and experienced candidates.

Alison Green has a list of 7 Things to Leave Off Your Resume if you hope to get an interview:

1. Your photo - This could actually work against you. A photo may be appropriate for your profile on a social networking site, but it really is best to omit it from your resume.

2. Subjective descriptions - Phrases like "great leadership skills" and "creative innovator" don't say enough. It's better to demonstrate with examples of how you showed "great leadership skills" and how your "creative innovations" helped your company or team achieve certain goals.

3. The objective statement you clearly wrote for a different company - This is where having someone else proofread your resume can be especially helpful.

4. A third page - Recent college graduates should try to keep their resumes to one page; older job seekers should try to keep theirs to two.

5. Two versions of your resume - Green is partial to the chronological resume. This work's well for recent grads and college students who are looking for internships, but for older candidates, particularly those who have gaps in employment, a functional resume might be better.

6. Your abilities to type and to use Word - I'm not sure why Green has a problem with this. Including your typing words per minute for a job in which typing speed is important saves time. As for using Word, some people are more skilled than others, so including your level of proficiency is a good idea. It could be the deciding factor for someone who's applying for a job as an executive secretary. Having said that, I do agree that most employers and recruiters take it for granted that most job seekers have basic typing and Word skills.

7. Extra documentation - Your resume and your cover letter are the only things that should cross a recruiter's or hiring manager's desk, or appear in his email, unless you're specifically asked to include more. That goes for letters of reference, too. Only send them when they're requested.

I agree with Green 100 percent on all points, except number six. Writing resumes is tedious and exacting, but it's so worth it to take the time to do it right if you want to have your pick of interviews.