We asked a career expert to build the perfect résumé. Here's a template you can use to update your CV and land a dream job.

If you don't include URLs to your professional online profiles, hiring managers will look you up regardless.

Why not include your URL along with your contact information? This will prevent recruiters from having to guess or mistaking you for someone else.

"If you have a common name, consider including your middle initial on your résumé and online professional profiles to differentiate yourself from the competition," Augustine said.

For example, decide if you're Mike Johnson, Michael Johnson, or Mike E. Johnson. Then use this name consistently, be it on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

"Choose one phone number for your résumé where you control the voicemail message and who picks up the phone," Augustine said.

The same rule applies to an email address.

There's no point in including a generic objective about a "professional looking for opportunities that will allow me to leverage my skills," Augustine said.

It's not helpful, but is distracting. Ditch it.

Replace your fluffy statement with an executive summary, which should be like a "30-second elevator pitch" where you explain who you are and what you're looking for. 

"In approximately three to five sentences, explain what you're great at, most interested in, and how you can provide value to a prospective employer," Augustine said.

This is the most helpful for recruiters because they're able to see what you've been doing in recent years immediately, Augustine said.

"The only time you shouldn't do this is if you're trying to transition to another career altogether, but then again, in this situation, you'll probably be relying more on networks" than your résumé, she said.

Many companies use some kind of screening process to identify the right candidates. You should include the keywords mentioned in the job posting throughout your résumé.

"Identify the common keywords, terminology, and key phrases that routinely pop up in the job descriptions of your target role and incorporate them into your résumé (assuming you have those skills)," Augustine said.

"This will help you make it past the initial screenings and on to the recruiter or hiring manager."

It's helpful for recruiters to know the size of the company you used to work for, Augustine said.

"Being a director of a huge company means something very different than a director at a small company," she said.

You can go to the company's "about us" section and rewrite one or two lines of the description. This should be included right underneath the name of the company.

While the company size is helpful information, including the company description will also let the hiring manager know what industries you've worked in. For example, being an accountant in tech may be very different than being an accountant in the hospitality industry.

"As with most things on a résumé, the company description should be tailored based on the professional's goals," she said. "If you're looking to switch industries, your focus may be on the company size — assuming it's similar to your goals — and less on discussing the various products your company sells."

Recruiters receive so many résumés to scan through at a time, so make it as easy as possible for them to understand why you're perfect for the job. Dense blocks of text are too difficult to read, said Augustine.

Under each job or experience you've had, explain how you contributed to or supported your team's projects and initiatives.

"As you build up your experience, save the bullets for your bragging points," Augustine said.

"Quantify your major accomplishments and contributions for each role," Augustine told us.

This can include the money you saved or brought in for your employer, deals closed, and projects delivered on time or under budget. Do not use any more than three to five bullet points.

A good rule is to use the "result BY action" sentence structure whenever possible. For example: "Generated about $452,000 in annual savings by employing a new procedure, which streamlined the business' vendor relationships."

Recruiters do not spend a lot of time scanning résumés, so avoid dense blocks of text.

"The key is to format the information in a way that makes it easy to scan and recognize your job goals and relevant qualifications," Augustine told us.

"Stick to black and white color," Augustine said. As for the typeface, it's best to stick with the basics, such as Arial, Tahoma, or Calibri.

Augustine says you should never write your résumé in third person because everyone knows you're the one writing it (unless you go through a professional résumé writing service).

Instead, you should write it in first person, but do not include pronouns. "It's weird to include pronouns, and it's an extra word you don't need," she said. "You need to streamline your résumé because you have limited real estate."

"Avoid adding any embedded tables, pictures, or other images in your résumé, as this can confuse the applicant-tracking software and jumble your résumé in the system," Augustine said.

It may look neat and concise to display your contact information in the header, but for "the same reason with embedded tables and charts, it often gets scrambled in an applicant tracking system," Augustine added.

Unless you're a recent graduate, you should highlight your work experience and move your education information to the bottom of your résumé, Augustine said.

Never include anything about your high-school years.

Every recruiter knows you're going to provide references if they request it so there's no reason for you to include this line.

Again, remember that space on your résumé is crucial so don't waste it on a meaningless line, Augustine told us.

Vivian Giang wrote a previous version of this article.