Three things: Who are you? Why do you want THIS job? What are your qualifications. Leave out that garbage about "objectives," they always sound stupid.

Work experience and educational background. Your contact details are also very important.

i've gotten resumes without the person's name, address, telephone # or email!!! while this stuff goes without saying, it's too important to be left unsaid. after that, relevant job experience and education. contacts information. your descriptions ought to address the advertiser's requirements / desired credentials.

I won't go into the obvious since everyone has pretty much listed the main stuff, But as a person who employes many a person a will throw a few more tips in there. Neatness and legibility. If I can't read it, to the bottom of the stack it goes. I don't have time to decipher heiroglyphics. Spelling. If the spelling is off, it tells me you are either uneducated, or don't pay attention to details. Email address. A lot of people of course forget to put ANY contact info on their resume as some have already pointed out but if you do decide to put your email on a resume make sure you have an email address that is used for work purposes only and is appropriate, something like your name or something at yahoo dot com. When I get a resume and I see the prospective employee's email address is SlutAngel69@Yahoo.com...bottom of the list. Appropriateness. I need to be able read resumes quickly and efficiently. When people have funky fonts, paper with colorful borders and graphics and such yeah it looks really pretty, and distracting, and a waste of time. Bottom of the pile. People tend to get so caught up in the main things they tend to forget that I might have 200 applicants more than suitable for the job, it's little details like this that help me narrow things down even more.