Includes index.

1. A résumé primer -- Tools for the task -- The résumé tool : asset or liability? -- Employers and candidates usually view résumés as having different purposes -- A résumé is most effective when it follows face-to-face or voice contact with a hiring manager -- A support person or computer program will probably be the one to screen your résumé -- Résumés are not read thoroughly -- You won't always need a résumé to land a job -- Then why write a résumé? -- And why this book? -- Some success stories -- Your most important tool -- Top 10 tips to create résumé magic --

10. Cover letters and other parts of the puzzle -- Strategy and style -- The value mantra -- Sell, don't tell -- Reveal a secret -- The segments of a cover letter -- The carrot -- The corroboration -- The close -- The anatomy of the cover letter -- Sticky wickets -- To whom it may concern? -- Missed a filing deadline? -- Terminated from a job? -- Relocating? -- Dealing with salary -- Other types of letters -- Direct-mail campaigns -- Writing to a recruiting firm -- Thank-you letters, a chance to resell yourself -- Other pieces of the puzzle -- References -- When to send references -- When and how to ask for references -- Rethinking the 'reference page" with some creative persuasion -- Networking cards -- Addenda -- Paper -- Sending your cover letter and résumé -- By surface mail -- By fax -- By e-mail -- Futurist career management -- Top 10 cover letter tips -- Appendix A. Worksheets to catalog professional history -- Appendix B. Survey : what employers really want in a résumé and cover letter -- Résumés -- Cover letters -- Appendix C. Action verbs with sample phrases.

2. How to use branding and advertising strategies to get an interview -- Using brand and ad agency strategies to win an interview -- Elements of your career brand -- Authentic image -- Advantages -- Awareness -- The proven ad agency formula -- Step 1 : how to grab your reader's attention -- Headlines and hard-hitting leads -- Visual appeal -- Step 2 : how to capture your reader's interest -- Selling points, front and center -- Where's the center of the page? -- Place supporting information below the visual center -- Skimmable material goes at the bottom of the page -- Step 3 : how to create desire for your product, you! -- Why you buy -- Why employers buy -- Prove your superiority -- Step 4 : call to action -- Top 10 résumé strategy tips --

3. How to choose the most flattering format -- Two tried-and-true winning formats : chronological and functional -- The chronological format -- The functional format -- Genetic variants of the two main résumé types -- The accomplishments format -- The combination format -- The creative format -- The curriculum vitae (CV) -- The dateless chronological format -- The international résumé -- The linear format -- The newsletter format -- The reordered chronological format -- The targeted format -- If it works, it's right -- Top 10 résumé formatting tips --

4. The blueprint for a blockbuster résumé -- Data bits, or contact info -- To list or not to list your business telephone number -- Other solutions for daytime contacts -- Sample résumé headers -- Dealing with relocation on your résumé -- Objective, or focus statement -- Key features, or qualifications summary -- Professional experience -- Skills -- Education, credentials, and licenses -- Affiliations -- Publications, presentations, or patents -- Awards and honors -- Bio bites -- Endorsements -- What not to include -- Putting it all together -- Top 10 résumé blueprint tips --

5. How to write great copy -- Keywords -- What are keywords? -- Where to find keywords -- Off-line resources for keywords -- Online resources for keywords -- How to position keywords -- How to improve your "hit" ratio -- Top 10 résumé keyword tips -- The objective or focus statement -- Cover letter focus statement -- Title statement -- Traditional objective -- Exercise for assembling a focus statement -- The qualifications summary -- Professional experience -- How far back? -- Where to find material for your job descriptions -- How long is too long? -- Solutions for downplaying less-relevant positions -- Skills -- Education, credentials, licensure -- Recent high school graduate -- Recent college graduate -- Degree obtained a number of years ago -- Degree in a field different from your major -- Degree not completed -- Two-year degree -- Degree equivalent -- No degree -- Including credentials, licenses, and certificates -- Affiliations -- Publications, presentations, and patents -- Publications -- Presentations -- Patents -- Awards and honors -- Bio bites -- Endorsements -- Top 10 tips for writing great copy --

6. Accomplishments : the linchpin of a great résumé -- What's in it for me? -- Words to woo employers -- Buying motivator #1 : make money -- Buying motivator #2 : save money -- Buying motivator #3 : save time -- Buying motivator #4 : make work easier -- Buying motivator #5 : solve a specific problem -- Buying motivator #6 : be more competitive -- Buying motivator #7 : build relationships/image with internal/external customers, vendors, and the public -- Buying motivator #8 : expand business -- Buying motivator #9 : attract new customers -- Buying motivator #10 : retain existing customers -- Strategies for presenting accomplishments -- Numbers : the universal language -- Comparison, a powerful form of communication -- ROI, how quickly can you deliver? -- The company's mission statement, make it your mission -- The CAR technique, challenge, action, and result -- Where to find material for your accomplishments -- Performance appraisals -- Your career management file -- Impact-mining : probing questions to unearth hidden treasures -- Sifting through the accomplishments you've gathered -- Use impact statements to portray yourself as the right fit -- Top 10 tips for writing accomplishments --

7. Editing : résumé-speak 101 -- Development editing : a primer in power writing -- Top 10 tenets of developing your résumé -- Examples of résumé-speak -- The keys to writing compelling copy -- Address the needs of your audience -- Summarize by using the ABC method -- Focus on transferable skills -- Résumé-speak 101 -- Deliver the goods up front -- Start sentences with action verbs or noun phrases -- Sidestep potential negatives -- Give outdated experience a feeling of real time -- Avoid an employer pet peeve : baseless personality attributes -- Convey confidential information without giving away proprietary/trade secrets -- Technical editing/copyediting : the mechanics of résumé-speak -- Abbreviations -- Acronyms -- Active voice -- Articles (in absentia) -- Auxiliary or helping verbs -- Capitalization -- Colons and semicolons -- Commas -- Commas that separate -- Commas that set off -- Comma trauma -- Contractions -- Dashes -- Ellipsis marks -- Elliptical sentences -- Gender equity -- Hyphenation -- Numbers -- Parallel sentence structure -- Parentheses -- Parts of speech -- Passive voice -- Periods -- Possessives -- Prepositions -- Quotation marks -- Sentence fragments -- Slashes -- Split infinitives -- Tense -- Verbs -- Writing in the first person -- Prune, prune, prune -- Proof, proof, proof -- Top 10 résumé proofreading tips --

8. Visual artistry : the missing link -- Design elements -- Create a visual pattern -- Consistency counts -- Use tab stops sparingly -- Apply white space liberally -- Make bullets work for you -- Think in threes -- Keep headings to a minimum -- Segment paragraphs -- Balance is beautiful -- Pay attention to vertical balance -- Balancing a two-column format -- Balancing a full-width layout -- Balancing unevenly distributed copy -- Balancing impact statements -- Justification, ragged right or full justification? -- Hang it on the wall! -- Use typefaces tastefully -- Choosing a font -- Fonts that buy more space -- Use discretion in mixing fonts -- Go easy on bold, underline, and italic -- Establish a logical sizing hierarchy -- Tweaking tips -- Technical tools to create tables -- Add white space -- Adding space between paragraphs in MS Word -- Adding space between paragraphs in Corel WordPerfect -- Change line height -- Adjusting vertical space between lines within paragraphs in MS Word -- Adjusting vertical space between lines within paragraphs in Corel WordPerfect -- Expand character spacing -- Expanding text in MS Word -- Expanding text in Corel WordPerfect -- Tricks to make text fit -- Shrinking text in MS Word -- Shrinking text in Corel WordPerfect -- Use bullets strategically -- Creating bullets in MS Word -- Creating bullets in Corel WordPerfect -- Adding or subtracting spacing between bullets and text in MS Word -- Adding or subtracting spacing between bullets and text in Corel WordPerfect -- Changing the type of bullet in MS Word -- Changing the type of bullet in Corel WordPerfect -- Size of bullets -- Use rule lines -- Inserting a rule line in MS Word -- Inserting a rule line in Corel WordPerfect -- Other graphic elements -- Top 10 visual appeal tips --

9. E-résumés, e-portfolios, and blogs -- ASCII text résumés -- The advantages and disadvantages of ASCII résumés -- ASCII résumé do's and don'ts -- Steps for ASCII conversion -- Converting to ASCII for e-mailing using MS Word or Corel WordPerfect -- Converting to ASCII for pasting into e-forms -- Quick cleanup of an ASCII conversion -- How to post an ASCII résumé to a Web site -- Web résumés, e-portfolios, and blogs -- The advantages and disadvantages of Web résumés -- The technical how-tos of Web résumés -- Online résumé-builder services -- Do-it-yourself Web résumés -- Hire a pro -- Web résumé do's and don'ts -- What to include in an e-portfolio -- Hyperlinks or hyperjinx? -- Using your Web résumé -- Marketing your Web résumé -- Getting on the blog bandwagon -- What to include in a blog -- Creating a blog -- Using RSS (really simple syndication) technology -- Marketing your blog -- Scannable résumés -- Scannable résumé do's and don'ts -- Applicant-tracking systems : what happens after you e-mail or post your résumé? -- Positive aspects of applicant-tracking technology -- Negative aspects of applicant-tracking technology -- Conflicting advice -- Résumés of the future -- Top 10 technology tips for e-résumés, e-portfolios, and blogs --