There are some great effective strategies and tactics that the hiring managers, the human resources managers and recruiters want you to know about.  Not only will it make their lives easier, it will certainly help you spend your time wisely.  If you could eliminate most of the wasted time and effort in your job search certainly it would be a giant help.  After all, time is money.  These are all right up to date.  So if you have not been on a serious job search for a while pay close attention.   You have got to get by the screener, the first interview and the boss.  Here is what you need to know.

1.    Exaggerating your experience as a new college graduate/young professionals does not work.

2.    A resume all crammed with text and no white space with reduced margins is recycled.

3.    Resumes that are longer than three pages for those who are not management?  Not good.

4.    Don't title your resume like this Resume 11.2009 use this instead:  FredHowardsResume.doc

5.    You don't want to be lost in the PC never to be found again do you?

6.    If you don't meet all the qualifications do not send in your resume.  It will be recycled instantly.

7.    Why would you send in a dull generic cover letter addressed to the HR department?  Even worse doing the same when they are obviously degraded copies of a copy?

8.    Please don't send us stray resumes that have nothing to do with the posted job.

9.    Resumes written on a type writer or degraded copies of copies are not acceptable.

10.    Errors from misspellings, tense, unexplained acronyms, grammar, and poor word choices hurt.

11.    Do target your resume specifically to the job posting listing appropriate skills, talents and abilities.  It might be a nice idea to see if your LinkedIn profile data matches your resume.

12.    Do include your location and the location of your employers, this is important.  Double check your contact info like phones and email as your spell check feature cannot handle this.

13.    Do take advantage of a professional resume review any resume writer will do this free.

14.    Do include a cover letter that:  Shows you are interested, well qualified and why.

15.    Do give us time to sort through the applicant's resumes after you submit from a job posting.

16.    Do get some internship experience if you are under qualified, we are not baby sitters.

17.    Do assume managers have old tired eyes and very limited time to scan through resumes. Do make them easy to read by using a font of 11 points or larger.

18.    Do include all relevant information that would help us in a hiring decision.  Eliminate all superfluous data.   Always remember white space is good as it is easy on the eyes.

19.    Do leave off vague generalities.  Do include accomplishments with specific performance metrics.

20.    Do expect a behavioral interview based on what you have in the resume.  Use a mock interview to prepare for any and all unexpected questions.  There are no second chances.

21.    Evidence is good.  Come prepared for reference checks, serious questions and a skeptical boss who wants to get to the bottom of things.  Yes, they will be drilling down just like an oil rig.  So check out your Google and Yahoo search results.  Do you have solid reference letters?