Your resume is your first interview. Most personnel directors will look at your resume before they meet you. They will form an opinion of your competency and your personality based on your resume. Based on our work helping clients prepare resumes, we have created a list of 8 words your resume needs, words that will create a favorable impression of you.

1. Successfully
Companies want to hire winners. Use this word to describe your accomplishments in a prior responsibility.
Example: I successfully negotiated a new contract for services.

2. Leadership
Companies want to hire leaders. Use this word to describe your involvement with task and project teams.
Example: Under my leadership, the customer service unit managed all client records.

3. Team
Companies want to hire people who can cooperate with others to accomplish company goals. Use this word to describe your involvement with colleagues.
Example: Our team was responsible for answering customers’ questions about products.

4. Created
Companies want to hire innovators. Use this word to describe new ideas and processes you developed.
Example: I created a checklist to track daily service tasks.

5. Expanded/Increased (the verb, not the adjective)
Companies want to hire people that will help them grow. Use this word to describe your participation in company growth.
Example: During this time, the company expanded the product line to include 2 new models.

6. Support (the verb, not the noun)
Companies want to hire people who will assist the management team. Use this word to describe your relationship with your former supervisors.
Example: I supported the division director by compiling financial data.

7. Will
Companies want to hire people who are confident about their ability to deliver what they promise. Use this word to describe what you will do if hired.
Example: I will solve customer software and hardware problems.

Some of these words may not apply to your resume. However, if you think carefully about your prior experiences, you will find that you can use most of them. Using these words does not guarantee that you will get the job you want, but they will help you make a good impression.

Effective writing and the correct use of writing mechanics are very important. Once you have developed the draft of your resume and cover letter, you will need to edit it carefully. Editing guides will help, as will daily writing instruction.

Good luck in your job search. [link “Editing guides” to the training manual page. Link “daily writing instruction” to the writing tips page.] Read Precise Edit's new article and optimize your resume.

Imagine if you could develop a product that could be sold worldwide, cost almost nothing to create and could be shipped to your customers instantly. Don't think this is possible?

Let me introduce you to this "ideal product", also known as an ebook. Short for electronic book, ebooks took the internet by storm forming a new generation of online authors. Almost every person surfing the web is looking for information, so there's no shortage of potential readers.

Here are a few reasons why you should consider self-publishing:

• The startup cost is quite low and affordable.
• Unlike traditional books, updates can be done quickly and easily at no additional costs.
• There's no need to buy or rent a warehouse to stock your product, because an ebook is compiled into a single file that can be sold over and over again. Also, unsold copies are no longer an issue.
• After the order has been processed, the customer is redirected to a page where they can instantly download the product, day or night. This eliminates shipping costs saving you time and money. Online sales can be fully automated leaving much more time to invest in other important aspects of the business.
• Profit margins are significantly larger due to low business expenses and production costs.
• If the ebook is truly informative, selling another product would then become almost effortless, especially if a mailing list was included in the marketing campaign.

Everyday, more and more students, stay at home parents and even grand-parents are turning ideas and knowledge into a passive income stream. Some of them even go on to produce several more ebooks, or a single bestseller, and leave the 9–5 lifestyle behind for good.

If you have expertise in a certain field, whether it's guerilla marketing or cooking for kids, you too can enjoy the benefits from self-publishing your very own ebook. Put a unique twist on ways to solve everyday problems, and you could retire sooner than you think!

Would you like more information? Check out our resources here.

Editors and copywriters working away in the small press biz sometimes have a difficult time understanding the differences between Marketing, Advertising, PR and Branding (as well as their importance). Marty Neumeier's illustrations—taken from his book "ZAG: The #1 Strategy of High-Performance Brands"—provide the best explanation we've seen: