If position you're applying for requires specialized experience or knowledge, it is important that your resume communicate that you have that experience and knowledge. Here is where going into details is helpful. Going into details about work you did that is not relevant to position you're asking recruiter to consider you for could be detrimental because it can make your resume seem dauntingly long.

HOW TO GET HELP IMPROVING YOUR RESUME

The best ways to get advice on improving your resume are to talk to recruiters and hiring managers. And not just any recruiters and hiring managers: they should be people who are currently hiring or have recently hired someone with your background. You can find these people through networking with people you know, or through cold calling/cold emailing. With hiring managers, you can contact a company that hires people with your skills and try to get an informational interview with someone who manages people with your background. Even if this person is not hiring at moment, an informational interview will give you a chance to learn about industry and for you to ask them to critique your resume. You could present it that you want to learn about their company for future employment opportunities, even if they're not hiring now. People feel flattered if you tell them you like their company and want to learn more about it.

With recruiters, you can probably find one in your field by networking. You can also access directories of recruiters on sites like these: http://www.recruitersonline.com http://www.topechelon.com

Another avenue for networking to find hiring managers and recruiters is through various professional networking online forums. With these forums you can contact people working at specific companies and sometimes you can connect with a hiring manager or HR rep who might be willing to help give you feedback and information. WetFeet's site has some good forums along these lines: http://www.jobsearchinfo.com/wf.htm

While not as good as getting information from "horse's mouth," another option is to connect with someone who recently landed same kind of job you're going for. You can do this through networking. After looking at their resume, you may notice things that may have given them an edge in getting noticed and considered by employer who ultimately hired them.

Resume writers and job coaches can be another source of information. The caveat here though is that many resume writers and job coaches have expertise in only certain fields. The ideal situation is to find a resume writer or job coach who has recently helped someone get placed in same position, or at least same field, that you're going for. You may be able to get a prospective resume writer to let you talk to someone they helped get placed recently as a reference to vouch for quality of their services.

A second principle used by effective negotiatiors is to come up with alternatives. Good negotiators don't walk into a negotiation with only one way they can get what they want. They think of several scenarios under which they could be satisfied. This kind of creative thinking can be very impressive in a job interview situation. For example, if you are not best match for position as they described it, presenting to interviewer a couple of other scenarios under which you could be a better fit with their organization can score you major points and possibly turn a situation that could have been a waste of time for both parties into one with a positive outcome.

When most people hear word "negotiation," they automatically think of one party being successful and other not. Typically we think of a negotiator overpowering their opponent and getting them to agree to something they didn't want. While some negotiators do use tricks, most successful negotiators do not rely on them because they do not work in long term. After all, someone can only be tricked one time, and after that they won't trust you anymore. In a good negotiation, both parties come away successful and get something they want.

Another important point to keep in mind is that you have something other person wants. They wouldn't take time to interview you if you weren't potentially valuable to them. As in any negotiating situation, you should always be prepared to walk away if an outcome that you would be satisfied with does not appear to be available.