It may be time to give your résumé a major makeover -- even if you aren't looking for a job. It's important to be prepared if you're suddenly laid off, a headhunter contacts you or you see an ad for the job of your dreams. And if you have just completed a performance review and your accomplishments are fresh in your mind, the timing couldn't be better.

Create an e-mail résumé In addition to a version formatted in a word-processing program, such as Microsoft Word, that you can attach to your e-mail, cut and paste the text sans formatting into the body of your e-mail. (Face it: Some companies don't open attachments.) For the e-mail version, keep each line under 65 characters and replace bullets with plain old asterisks, says Kim Isaacs, director of ResumePower.com, a firm in Doylestown, Pa. Isaacs also recommends pasting a cover letter into the e-mail, even if the employer doesn't ask for it. "The cover letter doesn't always get read, but it's a great place to sell yourself," she says.

Include critical words. Many employers dump résumés into a database and search for key words to narrow the field. "You can be the perfect candidate for the position and never get found if your résumé doesn't have the right language," says Isaacs.

The magic words are often job titles, skills or areas of expertise related to the position. "For accounting, it could be mergers and acquisitions, IPO, divestiture. In human resource management, it could be international compensation. In information technology, it could be a specific language or software package," says Emory Mulling of the Mulling Cos., in Atlanta, which provides career-transition consulting services.

"The best way to figure out key words is to look at ads for your target job and see the kind of language employers are using," says Isaacs.

Skip the objective. Forget the idea of starting your résumé with your objective. That's a waste of prime real estate at the top of your résumé. Obviously, your objective is to land the job. "It's just a bunch of fluff," says Mike Worthington of ResumeDoctor.com. "A job seeker has less than ten seconds to grab the reader's attention. You should use those seconds wisely."

He recommends starting with a brief headline that explains who you are and how your expertise meets the employer's needs. Then hammer home your skills, with five to eight bullet points that spell out exactly why you're the best person for the job.

"The summary of qualifications is the place where you position and package yourself," says Marty Weitzman, president of Gilbert Career Résumés, in New York City. "It sets you up so that when recruiters pick up your résumé they can see that you're what they're looking for."

Let your past promote you. Instead of describing each job you've held, focus on your accomplishments. "List your responsibilities, then include a bulleted list of your key accomplishments for each job," says Isaacs. "You want to keep them measurable -- not just that you significantly increased sales, but that you increased sales by x dollars."

Weed out old jobs. Don't ramble on about your first job as a waitress or camp counselor. Mulling says that employers care mostly about the past five to seven years, so just summarize what you did earlier in your career.

Create a new résumé for each job. "A résumé is a marketing piece, matching your skills and expertise with what the employer seeks," says ResumeDoctor.com's Worthington.

You can find professional résumé writers through the National Résumé Writers' Association (www.nrwaweb.com) or the Professional Résumé Writing and Research Association (www.prwra.com).

Get personal. No matter how great your résumé looks, it's not nearly as valuable as meeting the people who might hire you. "Do you want to be one of 6,000 résumés that pour in?" asks Christopher Elmes, a global account manager for DBM. He recommends making your name known in the company so that you can find out about jobs before they're advertised. "Before you know it, you'll have people moving your résumé along the chain of command, and you'll get the jump on anything that is submitted electronically," Elmes says.

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