Too many job-hunters lose sleep over the appearance of their résumés. They worry about such trivialities as paper stock, type font, and page set-up. Well, guess what? In my experience, a résumé's appearance will never command the attention or respect of an employer. For that you need substance.

Follow these steps if you want to create a knock-out résumé that sells the real you:

Know the answers to these questions before you begin:

• What skills are required to perform this work?
• What other skills and personal qualities will the employer find attractive?
• Which of my work, volunteer, leisure or educational experiences demonstrate that I possess those skills and qualities?
• What results did I achieve in those experiences?

Define what it is you want to prove. A powerful résumé reads like a persuasive essay or advertisement. Underlying its content is the premise that you are the right person for a specific job. The content itself has only one purpose: to prove that premise. Summarize your résumé's premise in one sentence before you begin drafting (but delete that summary from the final product).

Organize your qualifications to prove your premise. Employers no longer look for someone with the right "credentials"; they look for someone with the right core competencies, i.e., the skills, knowledge base, motivation and results to accomplish the organization's mission. So do as Business Week says and forget titles. Instead, load your résumé with specific examples of the work, volunteer, leisure or educational experiences that show the employer you can do the job. Don't add superlatives like "excellent" communicator or "outstanding" negotiator. Let your results speak for themselves.

Pare down your résumé. Imagine you are creating a magazine advertisement. How can you get the reader to absorb the essence of your résumé in a single glance? Make every word count by evaluating each entry this way:

• Does it clearly support your qualification for the position sought?
• What specifically does it add to the total picture? Do the facts translate into benefits for the employer, or do they merely recite history?
• Does the information raise more questions about your suitability than it answers?

Get feedback. Show your best effort to at least two individuals who work in the field you've targeted. Then, incorporate their comments into your final version. As a last step, ask a detail-oriented colleague to hunt for and correct typos, misspellings and other minor glitches.