Get Your Resume Noticed: Three Sizzling Secrets [Video]

There's an old Taoist saying -- "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." For job seekers caught up in the web of massive unemployment, that first step is a resume.

When you send out your resume, you can expect some stiff competition. Here's a sobering statistic from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics: Of the 13.7 million unemployed persons, almost half have been jobless for 27 weeks or more.

This makes having a perfect resume your "ace in the hole." It's what will get the recruiter's attention and keep you from landing in the "reject" bin. "For every open position I have, I get at least 300 applications. And I can whittle them down to about 20, just based on customization," says Human Resources Specialist Karen Holt.