Many job seekers tend to overlook job fairs. They can be crowded, busy, competitive and confusing events. But they offer you the opportunity to contact many potential employers all within one place, and they can help you land a job.

Here's what you need to do to get the most out of these events:

1. Start with an attractive layout. Use bold and italics to highlight key points.

I do not recommend downloadable templates because they are very generic and dull. Get creative but not crazy. You can use a little touch of color if you are modest.

2. Justify the text instead of using left align.

Most people are accustomed to reading justified text. This will make your résumé easy to follow.

Is your job search sagging? Are you still looking for that ideal next job? Or are you about to begin looking for new work and are not sure of the best way to go about it? What you need is a way to evaluate your job search strategies to see whether or not they are working effectively for you.

Ready to get started? Here are 12 building blocks to a successful job search and the goals that will help you get to where you really want to be in the world of work:

While you’re revamping your resume or cover letter or constructing your proof-by-example stories for interviews, you’ll find you need to watch your word choice. Why? Communication is powerful if the words we use to communicate are powerful. That’s not all it takes, but the right words make for a good beginning.

So as you craft achievement statements or write paragraphs that sell your skills or draft interview responses to knock the employers’ socks off, consider these suggestions:

You don't write a resume every day. Not even every month or year, most likely. So you can't be expected to do it flawlessly every time, right? After all, you're not a professional.

Well, I am.

My team and I have written or edited nearly 5,000 resumes over the past nine years. And there are a handful of secrets we use to get the job done, and get our clients hired.

It's a fact: the best jobs attract loads of competition. So it pays to do whatever you can to stand out as a persistent, creative candidate, one that any sane employer would love to hire.

But how can you do that, in this impersonal age of email, chat rooms and mega job sites?

Easy. Just do what has worked for others.

Here are 3 mini case studies from job hunters who got hired by creatively persisting and going after the positions they really wanted.

Employer and interviewers expect you to answer tough question during interviews. Take a few minutes to brainstorm on how you might elaborate on the following answers. The answers you give to these questions that will be asked during your interview will be very important in your career prospects.

Suppose you were asked these questions right now. Could you give a good answer? If not, study, study, study.

1. “Can you explain why you’ve been out of work so long?”

Gone are the days of the bland, generic one-page resume. Employers these days are more impressed by a resume that is customized and they tend to give jobs to interviewees that have a bit of knowledge about the company.

Follow these quick and easy tips to build yourself a better resume in under 10 minutes flat.

* Use strong, action oriented language that describes specific skills or accomplishments.

1: Keep It Short

Considering that initially HR personnel only spend approximately 10-20 seconds on a resume, the shorter your resume, the most desirable it is. Aim for one page.

A new resume can jump-start your career. Your network contacts may ask for a resume and some industries absolutely, positively demand a resume as the price of admission. When you begin thinking of your resume as a power source, the results can be astonishing.

1. Your resume is a sales tool. It is not a place for therapeutic self-disclosure or true confessions. Be honest but present your accomplishments in the most positive way.

Writing a good resume cover letter is something you should seriously consider when preparing to send off your resume to potential employers.

Here are seven important cover letter writing tips:

Address the individual by name. If you don’t know their name then use: “Dear Sir or Madam” or “Dear Human Resources Director”.

My name is Danni R, and I am a certified medical assistant and online educator. I am writing this article to introduce you to an exciting career in the allied health profession that has existed for quite a long time but is just recently gaining the attention and recognition it deserves. I am talking about a career in medical assisting!

A Career In Medical Assisting

We need more people to choose nursing as a career. There is a national shortage, so the career choice would guarantee future employment fresh out of school.

How do you determine what accomplishments to include on your resume?

Think about what you do each day at your job and how you demonstrate your proficiency at various tasks. What makes you so good at what you do? How do you exhibit your determination to succeed? Dig a bit into the why’s and how’s of what you do so well and you will start to understand the essence of true achievement.

What is the biggest mistake people make with resumes?

"I don't need a resume."

"Resumes don't tell the whole story. The interview is what's important."

"If somebody rejects me because of a resume, they're not worth my time."

Wrong, wrong and wrong.

If you're trying to conduct a job search without an absolutely outstanding resume, there's a word to describe you: UNEMPLOYED.