Most people in the past few generations have switched jobs numerous times, switched careers, and may even have returned to school to study something unrelated to a first degree. Going from business to the arts or vice-versa? Wondering how your experience as an opera singer will translate on your resume to a move into marketing? Details aside, you're certainly not alone. You'll need to give your resume a good makeover, and here's how:

Target Your Ideal Employers
Use your resume to "speak to" the organizations you have in mind for your career shift, and tailor it to be most appealing to this target. For example, if you had been an opera singer and are looking to move into marketing, target the company you want to work at, focus on how you marketed yourself as a singer and what you gleaned from your opera company's marketing strategy, and how your discipline and education as a singer translates to business discipline and setting and achieving goals.

If you're seeking a sales-related position, your resume will include details different from those included in a resume for a management job. Make sure you tailor what you write to the job you're seeking, and make it easy for the employer to see why you're a good fit.

View Yourself as a Revamped Product
Imagine that you're on a cold call for a desirable job, and the only way you can communicate is through your resume. Put in your resume exactly how you've been "new and improved" through experience, education, and working in that very different field from the one you're now targeting. Having an employee with a wide range of alternative business experience may be appealing to an employer who is looking for broad thinking, flexibility, and a fresh perspective--especially in creative fields. By the same token, employers in creative fields may treasure more traditional corporate experience for its goal-setting, bottom-line profit mentality.

The top quarter of your resume is most crucial. The employer should know who you are and what you do within seconds of scanning your resume. Create a powerful headline that defines you and makes you distinctive. Immediately after your headline, draft a "skills summary" section that illustrates your hard-core skills and industry expertise and how is specifically matches the requirements of the position. Remember to customize your headline and summary each time you send out your resume.

Do the Interviewer's Heavy Lifting
Instead of expecting potential employers to make important connections and judgment calls about you, spell everything out for them. According to Monster.com, the average person spends a mere seven seconds scanning a resume, so tell them point-blank--and in no uncertain terms--what the benefits of hiring you would be. An ideal way to do this is to include a cover letter, which should sell yourself in a more specific way than your resume. The cover letter is your golden opportunity to be frank, friendly, and interesting. Don't send out a resume without one.

Also, it should go without saying that you always send your cover letter and resume to a specific, targeted person rather than a generic "Attn: Human Resources Department" title.

Research the Company
If you do your research, you'll know where the organization is going, where it's been, how it started, and what skills and competencies an employer there would be looking for when hiring you. Position yourself as expert in those areas when possible and demonstrate your knowledge of the company.

Showcase Pertinent Skills Instead of Experience
A functional resume will highlight skills instead of practical job experience. A "profile" section at the top is the ideal way to illustrate the type of person you are and how this would dovetail nicely into the culture of that particular business.

Buy a Book on Writing Terrific Job-Switching Resumes
Bookstores have at least a dozen resume-writing books on the shelf; one often recommended by job-seekers' web sites and human resource personnel is The Resume Catalog: 200 Damn Good Examples. Also check out Trashproof Resumes and Job Notes: Resumes.

Network Like Crazy
Check with relatives, friends, neighbors, and even your dentist to see if anyone knows a person working in the field or corporation you'd like to be in. Having a connection, however tenuous, is an advantage when switching careers, and this could be the wisest thing you do. You'll need a resume to hand to someone in the HR department as an afterthought, but the deal will be sealed first if you make a connection.

Useful Miscellaneous Resume Tips

• Use bulleted points in your resume for easy reading.
• Concentrate on your accomplishments rather than your duties. What did you achieve? What makes you stand out?
• Don't include hobbies or unrelated information, and be concise. Avoid including things like marital status, age, or political or social affiliations. Also, there is no need to go into detail about past employment that is unrelated to your desired position; create an "other" or "previous employment" section and (briefly) document this experience.
• Avoid fancy formatting, even if you are a graphic-design master.
• Check and recheck for typos, misspellings, and poor grammar.