This is taken from a post by Willa Rogers on SA, and mirrored here for my convenience.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1553768

I'm not an H.R. professional, only someone who's learned the ropes on both ends. I've been supporting myself by working fulltime since I was 18–and I'm old, so that's a lot of years. And even though I never graduated from college, and only have “soft” (i.e., non-technical) skills, I've got the whole job-search and interviewing deal down to a fine art. When I'm actively looking for new work, I usually get around a 50% response rate to the resumes I send out, and I score job offers from interviews more times than not.

I currently work as a consultant to small businesses, and one of the things I do is help employers find employees. I'm not a headhunter, but I've seen enough resumes and job applications to feel confident in imparting some empirical truths. So gather round Auntie Willa, chillens, and soon you too will be able to score a job and stop living off your parents like overgrown leeches.

Where to look for a job

• The internet, stupid; where else? Ok, maybe your college's job-placement office, too. But don't bother with the dead-tree stuff, like newspaper classifieds (unless they're online), or placement agencies (unless they've called you about an online ad to which you've responded); it's a waste of time better spent on monster, craigslist, hotjobs or dice.com.
• Be creative in your searches; don't just look under a particular category of jobs. If flextime is important to you, try searching for “flextime.” If working close to home is important, do a search for your city (if smaller) or use an advanced-search tool like dice.com's search-by-area-code feature. If you have the time for it, scan ALL jobs in the area in which you want to work. I know a graphic artist who got her dream job by finding an ad with a typo like “grahpic artist.” She beat out other potential applicants for that job who would have never gotten that result from a search for “graphic artist.”
• Buy a $20 box of business-card stock from the office-supply store and print cards for yourself on your inkjet printer. They have really nice glossy, smooth-edged card stock that looks as good as professional printing; I like Avery's no. 8879. Include your name, phone numbers (cell and home), and email address. If you want, include a one-line description of what you do–but keep it simple: “Software installation and training,” e.g. (Personally, I recommend leaving the tagline off, because it could end up narrowly defining you.)
• When you meet people and mention that you're job-hunting, hand them a card. Use the back of the card to handwrite any skills or notes that can help the person remember you. For example, if you give your card to a friend of your parents', write on the back “Joe Blow's son; looking for IT work.”

Your resume

There are a zillion books and websites dedicated to telling you how to put your resume together, so I'll just cover the basics, and mention some of the mistakes I've seen.

• If you post your resume online, try to include as many industry-specific keywords as possible within the body of the text. If you are tailoring your resume in reply to a specific ad, include keywords or phrases that were mentioned in the ad.
• The wonders of word processing make it easy enough to tailor your resume in response to specific ads, so do it, damn it. The extra 10 minutes to modify your resume and save it under a different filename are well worth giving a potential employer the impression that you're a perfect fit for that job.
• Don't include an “objective,” such as “To find a company that will appreciate my awesome artistic abilities and pay me handsomely.” Even if you write a serious objective, it still comes off as all about you and your needs. Pay attention: Potential employers don't give a crap what they can do for you; they want to know what YOU can do for THEM. And they want to find this out by reading the least text possible, either through keyword bot searches or by scanning your resume and cover letter.
• List your work experience in reverse-chronological order (most recent first). Include the time period you worked there, the name of the company, and the location. Follow with bullet points that provide brief descriptions of your duties and accomplishments for those jobs. Follow your work experience with a brief description of your education: school, degree, year graduated and (if worthy) GPA or honors.
• If you're a newb to the workforce, be creative. Include work-study jobs, volunteer work, modding experience with message boards, fundraising for your fraternity or sorority, etc.
• Being creative does not mean lying. Do not lie about anything, such as a college degree you don't have, working for a now-defunct website that never employed you, or a military career that you never had. It's a small world, and you're bound to get busted–maybe even after you've started a job. Besides, it's too easy for employers to check that shit out.
• Just because you can't lie doesn't mean you can't utilize hyperbole to your advantage. If you worked at a summer camp for kids, it's perfectly fine to include, as a bullet point, “Supervised 40 campers in day-to-day activities, including recreational sports, arts and crafts, and whitewater rafting.”
• Don't include potential flamebait. If you want to mention volunteer work you did for a political candidate, don't say, “Spent last summer pissing against the wind and working for Ralph Nader.” Instead, say something vague, like, “Worked for grassroots political group.”
• If you're creating your resume in Word, use tables or the indent feature rather than tabs. (I prefer tables.) Save your resume as a PDF in addition to a DOC file. Use your name as the filename (e.g., willarogers.doc), and if you've tailored it in response to a particular employer, save it under a separate folder or filename (willrogers02.doc).

Cover Letters

The biggest complaint from employers I talk to is that people send their resumes off without including cover letters. C'mon, it's not rocket science to include a letter of introduction in your email to a potential employer, and it's another way to make yourself stand out from the rest of the responses to an ad. Here's a simple four-paragraph model for a cover letter:

• First paragraph: “I was excited to see your ad on for the position of since my skills and experience seem to be such a perfect match for the position.”
• Second paragraph: Here's where you specifically mention the match between the skills listed for the position and your proficiency with those skills. E.g.: If the ad asks for HTML skills, explain that you can handcode and have done so X number of years. No need to get into hardcore details; your aim is to catch the recruiter's interest.
• Third paragraph: Throw in some additional skills that you possess that might be related to the position but were not mentioned in the ad; it gives you a leg up on less-qualified candidates, and makes you seem like a “team player” who can and will pitch in when necessary.
• Fourth paragraph: Close the cover letter by thanking the recruiter for considering your resume, and asking them to contact you if they would like additional information or to set up an interview.

One more thing: Don't be an asshole and start off your letter with “Dear Sir.” This isn't 1952. “Dear Sir or Madam” is socially acceptable, but sounds like you're applying for a position in a whorehouse. I use either “Dear Recruiter” or “To whom it may concern.”

Interviews

So you've followed the tips above and have scored an interview. This is usually the most nerve-wracking part of job hunting, but with some practice, it will become less anxiety-provoking. Here are some tips:

• Once you know the company with which you'll be interviewing, research its website, and google the company. Pay particular attention to the “About” section of the company's website, and read any press releases that the company has posted there. Read the bios of the executive officers, too.
• Prepare some questions of your own for the interview. The questions I like to ask are “What is the history of this position?” and “What do you see as the most important qualifications for an applicant for this position?” The latter, in particular, allows you to follow up by detailing how you possess all those qualities they're seeking. Save these questions for a lull in the interview, or toward the end. Also ask how the recruiting process is going for that position; I've found this question generates responses that let me know about my competition.
• Show up 10 minutes before the time for which your interview is scheduled. Visit the restroom, relieve your bladder, and check yourself in the mirror.
• During the interview, don't fidget, and keep your hands folded in your lap. Smile and look pleasant, and take your cues from the person interviewing you. Don't ramble on, talk over or jump all over the place in your responses. Pretend you are a Zen master.
• The two most stupid questions you'll be asked in interviews are “What do you consider your major faults?” and “Where do you see yourself in five years?” The only acceptable response to the first question is a backhanded slur on yourself, such as “I tend to be an overachiever who isn't happy until I've accomplished a project successfully.” [Edited to elaborate on the preceding sentence: I've decided, since I wrote this, that it's more important to sound natural and sincere than give a canned response. Later posters in this thread offer some good alternative responses to this question.] The second question allows you a bit more leeway with your response, but it's a good idea to use it to suck up by responding, “I hope that I will have proved my value and commitment to my employer and expanded the scope of my position.”
• Don't ask questions about salary or benefits. When asked what kind of salary you're seeking, name a range based on the industry, your geographic location, and industry standards for the position. (You should have researched all of these beforehand.) If the job listing included a salary range, it's fine to say that the range meets your salary requirements.
• At the end of the interview, shake hands, thank the person for taking the time for the interview, and ask for his or her business card. Also ask when they hope to make a decision, and whether they'll be contacting all applicants once they've made the decision. If not, ask them if it would be OK for you to follow up, and when would be the best time to do so.

After the interview:

• Within 24 hours after your interview, send thank-you emails to those who interviewed you (that's why you've got their cards). Thank them again for taking the time for the interview, and mention any additional qualifications or responses to questions that you thought of after you left the interview. You also might want to mention that you're also available for contract or parttime work, should the need arise.
• Create a manila folder with a copy of the ad, the version of your resume that you sent for that job, notes from the interview, and any company research or materials you received at the interview.
• If you were told to contact them by a particular date to follow up, then do so.
• If you receive a job offer by phone, ask them to put it in writing in an email to you. If you have any doubt that you want to accept the position, then buy a little time before accepting. It's perfectly fine to tell them that you have a couple more interviews scheduled and will get back to them in a few days… but don't push your luck, especially if they want you to start immediately.
• If you accept the job, be sure to thank them again.Mention how excited you are to be working for such a great company, and any additional suck-upage you can think of.