Fifteen seconds.

That's the amount of time Professional Resume Writer Sharon Cox said most employers will look at the resume of a job candidate. That is also less time than the average television commercial.

As the owner of Career Direction and Resume Writing, Cox's main job is to make sure those fifteen seconds form such an impression on employers that her clients get a call back.

"You need to make your skills measurable because that next employer wants to know what you are going to contribute to his organization," Cox said. "It's not about you. It's about what you have."

Cox said it is important to form a specific resume for each specific job application. In addition, using action words that show you have multiple ideas can give you an edge, she said.

"We don't want to know that you were ‘responsible for' or you ‘maintained' something," Cox said of the typical resume word choices. "We want to know that you spearheaded a new project that resulted in $13 million of revenue for the company."

Getting an inside contact in an organization where you want to work can also give you an added advantage, Cox said.

"Thirty-seven percent of jobs are gotten through an internal referral," Cox said. "In order to get your next job you need to be very highly networked."

That's where Social Media Strategist Wayne Sutton said technology can give a huge advantage. Social networking Web sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can allow job seekers to network with employers and future co-workers on a constant basis.

"If you put something online, it has the potential of reaching millions of people," Sutton said. "Whether it's you creating a YouTube video of you just talking about what you're passionate about or whether your just blogging about something, it can hit the internet and just spread virally."

The viral spread of content on the internet can also work against you, Sutton said.

"Once it gets on the internet, it's there forever," Sutton said, adding that deleting a posted comment doesn't always mean it is gone. "There's a site called internet archive. Sites like that and Google index, it's there forever. So you really want to be careful about what you say negative."

Still, the Web has an unmatched ability to help people make contacts, and one of the most important contacts could be your alma mater. Typically, colleges will help alumni find jobs for a certain number of years after graduation.

"Some of our best employers are past alumni who have been successful and have built a business and now they call us to get employees, said Jeannette Moss, Director of Job Placement at Wake Technical Community College.

While on campus, alumni can also consider taking a class to give them more training on advancements in their field.

"If they need to be retrained or retooled, this is a great time, a great opportunity to get some help in going back to school," Moss said.