Dear Joyce: I have been looking for a job in the business world for 14 months. I've already been to a consultant and am $4,000 poorer. I'm thinking about trying another career marketing firm. I've enclosed my résumé. What can you advise? -- Z.E.H.

Dear Z.E.H.: For a business job, your résumé is degree heavy: a doctorate and three master's on top of your bachelor's. You're scaring employers.

Additionally, your résumé lacks focus. Most of your hodgepodge of jobs during those school years were student jobs and should be presented that way, or as temporary or contract employment.

Skip the pricey career marketing firms at this point. You've educated yourself in so many other areas that you've proved you can learn. Now educate yourself in Employment 101.

Lawrence Stuenkel, senior partner of outplacement firm Lawrence & Allen, and author of "From Here To There: A Self-Paced Program For Transition in Employment, 5th Edition," believes there is a science to successful job searching.

Among his recommendations is the admonition to work a minimum of six hours per day -- most unemployed job hunters work only two hours a day, he says.

Two-hour Slots

Be on deck at 7:30 a.m., since most executives arrive at their desks before 8. Spend your next two-hour stint during lunch because not everyone breaks at exactly noon. Your next shift starts in the late afternoon at 4 p.m., as most managers and executives don't race out at precisely 5 p.m.

These are the hours that give you the highest probability of avoiding gatekeepers and reaching the person you intend to contact.

Don't Overestimate Internet Value
Although some 80 million résumés are spread across the Web, less than 4 percent of people are hired each year through the Internet, studies say. The four biggest job boards -- Monster, Hotjobs, CareerBuilder and Headhunter -- are the four sources of your biggest Internet competition. Use some of the less advertised Web sites and the corporate Web sites. Don't limit yourself to one marketing strategy.

Try Targeted Letters
Instead of a résumé, compose a targeted letter -- a one pager expressing quantitatively your significant accomplishments. Don't say WHAT you did but give the RESULTS of your activities.

Pick Up Uncommon Tips
Look for an edge, such as this one: Companies whose names begin with the letters A through M receive twice as many unsolicited inquiries for employment as companies whose names start with a letter in the last half of the alphabet. Cut your competition in half by starting at the back of the alphabet and working forward.

Don't Answer Ads Too Quickly
Wait a week or two before answering a job ad to separate yourself from the competition. The vast majority of an ad's response rate comes in during the first five days after the ad has run.

Stuenkel's From Here To There costs $32 -- a far cry from the thousands of dollars you contemplate spending.

Dear Joyce: I am a professional seeking part-time employment. When is the best and most appropriate time to indicate the part-time status -- cover letter, interview, after the job offer? Assume I am responding to a job ad online or through the newspaper, where most jobs are probably for full-time openings but don't always state it. Advice? -- C.R.

Dear C.R.: A cover letter revelation is the cleanest approach, presenting yourself as a consultant who can do the job in fewer hours and save the company money over a full-time, in-house employee.

But if you want the job for the benefits, you may do better to disclose during the interview, noting that the ad didn't specify full-time employment and that until you knew more about the job you weren't sure you couldn't find some way to accommodate a full-time schedule.

I think that if you wait until an offer is made to spring a surprise, the employer may feel you are disrespecting his or her time and show you the door.

Generally speaking, it is classier as a professional to position yourself as a consultant than as a seeker of a part-time job.

Send career questions for possible use in this column to Joyce Lain Kennedy at Box 368, Cardiff, CA 92007, or e-mail her at jlk@sunfeatures.com. Sorry, the volume of mail makes personal replies impossible.

©2001 Tribune Media Services, Inc.