Everyone knows it's a good idea to keep an updated resume, but few people actually do. We're just too busy.

Suppose your resume is outdated and a headhunter calls and requests it overnight for an important high-paying job. What do you do? Should you send an old, incomplete resume--one with 300-word paragraphs? Absolutely not!

Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. An outdated, poorly drafted resume will not sell you well, because it doesn't show you at your best.

Your competitors' resumes will come in looking clean, crisp, and tightly written. Yours will look weak by comparison. How will you compete? Do you think you'll be interviewed? Perhaps... but maybe not.

Regardless of what the books say, you can't draft a good resume overnight, especially if you're a well-experienced pro. It just doesn't happen.

What's the answer? Send a tightly written, power-packed, results-oriented letter that tells potential employers what they want to know--no more, no less. While they're reviewing the letter, you update your resume, load it with accomplishments, and overnight it to them. Presto! You come across as a busy, successful candidate. You may be perceived as loyal to your present employer, too, and that could be a plus. Why? Because you didn't have a loaded resume lying in your desk drawer.