My advice is that you shouldn’t, at least not in those words. Negative comments are a sure fire way to be crossed off a candidate list.It’s true that dissatisfaction drives a lot of candidates into the job market, but as one HR professional said, “There are a million and one reasons to give for wanting to leave a job. The last reason you want to use is one that’s negative.”

Very few people will say outright they hate their boss or that he or she is a jerk, but if you imply the same idea then be prepared for the consequences. Expect to be asked why you don’t like your boss and to give specific examples. Don’t be surprised to be asked what your boss thinks of you. If there was ever a wrong turn for an interview to take, this is it.

Criticizing a current or former employer isn’t a great idea either. Interviewers want to know you’re positive and can be flexible. Complaining raises the probability that you’ll be a high maintenance employee in a fast moving media environment. Criticize more than one employer and suddenly you’re the one with the problem, not the companies you worked for.

I asked my ad hoc group of HR professionals and hiring managers how to put a positive spin on a negative experience. Here are some suggestions:

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The simple answer is that you should prepare for a phone interview the same way you prepare for a face-to-face meeting The reality, however, is phone interviews have some unique twists beginning with the fact that most interviewers don’t like them.Phone interviews never replace in-person meetings. They occur as a preliminary candidate screen or because the geography won’t work for the interviewer and candidate, if for example, one is on the East Coast and the other on the West Coast. But beware, a misstep on the phone could mean the end to any more conversations.

I asked some recruiter colleagues, HR professionals and a scattering of clients to weigh in on the subject. Below are some tips on preparing yourself to make a quick, but lasting impression via phone.

Start Strong: Phone interviews are almost always shorter and give you less opportunity to make an impression. For the most part, we all agreed that the first 5 minutes will make or break the next 10 to 20 minutes.

How You Say Something Counts: Be confident, be passionate, and pay attention to cadence and inflection. Sound professional. Don’t use slang and don’t be overly casual, try to keep your “umm’s” and “ahh’s” to a minimum.

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Unfortunately there is no Holy Grail of resume writing. What there is though, is plenty of advice on the subject.My suggestion is that you approach this like you would any project. You look at the available information and decide on a course that feels right for you. In the meantime, try not to be overwhelmed by the wealth of options.

Career Builder and Monster have resume templates online. Or just peruse the myriad of options a search engine will find under resume templates, resume writing, resume advice, and resume examples, as a starting point. You could also do it the old-fashioned way and buy a book. I wandered through the Strand Bookstore in New York City recently and found plenty of used and/or remaindered copies of resume writing books that had interesting tips and examples. Not near the Strand? Stay home and go to a virtual book store like Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. A quick search on these sites pulls up a variety of resources.

Some recruiters give suggestions for writing a resume on their web sites. There are also a plethora of resume writers and two organizations that accredit them: National Resume Writers and Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches. Again there’s more free advice to be had if you spend some time looking on individual resume writers’ sites.

Still not ready to tackle this on your own? Hire someone to write a resume for you. Fair warning, I’ve seen plenty of professionally written resumes that aren’t very good. I’ve also seen plenty that really make someone’s experience pop. If you choose this route, I suggest trying to get a referral for a resume writer first. I also encourage anyone reading this that has had a good or bad experience to share your resources-you can do so at the bottom of this piece or email me your response and I’ll share it in a future column.

Here’s some advice I’ll offer up:

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Preparing your resume is just like putting together a marketing presentation. Except this time you’re marketing the most important product you’ll ever sell: YOU!Most of the people I interview have experience in constructing and delivering presentations. Many begin with a boilerplate template, but it’s always content that counts. The content is what gets the order, wins the client or at least scores an invitation back for the next meeting.

Some people deliver presentations verbatim, but most use them as a tool to guide talking points and provide logical information flow. Key information is highlighted and bullet points make for faster, easier reading.

Keep these principles top of mind as you start to develop your resume/self-marketing campaign.

You can fill your shelves with books on resume writing or read tips on countless blogs. There are endless resources on the topic. With over two decades of resume reading under my belt, I can confidently say, I have what employers are looking for in this document down to a science. Expect to see a few articles from me on the subject. This is the first and here’s how I suggest you begin:

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