Attention, job hunters: It's time to swallow that bitter pill called pride. The simple truth is that, if you're lucky enough to land a job in this suckfest of an economy, you won't be making as much money as you were making a year ago, and the title on your business card will take a hit too. The jobs available today are not VP for knowledge management or marketing director or -- heaven forbid -- Internet guru. Instead, companies are looking to fill positions like product manager or test engineer. The nonglamorous jobs. So set your sights lower or you'll be unemployed long after the unemployment checks stop coming.

For many, this means downsizing your resume so that you don't look overqualified for the jobs that are out there. Downsizing is tricky, though. You need to look as though you can handle the job you're applying for, but not so easily that you will become bored and take off when the economy rebounds. Here are some tips for keeping your ego in check when adapting your resume in response to the job market.

Lofty titles are bad. No one wants to manage someone who hasn't been managed in five years. If you started a company and called yourself the chief people officer or grand pooh-bah, change it on your resume. It was your company -- you can have whatever title you want.

Less is more, part 1: experience. More than eight years and you're overqualified for almost any job available right now. Leave off the date you graduated and the first few jobs you held after college.

Less is more, part 2: responsibility and accomplishments. Omit details that speak to large-scale management duties. Instead of "managed 40 people and increased sales 25 percent," try simply "managed team and increased sales."

Focus on depth, not breadth. When you're applying for a PR job, no one cares that you did the financials for a business plan. If your experience doesn't support your case for the specific job you're applying for, skip it.

Downplay Internet experience. Here is a quote from a real job description: "No application with dotcom experience will be considered." It's not that the Internet is irrelevant. It's just that people look at the last five years with a skeptic's eye. So make your experience look more conventional and applicable to what's in demand. For instance, change "managed online content team" to "edited marketing materials." Few companies have online content teams these days, but they all have marketing materials.

Save the vision for when the economy recovers. Hiring managers are looking for employees with their feet firmly planted on the ground, not visionaries out to change the world. They want doers, not thinkers. Change "conceived marketing plan" to "oversaw trade shows and direct-mail program." In fact, get rid of the word "conceived" entirely until the economy turns around.

Thus humbled, your resume may help open the door to an interview, where the hiring manager will find you a bit older and wiser than expected. Stress that you will learn from this job and that you will love it enough to stay. A final tip: Don't mention what you made at your last job, but rather what you expect to make now. And go low. The wobbling economy has to walk before it can run -- something to keep in mind for your own expectations.

Penelope Trunk is the pen name of a former dotcom executive who lives in New York City. Her columns appears every Monday online.