***What To Do When Your Job Search Sucks

If your job search sucks, it's probably the result of one of 3 things:

• You can't find good jobs to apply for
  
• You can't get interviews for jobs you are interested in
  
• You go to interviews, but you don't get job offers
  

If you want to find great jobs, get the interviews you really want, and get job offers every time you interview...
Here's what to do:
If you think there aren't enough jobs available, then you probably need to stop looking on the surface (Monster, Career Builder, and all the others) and start exploring the hidden job market. More than 70% of all available jobs at any given moment are not being advertised at all. How do you find them?

• Work your network (and build a bigger one). Utilize LinkedIn and Facebook to connect with people in your field, and people who might know someone in your field. Most jobs are found through networking, not online applications, so make sure you are communicating with people every day.
  
• Contact hiring managers directly. Identify companies you'd like to work for, and contact the person who would be your boss or your boss's boss. This is going directly to the source--the person who can hire you. Who better to send your resume to? They may not all have a job for you at that moment, but the odds are significantly more in your favor (because of all those hidden jobs).

If you aren't getting interviews (or you want more interviews), it's almost always because your resume doesn't represent you as well as it could.

• The single most important change anyone can make to their resume is to quantify your accomplishments. Use numbers, dollars, or percentages to describe what you've done. This is an attention-getter for you.
  
• Always remember that your resume is a marketing document for you. Think about writing it less in terms of listing out what you've done and more in terms of telling them what you've done that could help them now.

If you get interviews but not job offers, your resume is fine but your interview skills need polishing.

• Research the company extensively before your first interview. Find out everything you can about what they do and what they need--then you can position yourself as a great fit for them. You can't hit a target unless you know where it is.
  
• Practice answering interview questions. Know what job interview questions you'll probably be asked and come up with good answers for them ahead of time. Then practice those answers so you can say them with confidence. Even if you don't get to deliver those answers exactly the way you rehearsed, the act of thinking and practicing ahead of time will put you miles ahead of where you would be without it. Click here: Perfect Interview Answers.
  
• Prepare a 30/60/90-Day Plan. There is no more powerful interview tool than a 30-60-90-day planfor showing the hiring manager that you not only are capable of doing a great job, you will do it. Nothing will make you stand out more as a candidate.

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