If you’ve been having trouble landing a job or switching jobs, if you’ve been out there pounding the pavement for months or weeks and can’t figure out why you’re still unemployed, here’s a check list of 3 things you may want to improve upon.

Your resume.  Your resume is your most important job search tool.  If you’ve been sending out hundreds of resumes and been getting very little response, it may be that your resume is the problem.  Have someone else read over your resume to ensure that there are no grammatical or spelling errors.  Ensure that the tone of your resume addresses what you can do for your potential employer.  Your resume should also be targeted.  It’s fine to want to pursue a number of different types of jobs but if this is the case, you should have a targeted resume for each or the different opportunities you’re pursuing.  Make sure that your resume is unique.  Too often I see clients who have prepared their resume using the exact same template – do you really want to look like a clone?  Also, describe in your resume what value you can bring to the organization.  Try to stay away from the classic descriptions such as “excellent communication skills”, “ability to multi-task”, “team player” – you’ll sound like everyone else.  If you suspect that your resume is the problem and you’re not sure how you might improve upon it, contact a professional resume writer.  Yes, there will be a fee but it is worth the investment.  Every week that you spend unemployed or employed but underpaid from having an ineffective resume will cost you.

Your interview preparation.  If you’ve been to a number of interviews but don’t seem to be making the cut, you may want to take an honest look at your interviewing skills.  First and foremost, make sure that you are dressed for the part.  If you are interviewing for an office position, make sure you wear business attire – even if the company employs a “casual” dress policy.  Be polite, make eye contact and research the company before you go so that you can ask intelligent questions of the interviewer.  Think about how you answered the interviewer’s questions in your previous interviews.  Did you trash talk a previous boss or employer?  Did you fumble around in answering the interviewer’s questions?  Take some time to review your performance in your interviews and think of how you might have answered the interviewer’s questions better.  Go prepared for the next one.  Mentally prepare yourself by going over the questions you might expect to be asked and how you will answer them.

Your job search strategy.  If you’ve been focusing exclusively on answering ads on job boards, you’re missing out on a number of other opportunities that are out there.  Add a few other job search strategies to your overall campaign.  By focusing exclusively on answering job board ads, you are playing where the competition is the toughest.  When employers post job ads, they can potentially receive hundreds if not thousands of replies.  Your chances of landing one of those advertised jobs are pretty slim unless you have a very unique set of skills.  Try approaching companies you would like to work for that are not currently advertising any positions.  Often you can connect directly with the hiring manager and get to know him or her on a much more casual and much less competitive basis.  Register with a couple of employment agencies.  I say a couple because sometimes job seekers will register with every employment agency in town and that is not a good strategy either.  Select two or three that specialize in recruiting in your area of expertise.  Attend networking functions and have your own business cards made up with your name, phone number, email address and area of expertise.

Laura Whitelaw is a Certified Resume Strategist who prepares professional, attention grabbing resumes that land interviews.  Visit http://www.bestchoice4resumes.com for free job search and interview tips and to download a free report “Top 10 Q & A’s To Help You Ace That Job Interview”.

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Tags: career counsellor, job interview, job search, professional resume, resume help, resume writer

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Interview Strategy, Job Search Strategy, Resume Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.