Everybody needs work

1. Minimize your trips to Facebook and LinkedIn: These are fading trends. Get out and make quality connections. Set goals as to how many new personal connections you will make per day and do it. The more personal connections you make the more doors you open for now and the future. Alone, you are not going anywhere.

2. Stop Applying to Every Job: Applying to every damn thing you see is the wrong approach. You are telling every one, every that you are just taking a stab in the dark.  Focus in on job that you want to do and go for it.

3. Ask For Help:  Because you have made new personal connections, you are not alone anymore and help is easy to come by. If you have been unemployed for longer than six months, chances are that you need to change things up, refocus, and/or hire professional help.

4. Learn a New Skill: While learning something new, you will end up boosting your resume and meeting new people that could potentially help you find a job.

5. Refresh Your Resume: Start over!  Research new formats to use and look for ways to spice up your content.

6. Change Your Routine: Start going to a different coffee house. Walk a different route. Get a week free pass at a different gym. Do things a little different for a while: you may meet some new and interesting people.

7. Pick Up The Phone: Learn to take online connections offline as soon as possible. Conversations online build connections. Conversations offline build trust.

8. Blog: More than ever, company recruiters are utilizing social networks to connect with and also learn about job seekers. “Hire Me” campaigns were   huge in 2011, and are now becoming more and more creative. Starting a blog for your industry will help you make connections, while also furthering yourself as a thought leader.

9. Set a Job Search Schedule: A job search does not need to be 40 hours per week but it should be carefully planned and strategically scheduled through the week. Outside of your schedule, try to relax and get away from your search as much as possible.

10: Do Something To Stand Out: If you really are qualified for the jobs you have applied for and you are still unemployed, then what has gone wrong? It shall be obvious that something needs to change. Either you have a real personality problem or companies are drowning in resumes and can’t find you. If you have a personality problem, fix it and above and everything else, do something outstanding to make sure that you will stand out of the crowd: send your resume in a big empty box and have it delivered to your prospective employer; hand out your resume in rush hour traffic; create a business card, print a few thousands and scatter them all over a parking lot; auction yourself on e-bay. While most people might absolutely hate these ideas, all you really need is only one person to think that it is pure genius.

JMD

jmdlive@live.ca

http://jmdonline.tumblr.com/