“No matter the market conditions, there are always companies looking to hire talented professionals, and those people who are prepared will be best positioned to take advantage of new career opportunities as they are uncovered,” says David Sanford, executive vice president of business development at Winter, Wyman. Sanford says that people should always be looking for a new job (hey, you never know what’s out there unless you’re looking) and that the New Year is a great time to go out and make it happen.

If you want to know how to get yourself noticed and find your dream job during the New Year, follow these 10 tips for 2010.

Be ready to move.
As with all of life’s opportunities, you have to be ready to strike when the iron is hot — and sometimes even when it’s heating up.  No matter if your plan includes pounding the pavement for a new job or sitting back and waiting for one to come your way, make sure you have all the groundwork  in place for a successful job search.  Update your résumé, prepare a compelling story to tell about why you would consider a new opportunity and know whom you would use for references.  Start becoming mentally and emotionally ready for a change so you are better prepared for when it happens.

Don’t ignore the elephant in the room.
In soft economies, many people think it’s safer to stay with their current employer than to risk taking a position with a new company — and often it is.  But don’t ignore the elephant in the room and  hope that everything will be OK.  Even in the best of times, companies routinely are merged, acquired, imploded and overtaken, sometimes leaving hundreds and thousands of people looking for new jobs.  Be prudent and always be aware of your business’s conditions; keep your nose in the wind and your eyes and ears open for when it is the best time to move on to a new job.

Know thyself.
As people age and lives and goals change, so do their career objectives.  Spend the time necessary to know what really makes you happy.  Is it being an authority at work?  Having a schedule flexible enough to see your kids play soccer on a midweek afternoon?  Knowing the drug you are researching will someday eradicate a life-threatening disease?  Have a heart-to-heart with yourself about what you want from your career and what steps would be necessary to achieve this goal.  Have realistic expectations, but know that most career dreams are within our reach.

Step out of your comfort zone.
As human beings, we don’t like to admit that we don’t have all the answers, and it’s uncomfortable for most people to ask for help, especially from those outside their inner circle.  Asking for assistance and advice is the heart of networking and the single most important thing a person looking for a new job should do.

Your next opportunity could come via a tip or chance encounter with a former boss, colleague, neighbor, recruiter, barber, golf buddy — but you will never hear about it if they don’t know you are looking (even passively).  You need to be courageous enough to talk to people you meet about what you ultimately want instead of regretting that you didn’t mention it sooner.

Devote time to job searching.
Take a hint from the world’s greatest athletes. Succeeding at anything takes practice and hard work. If you are trying to further your career, you need to devote the energy needed to make that change, and that takes time.  Find a way to carve out the hours necessary, whether it’s giving up an hour of gym time on Tuesday nights to attend networking meetings, or getting up early on Sunday mornings to search for leads and contacts online, establish some goals and set aside the time it will take to accomplish them.

Focus your résumé.
Most résumés are vanilla — overview, titles, tasks, accomplishments and education.  But companies want to see the sizzle and the steak.  They want to see progression in experience, skills and responsibility and how you have contributed directly to your employer’s, or former employer’s, success.  Make sure your document includes enough substance to explain the strategies and tactics you were responsible for, but also the intangibles where you made a difference.  It doesn’t have to be overly long or detailed, but back up any success claims with real facts and examples.

Join in and get connected.
There isn’t a profession or industry on Earth that doesn’t have a trade association, user group, online discussion board or fan club.  Find one relevant to you and join it.  Whether you are employed or not, opportunities flow from being around like-minded people, and professional associations and communities are where you need to be.  They are a great way for uncovering hidden jobs, to further your knowledge and to make new relationships.  Investigate which are appropriate for you and join in.

Sell yourself.
Unless you are a pompous, arrogant bore, you are probably not used to — and are uncomfortable with — talking immodestly about yourself, your attributes and shining moments.  Get over it.  Advancing in your career or finding a new job requires you to balance humility with bravado.  Your résumé or a relationship may open a door, but you have to be prepared to march through it with a lot of confidence and a bit of swagger.

Find a way to get over any discomfort when talking about yourself and how wonderful you are.  The best job candidate is one who truly believes he has something unique to offer and can articulate his message with words, body language and confidence.  A hiring manager wants to fall in love with you; give her reason to.

Narrow your thinking.
Don’t try to be all things to all people, especially when looking for a job.  You are not going to be good at everything you do, so don’t fool yourself into thinking you are.  Figure out what you want to do and where you want to do it, and narrow your search to opportunities that fit into your realm.  Don’t have interviews or networking meetings where you hope the other person can help you figure out what you want to do.  The responsibility is yours; be targeted and specific about the jobs you want, skills you have and the companies for which you want to work.

Get started.
Self-assessment is important but can be paralyzing.  Take the time necessary to be introspective and then craft your plan, but don’t let those activities stall you from taking action.  Talk is cheap – get out there and take the steps to change or improve your career.  Being proactive in your career will open up opportunities you never dreamed of and will start 2010 off right.

The frustrating reality isn’t nearly as simple.  Getting an interview alone is an exercise in persistence and patience.

Here are 10 reasons for why you’re not landing that interview and what you can do to reverse the trend.

Your résumé and cover letter are as articulate as Courtney Love’s Web blog. If your application materials contain typos, grammatical errors and irrelevant or inconsistent information, employers will take notice — in a bad way.  Once you’ve looked over your résumé and cover letter to the point of dementia, take this advice from Joyce Gioia of the Herman Group: have three people, for whom English is a first language, review your résumé and cover letter before you send it.

Your cover letter is generic. Make it personal by tailoring it to the particular job and addressing it to a person, not “To Whom It May Concern.”  And include a sentence or two about how you are the right fit for that particular job.  If no contact is listed, take the initiative to find out who the hiring manager is by searching the company’s Web site or calling the reference desk.

Your letter is a CliffsNotes version of your résumé. Instead of simply restating what’s on your résumé, include new information like how you found out about the job, why you want to work there and what you can do for them.  Finally, close with something that will encourage a response, such as a request for an interview.

Your letter exudes self-consciousness, not self-confidence. If you don’t feel qualified for a job, why are you applying for it?  Don’t call attention to your shortcomings in a letter; emphasize your strengths by focusing on your skills, experience and ability.

You cross the line from sounding confident to sounding cocky. Don’t mistake selling yourself with bragging.  Putting “I would be an asset to your company” in your cover letter catches the eye; writing “You would be crazy not to hire me” turns the stomach.

Your MySpace page lists “binge-drinking” as a favorite pastime. Don’t post anything on a publicly accessible Web site that you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see.  Not all hiring managers run searches on job candidates, but some do, and it’s better to err on the side of caution.  Google yourself to see what comes up, because recruiters will see the same results.

You assume e-mail is enough. Hitting the send button on an online application is only the first step in landing an interview.  For one thing, not every e-mail is received or read.  Try following up your application by sending a paper résumé and cover letter via snail mail (indicating you’ve already applied online).  After that, call the hiring manager to see that they’ve received your application and check on the status of the job in question.

You assume the Internet is enough. The majority of all employment opportunities aren’t advertised, so be proactive: Contact human resources managers at companies you want to work for inquiring about positions available; register with a job recruitment agency; attend industry events to stay on top of news; and devote energy to meeting like-minded professionals who will be the keys to discovering more opportunities.

You misrepresent yourself. It may sound like a no-brainer, but misrepresenting yourself on a résumé is bound to catch up with you.  Upon performing a reference check, Denise Moorehead, communications director of a non-profit service agency in Boston, once discovered a job candidate had left her previous job a year earlier than she’d admitted. It turned out that the candidate had gotten burned out and decided to take a year to temp and regroup, but thought the obvious employment gap would be held against her, so she simply lied about it.  “I figured if she’d lie about something this easy to explain, she might lie about the deadline-driven work she would have to do with me,” Moorehead says.

You give up. Remember that looking for a job is a full-time job.  If you’re not hearing back from employers, considering changing your strategy.  Experiment with different cover letters, revise your résumé on a regular basis and look for opportunities to add to your experience even when you’re not working (i.e. taking classes, participating in workshops, volunteering).

Many people think that landing a new position consists of putting together a resume and looking in the paper under help-wanted. Yes, that is all that some people do, and some of them are successful. But many of them are frustrated. They don’t see the position they want advertised, and therefore figure it doesn’t exist. They wind up in a position – or career — that was available, without taking the time to find just the right thing.

How do you start?

First, what is it that you want to do? Maybe you’re a career changer. Maybe you’re a new college grad. Either way, before you worry about entry vs. mid- or upper-level positions, you need to be clear about what it is you want to do. Try to picture the ideal spot for you. Would you be working inside or out? In the city or the country? In an office or a store? Wearing tailored suits or jeans? Are you managing or producing? Part of a team or working independently? At a computer or on a telephone? Think about what you’re doing now, as well as what you’ve done in the past – what aspects of these positions did you like? What didn’t you like, and why?

Maybe you’re not sure. Then, it’s time to research. The internet makes it easy. There are a wide variety of excellent sites in which to begin researching occupations. There’s also your public library. Many libraries have excellent career research sections. Ask your librarian for assistance.

This leads to networking. Networking is not only for people who are actively looking for a new employment situation, but for people who want to learn more about different occupations. Informational interviewing is the act of gathering information through personal contact with someone working in a field you’re interested in. Networking is then asking everyone you know if they know of anyone working in a particular industry, until you find someone who knows of a position that’s available.

Who do you network with? The answer is simple: everyone! This is an integral component to any job search.

What is your skill set? What have you been trained to do? What is your education? What kind of volunteer work have you done? Is it sufficient for what you want to do now? Or do you need to go back to school? Could you get on-the-job training? Could you get a job that serves as a bridge between what you do now and what you’d ultimately like to do? Once the parameters of the position you seek are pretty well defined, it is time to begin formulating your resume.

If you need resume assistance, we have links to excellent resources for you.

Now it’s time to add to the networking you’ve already been doing (maybe you already have some interviews?).

How?

Cold calls/letters to companies. Maybe you have a particular company in mind for which you really want to work. Contact them directly. Many large companies and universities post their open positions. See if you can get hold of that list.

The Classifieds (both on-line and in print). The tried and true method. And yes, for many people it works. Just make sure your resume and cover letter immediately establish a connection to the qualifications mentioned in the ad. The difference between networking and relying on the classifieds is that many key positions never reach the classifieds. People get them through word-of-mouth.

Headhunters/Employment Agencies. This is another tried and true method that works for some. Just be sure that your skill set matches the types of positions the headhunter you choose handles.

Interview Preparation. Everything you’ve done up to now has been positioning you for the all-important interview. This is your chance to sell yourself. Expect the unexpected and be prepared!

To recap, the eight steps are:

1) Introspection

2) Research

3) Networking

4) Resume Writing

5) Cold Calls/Letters

6) The Classifieds

7) Headhunters/Employment Agencies

8. Interviewing

Happy job hunting!

Understand the purpose of a résumé. It is not intended to get you a job. It is meant to tell the prospective employer enough about you so that they’ll look at your work samples or call you in for an interview. Use the interview, tests, tryouts and other activities to land the job. In a business where word economy is valued, one-page résumés are twice as effective as two-page résumés. Even editors with 20 years and several papers behind them limit their résumés to one page. You’re certainly free to go over that, but it’s not very smart — especially when your experience, in comparison to the editor’s — is modest.

What Comes After Name, Address and Phone Number?
Stating your career objective can help, but only if it matches the opening. An incompatible career objective can eliminate you from consideration. It’s also OK to omit this. Put education or experience next, depending on which is more relevant to the job you’re trying to get. If all of your work has been outside of journalism, but you have a degree in it, lead with the degree and details about your coursework. If you’re completing a non-journalism degree and have two internships at newspaper, list the internships first. Chronological order is less important than relevance.

Go Beyond Simple Job Titles
Describe your jobs. Don’t say you were a reporter. Say you were a reporter who covered a school district, two police departments and the local court and that you wrote a Sunday column. Mention the more complicated, difficult or humorous accomplishments you had in those jobs. These accomplishments distinguish your résumé from others, tell the newspaper something about your interests and abilities and could open the door to an interview.

Use a Clean and Simple Design
Be bold if you can, but not flashy. I have seen cartoon résumés, résumés with little basketballs on them and résumés made to look like front pages. Gimmicks can suggest a lack of experience or sophistication and do not give you any advantage over other applicants. As more and more companies scan résumés for databases, you may want to consider how to make a résumé that scans cleanly.

What About Non-Journalism Jobs?
If you have a short employment history, you certainly may include jobs that are not journalism-related. These help demonstrate that you have worked for others, know how to toil for a living, show up on time and generally be responsible. Stress areas that are most similar to news papering: writing, working with the public, juggling tasks.

What else should I include?
Second languages (but they better be more than the obligatory school minimum), awards, scholarships, extracurricular activities that demonstrate leadership and personal achievements — if they demonstrate relevant qualities such as resourcefulness, tenacity or responsibility. In one case, I was impressed that, while carrying a full load of classes, a student also was a full-time, caregiver for an elderly neighbor.

What About References?
Before you list anyone as a reference, make sure it’s OK with them. Ask whether they can give you a good word. (Once, I called a reference, and the person said, “He listed me? That was a mistake.” The candidate’s chances stopped there.) If your résumé is getting crowded for one page, you can use a second sheet just for references. I don’t think there’s any need to say, “References available upon request.” I assume so.

Omit Personal Information.
It is not relevant whether you are married or single, old or young, a smoker-or a non-smoker. Don’t include those facts. It can mark you as lacking the sophistication to know what’s relevant and what isn’t. My curiosity is piqued when someone’s résumé carries a list of places visited or lived in. Hobbies can intrigue me, too, but they turn others down cold. Generally, the more relevant it is to the job, the safer you are using it. Being accomplished at a musical instrument, for example, implies precision, discipline and practice. Saying that you have a passion for coffees or that you bake bread may turn some people off.

1. The Bad Interviewer. Not every professional who conducts job interviews with candidates knows how to conduct an interview effectively. In fact some are downright lousy at it. A bad interviewer might be unfocused, disinterested, unprepared. He or she might dominate the interview by doing all the talking or might ask inappropriate and illegal questions.

The unfocused, unprepared interviewer probably hasn’t read your resume and maybe can’t even find a copy. This hapless soul doesn’t even know what to ask you. Be sure to offer this disorganized interviewer a copy of your resume while asking, “May I take you through some highlights of my career?”

While the bigmouth interviewer is holding forth, make as many mental notes as you can (or jot them down if you’ve brought a small notepad). Don’t show your exasperation; instead be an attentive listener and hang on the interviewer’s every word. Try to get a word in edgewise by leaning forward and opening your mouth slightly, advises Anne Kadet on Smartmoney.com. If that doesn’t work, even a nonstop talker will likely eventually ask if you have any questions. At that point, you can ask questions or describe your fit with the company and the position based on the mental notes you’ve been making.

For inappropriate and illegal questions, see No. 6 below and try your hardest to keep the interview focused on your qualifications for the job.

1. The “Tell Me about Yourself” Question. Of course, this question is not a question at all but a request for a command performance. It’s the most commonly asked interview question, yet it frequently still rattles interviewees. The trick is to make your response a succinct summary of information that is specifically targeted to the job you’re interviewing for. (Sell yourself!) For example:

“My background to date has been centered around preparing myself to become the very best financial consultant I can become. Let me tell you specifically how I’ve prepared myself. I am an undergraduate student in finance and accounting at ___________ University. My past experience has been in retail and higher education. Both aspects have prepared me well for this career.”

The interviewer is not looking for your autobiography and probably is not interested in your personal life unless aspects of it are relevant to the job you’re interviewing for.

1. The “Weakness” Question. The conventional wisdom about responding to “What are your weaknesses?” used to be that the candidate should spin a weakness into a strength. For example: “I’m a perfectionist and don’t believe anyone can do the job as well as I can, so I sometimes have a hard time delegating.” That type of response has, however, worn out its welcome with interviewers. Other approaches include offering a weakness that is inconsequential to the job (such as being a poor speller and relying on spellcheck) or denying that you have any weaknesses that would stand in the way of your performing the job effectively. The former approach may work but be seen as shallow, while the latter sometimes lacks credibility. After all, everyone has a weakness.

An approach that seems to work well is to talk about an area that was once a weakness but that you have worked to improve. Here’s how you could frame the perfectionist example above in terms of professional growth: “I tend to be a perfectionist who has had trouble delegating tasks to others, but I’ve come to see that teamwork and capitalizing on everyone’s strengths is a much more effective way to get the job done than trying to do it all myself.”

1. The “Why should I hire you?” Question. The unspoken part of this question is: “Why should I hire you [above all the other candidates]?” This is your chance to shine, to really make a sales pitch for yourself. Use your Unique Selling Proposition to describe what sets you apart from other candidates. The employer will make a significant investment in hiring and training you, so tell the interviewer that this investment will be justified. For example, you could say: “I sincerely believe that I’m the best person for the job. Like other candidates, I have the ability to do this job. But beyond that ability, I offer an additional quality that makes me the very best person for the job — my drive for excellence. Not just giving lip service to excellence, but putting every part of myself into achieving it. Throughout my career, I have consistently strived to become the very best I can become. The success I’ve attained in my management positions is the result of possessing the qualities you’re looking for in an employee.”

1. “Off-the-wall” Questions, also known as “Wild Card” or “No-Right-Answer” Questions. Occasionally you’ll be asked an interview question that’s just downright weird and certainly doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the job — for example, a question like this: “If you were an ice-cream cone, what flavor would you be?” Interviewers often ask these oddball questions to see how quickly you can think on your feet and whether you can avoid becoming flustered. Others, unfortunately, ask them because they enjoy seeing interviewees squirm. Still others are amused by the range of creative — and not-so-creative — responses they receive.

Don’t let an off-the-wall question rattle you. Take a moment to gather your thoughts and respond the best way you can. There is rarely a wrong answer to this type of question, but quick-thinking candidates can turn the response into an opportunity to impress the employer. A response given by one of my former students has always stuck in my head as being a standout answer. The question was: “If you were a superhero, what would be your super powers, and why?” His response: “I think I would prefer to be a superhero like Batman, who doesn’t have superpowers per se, but who relies on his intelligence and use of the right tools to get the job done.”

1. Illegal Questions: It’s illegal to ask about age, marital status, children, childcare arrangements, and the like, but employers still do — or come up with subtle ways to ask, such as by inquiring about when you graduated from high school/college. It’s best to address the concern behind the question rather than the question itself by saying something like: “There is nothing about my personal status that would get in the way of my doing a great job for your company.” While it may also be tempting to point out the illegality of the question, doing so likely won’t endear you to the interviewer.

1. Salary Questions: As a screening device, interviewers often ask early in the interview what salary you are looking for. If you ask for more than the employer is willing to pay (or occasionally, on the flip side, undervalue yourself), the interviewer can eliminate you before spending a lot of time with you. That’s why the best tactic for salary questions is to delay responding to them as long as possible — ideally until after the employer makes an offer. Try to deflect salary questions with a response like this: “I applied for this position because I am very interested in the job and your company, and I know I can make an immediate impact once on the job, but I’d like to table salary discussions until we are both sure I’m right for the job.”
2. Questions about Being Terminated from a Previous Job. It’s always uncomfortable to be asked your reasons for leaving a job from which you were terminated. Don’t lie about it, but don’t dwell on it either. You could explain that you and the company were not a good fit, hence your performance suffered. Or that you and your supervisor had differing viewpoints. Emphasize what you learned from the experience that will prevent you from repeating it and ensure that you will perform well in the future.

1. Questions about Reasons for Leaving a Current Job. This question is similar to the previous question, even if you haven’t been fired. Responses about fit with the company and differing views from your supervisor can also work here, but remember never to trash a current employer. Always speak positively about past and present employers even if your experience has not been positive with them. Another good response in this situation is to say that you determined you had grown as much as you could in that job and you are ready for new challenges.

1. Questions about the Future. Interviewees are often asked, “Where do you see yourself in five (or 10) years?” Strike a delicate balance when responding to this kind of question, with just the right mix of honesty, ambition, and your desire to be working at this company long-term.

Avoid responses such as starting your own business, running for Congress, which suggest that you don’t plan to stay with the company.

It’s not totally inappropriate to mention the personal (marriage, family), but focus mainly on professional goals. Mention your career and company goals first, and tack on any mention of marriage and family at the end.

Your response could be: “I’m here to let you know that I am the best person for the job. If in the future you feel I would be a candidate for a higher level position, I know I wouldn’t be passed up.”

OR: “I hope to stay at the company and expect that in five years, I’ll make a significant advance in the organization.”

OR: “I would like to become the very best ______________ your company has.”

And then there’s my personal favorite, which a student told me a friend had used. Asked by the interviewer, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” The response: “Celebrating the five-year anniversary of your asking me this question!” While the response probably made the interviewer laugh, it’s probably not the best answer.

Final thoughts.
Job-seekers need to think of each interview question as an opportunity to showcase an accomplishment or strength. Every response should build momentum toward convincing the interviewer that you deserve to advance to the next level, whether that level is another round of interviews or a job offer.

If you’re like most college students, you probably belong to a few student organizations. As a senior, you’re typically expected to help lead — and employers want to see that leadership ability, so grab a leadership position in at least one organization.

Of course, many other types of experiences can benefit you — some of which few students ever list on their resumes, such as work-study, part-time jobs, volunteer work, team sports, and class projects.

2. Use Your Career Services Office.
As a college senior, you should be well acquainted with the multitude of services offered by your school’s career center. No? Sadly, you’re not alone. But it’s not too late to learn of all their services — and to take advantage of as many of them as you can.

Some typical services you can find in your school’s career center include resume-writing assistance, internship and job leads, career and job-related workshops, resume posting on the school’s job site, mock interviewing and other interview tools, employer information sessions, on-campus interviews and career fairs, and networking connections (including one of the best networking sources: alumni).

In fact, most of the folks who work in these offices will do everything they can to help you prepare for the job market.

3. Develop a Job-Search Plan.
Maybe in a good economy you can get away with just winging it and seeing what happens come graduation, but in a bad economy one of your best tools in landing at least one great job offer is developing a job-search plan. This month-by-month plan maps out the rest of your senior year, providing a broad strategy and timetable for perfecting and implementing your job-search. Your job-search plan — which you should develop and implement as soon as possible — includes all the sources of job leads you intend to use, including informational interviews, your network of contacts, career services office, college professors, job fairs, job boards, and cold-calling. It also includes all the activities you need to accomplish before starting your job-search, such as polishing your resume and prepping for job interviews.

Start your job-search plan with the basics of what you seek — the type(s) of job, the nature of employer (corporate culture), and the geographic location of where you want to live. If you’re not really sure of any of these things, then start your plan here — because these basics are the foundation for success. But your job-search plan will also include all three elements listed above for new grads, including finding job leads, polishing your personal career brand, and following up everything.

Learn more about developing your job-search plan in this article: For Job-Hunting Success, Develop a Comprehensive Job-Search Plan.

Final Thoughts
Some of our students and former students jokingly refer to Quintessential Careers as a black hole because of the depth of information we have on these subjects — and it’s true… you can go as deeply as you want on all the topics discussed in this article because of the site’s goal to provide you with all the tools to empower your first real job-search.

So, with that depth in mind, here are a few more key resources for recent college grads and college seniors.

There may be no good-paying job waiting for you. Those who have already graduated and are still searching for a job in your career field know that. And for you seniors graduating in 2009, many fewer good-paying jobs waiting for you. That said, the more prepared you are — and the more you maximize your job-search efforts — the more likely you will be one of the lucky ones who does land a great job.

It’s certainly not the best time to be a recent college graduate or a college senior, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on finding a good job and retreat back home to your family’s basement (since your mom has already made your bedroom into her workout room). Nor should it mean you give up on a job-search altogether and forge on to grad school, hoping by the time you finish your graduate degree the job market will be better.

No. Instead, if you follow the advice in this article, you can increase the odds that you will indeed be one of the lucky few who find a good-paying job. And yes, by the way, these strategies will work in all economic situations — but they will especially help in times of uncertainty.

The job-search advice in this article is separated into tips for those who have already graduated college or

Are about to in December and those who will graduate next spring.

Recent College Grad Job-Search Advice

1. Obtain Job Leads.
The most important activity for recent graduates is finding and developing job leads, defined as actual or potential job openings. The best job leads come from your network of contacts — partly because they are the most current and partly because you may be able to leverage inside information about the job to tailor your resume and interview responses to become a top prospect. Plus, employers favor applicants referred to them.

If you don’t have a big network (and everyone’s is bigger than you first think), or you don’t have many contacts in a certain industry, occupation, profession, or location, one of the most underutilized tools — especially for new grads — is the informational interview. As the name implies, it’s a meeting in which you seek information (and further contacts and potential job leads) from the person you interview. Informational interviews are a powerful resource and should be a key tool in your job-search plan.

While informational interviews are about expanding your network, enough cannot be said about the many positive outcomes from this technique. Many former students who have conducted informational interviews have eventually received job offers as a direct result of their informational interviews. In fact, one out of every 12 informational interviews results in a job offer. That’s why informational interviewing is the ultimate networking technique, especially considering that the purpose of informational interviewing is not to get job offers. Read more in our Informational Interviewing Tutorial as well as my Career Doctor response: What are informational interviews –- and why should I do them?

There are, of course, a number of other ways to generate job leads — and you should try to incorporate many of them in your job-search. For more details, read this article: 10 Ways to Develop Job Leads.

2. Polish Personal Branding.
The next activity to tackle is developing — or putting some sparkle — on your personal brand. While you can’t really change the experiences you have had at this point, you can position them more strategically — while sharpening how you express that experience on your resume and in job interviews.

While business and marketing grads might have a bit of a leg up on the lingo, the underlying fundamentals of personal branding is simply to make you a more attractive job prospect to employers. This process involves not only re-examining all of your previous experiences (full- and part-time work, volunteering, class projects, work-study), but also researching each potential employer to understand the organization’s needs and package yourself to be the perfect solution to solve their employment needs.

You don’t need to be a business graduate to build and sharpen your personal brand. We have all the tools you need, including a tutorial, in this section of our site: Personal Branding and Career Self-Marketing Tools.

3. Never Stop Your Follow-Up.
Remember how you kept hounding that one professor to raise your grade — how you would not take any other answer because you felt you deserved the better grade? And remember how it worked? The same holds true for job-hunting in the sense that the job-seeker who regularly follows up with prospective employers — continuing to build your case and express interest and fit with the organization — will be given the most serious consideration.

Yes, it’s true that you have already invested quite a bit of time and energy — obtaining job leads, writing and polishing your resume, preparing for interviews, and taking part in the interviews — but sometimes the difference between getting called back for another interview and getting eventually rejected is follow-up.

Follow-up starts before you even get called in for an interview by contacting the hiring manager (after you have applied for the position) to ensure he or she has all the information needed to make a decision. Follow-up starts after the interview with a thank-you letter to each (yes, each) person who interviews you and continues later with calls or emails to the hiring manager

to highlight your fit and continued interest in the organization. (As hiring decisions lengthen in duration, staying in touch with the hiring manager becomes even more important.)