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In these recessionary times, companies across the board have scaled back their workforce and have sent millions of workers home with pink slips. Meanwhile, job seekers grumble at having to wait months, perhaps even years before so much as a phone interview. With all the competition, how is a person supposed to find a job?

Revamping the Resume and Cover Letter

The most fundamental aspect of the job search is the resume and cover letter. The resume must be clean, easy to read, and free of misspellings and other errors. If the job seeker has gaps in his or her resume, perhaps a functional resume that places skills above consecutive work history should be considered over the traditional reverse chronological resume. The cover letter is important as well and should highlight skills and accomplishments, and why the candidate is a perfect match for the position.

Also becoming increasingly popular are online multimedia resumes. VisualCV offers this service for free. Users can post an electronic online resume that can include videos, blog integration, presentations, portfolios, work history, pictures, skills, and much more.

The Importance of Social Media in Finding a Job

Today's job search is a major challenge indeed. To get a leg up on the competition, job seekers must not only beat the pavement, but they must also make use of online social media including Twitter, Linkedin, and VisualCV. Some job seekers are beginning to see value in creating video resumes and posting them on YouTube.

No job seeker should underestimate the power of online social media in the job search. For example on Twitter, job seekers can create a profile, tweet about their job search, and announce availability amongst hundreds of companies and recruiters who make Twitter their home. Linkedin is another very important job search tool. Using Linkedin, the candidate can post a resume and work experience; network with friends and colleagues; search for jobs; and receive recommendations.

Networking: It's Who You Know

Expanding one's professional network is valuable in the sense that people may know other people who may tell you that a position is opening up in your area, and they'd be happy to recommend you. Many jobs are landed through word of mouth, and it is worth participating in community and even faith-based networking groups. Furthermore, the aforementioned Linkedin website will help in establishing and expanding the professional network.

Registering for Online Job Search Engines

In today's wired world, the internet is essential to any job search. Whether the candidate is an administrative assistant, teacher, government worker, attorney, or information technology specialist, posting a resume to one or several online job search engines is essential to finding employment opportunities. Sites include Monster, Indeed, USAJobs (U.S. Government jobs), CareerBuilder, Dice, Thingamajob, and Yahoo! HotJobs.

The job search can be exhausting, difficult, exasperating, and sometimes even hopeless. But there is hope. As the economy improves, job seekers who revamp their resume and cover letter, use social media to find a job, network, and register for online job search engines will see their chances improve for a new job.

Learn more about this author, Daniel J. Gansle.
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