Are you looking for a job? Many people are today, which means that you need to do everything you can to give yourself an advantage over the competition. Here are some important tips to remember for your job search.

One important tip for anyone’s job search is to remember that you want to expand your search areas. Many people today still just check the want ads and perhaps one or two online sites. But jobs can be posted in a wide variety of place. For example you might do an internet search that is job specific, meaning tailored to your particular industry. Often different industries or fields will have job boards devoted just to them, such as accountants or designers or engineers. If you’re in the middle of a job search you can expand your options by looking for these specific boards.

It’s also important to let others know about your job search; this means friends, family, people from your place of worship, people you meet at your gym, and so on. It’s surprising how often a job is found through word of mouth rather than through typical channels such as want ads or from online sources. You don’t need to nag anyone during your job search but you can simply let people know that you’re looking and tell them what you do for work and what type of work you would be interested in. This can really open up some opportunities for you.

Also, be sure your resume is up to date and have someone look it over before beginning your job search. Resumes are somewhat different today than they were years ago. Many contain a section stressing the positive personality traits of a candidate such as their hard work ethic, strong communication skills, that they’re a problem solver, and so on. You may also need to do some updating of the information that’s in your resume as well. You may have had one or two positions since your last job search so of course you want to add those in and perhaps delete some things that are no longer relevant. Updating your resume is like updating your wardrobe – it needs to be done on a regular basis! So don’t use the same resume you used for your last job search but take the time to tweak it a bit.

You also need to remember the importance of staying positive during your job search. It’s easy to get discouraged and maybe even a little frustrated or angry as you go on interview after interview, but you need to think of each interview as your potential new job location. Even if you need to force yourself to smile, do it! You’re not going to help your chances of landing that dream job if you allow your job search to make you frustrated and angry and if you then allow that frustration to show during an interview. So while it’s difficult, keep your chin up while you hunt for that new job!