10 quick job-search tips -- I bet you're missing at least 3

September 6, 6:52 AMDetroit Job Search ExaminerCurt MacRae

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Everyone knows how to apply for a job; today I want to list ten common sense "little good ideas" and I'll bet there are at least three you might be missing:

1. When you send ANY email, make sure your name is at the bottom; sometimes the name isn't there and I have to look at the address and try to figure our who sent it.  Don't make people work to figure out who sent an email.
2. You put your name there?  How about your phone number?  I can't count the times that I get an email, want to pick up the phone to call someone (rather than get into email tag), and the number is not there.  I either have to look it up, hit REPLY, or skip it, depending upon how busy I am.  Remember this even on a LinkedIN email, where the default is no phone number.
3. Put a P.S. on your cover letter.  The "P.S". is the second most read portion of a letter (after the salutation) and it can give you the ability to redirect someone back to a point in your letter that you want them to see.  Not many people do this, so you'll be unique.
4. Put your LinkedIN profile on your resume; be assured that the recruiters are checking LinkedIN profiles.
5. Complete your LinkedIN profile, so that it is accurate, provides detail, and has your resume available in the profile (you can actually provide an application for a hiring manager to download your resume at your LinkedIN site, on demand).    If you aren't sure how that appears, you can look at my profile and find my resume there.
6. Write a thank-you note after ANY interview to EACH person you met with; it will differentiate you from much of your competition.
7. Get a professional email address; don't use glamourpuss@singlesnet.com for your contact when you're connecting with hiring managers.
8. Get rid of your high school (unless you have no college), and absolutely eliminate your elementary school, on your LinkedIN profile (do you really care that I went to Washington Elementary School back in the six, seven, I mean eighties?).  It's amazing how many people list their schools from first grade.
9. If you have not updated your resume in six months, do it today; I knew mine wasn't what I wanted, but I sent it out for several months, as I procrastinated about changing it.  I finally changed it two weeks ago, and have gotten new interest from hiring managers.  And, it's improved now.  It's easy to procrastinate; but it's important to keep it up to date.
10. Join at least 20 groups on LinkedIN; I think you can belong to as many as 50, but if you aren't finding groups that have common interests and goals, you might be missing important information, and missing contacts.  As a Michigan State University alum, that group provides me as much support and as many quality contacts as almost any other group I belong to.  Don't miss out.
11. One extra, just for the heck of it:  If you don't have more than two recommendations on LinkedIN, make it your mission to request 2-10.  They're easy to get, and it says something if you don't have any.  Don't accept them all at the same time, or your status page will look like you're soliciting them (which you are, but you don't want it to look that way).  Get a few and spread your acceptance of them out over at least 2-4 weeks.

None of these "little good ideas" take long, but each can have an impact.  Implement them into your daily activities and one, or more, can pay a dividend.  Are you missing at least three?  Just curious.

Good luck to all of us in our job searches.

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