MORE JOB TIPS

MORE JOB TIPS

Make sure you match the job description: If you were a 6-foot, 250-pound Frenchman with burly arms and bushy beard, would you apply for the part of Little Orphan Annie on Broadway? However ridiculous that image is, every day in corporate American, thousands of managers shuffle through resumes that are totally unmatched to the position advertised.

Put your interviewer at ease: This is pretty counter inituitive. Most job seekers are prepared to follow the tone set by their interviewer. But that may not be your best plan. A great many intervewers hate interviewing. A job seeker can gain an edge by staying friendly, listening carefully, using body language to indicate amiability, and stressing that he or she gets along with colleagues, Wade says.

Plan before you pursue: Researchers at theUniversity of Missouri recently studied the efforts of 327 job seekers, ages 20 to 40 and found that developing and following a plan at the beginning of a job search has a significant impact on its success. Maybe you set a goal of making 10 phone calls a day or writing for two hours each day.

Take the less desirable job. The recession has shrunk opportunities. Human resources expert Suzanne Lucas suggests that job seekers look for a job that no one else wants when trying to enter a new field. If a position is hard to fill, they may be willing to hire you if you are willing to learn how to do the work, Lucas says.