January 2012 Employment Situation – National

Employment Situation Summary

Transmission of material in this release is embargoed                   USDL-12-0012
until 8:30 a.m. (EST) Friday, January 6, 2012

Technical information:
 Household data:       (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps
 Establishment data:   (202) 691-6555  *  cesinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/ces

Media contact:         (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov

                      THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- DECEMBER 2011

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 200,000 in December, and the unemployment rate,
at 8.5 percent, continued to trend down, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Job gains occurred in transportation and warehousing, retail trade,
manufacturing, health care, and mining.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------
   |                                                                    |
   |       Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Household Survey Data        |
   |                                                                    |
   |    Seasonally adjusted household survey data have been revised     |
   |    using updated seasonal adjustment factors, a procedure done     |
   |    at the end of each calendar year. Seasonally adjusted           |
   |    estimates back to January 2007 were subject to revision. The    |
   |    unemployment rates for January 2011 through November 2011       |
   |    (as originally published and as revised) appear in table A,     |
   |    along with additional information about the revisions.          |
   |                                                                    |
    --------------------------------------------------------------------

Household Survey Data

Both the number of unemployed persons (13.1 million) and the unemployment rate
(8.5 percent) continued to trend down in December. The unemployment rate has
declined by 0.6 percentage point since August. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men decreased
to 8.0 percent in December. The jobless rates for adult women (7.9 percent),
teenagers (23.1 percent), whites (7.5 percent), blacks (15.8 percent), and
Hispanics (11.0 percent) showed little change. The jobless rate for Asians
was 6.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was
little changed at 5.6 million and accounted for 42.5 percent of the unemployed.
(See table A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate (64.0 percent) and the employment-
population ratio (58.5 percent) were both unchanged over the month. (See
table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes
referred to as involuntary part-time workers) declined by 371,000 to 8.1
million in December. These individuals were working part time because their
hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.
(See table A-8.)

About 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in
December, little different from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally
adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were
available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.
They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in
the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 945,000 discouraged workers in
December, a decrease of 373,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally
adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work
because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.6 million
persons marginally attached to the labor force in December had not searched for
work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or
family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 200,000 in December. Over the
past 12 months, nonfarm payroll employment has risen by 1.6 million. Employment
in the private sector rose by 212,000 in December and by 1.9 million over the
year. Government employment changed little over the month but fell by 280,000
over the year. (See table B-1.)

Employment in transportation and warehousing rose sharply in December (+50,000).
Almost all of the gain occurred in the couriers and messengers industry (+42,000);
seasonal hiring was particularly strong in December.

Retail trade continued to add jobs in December, with a gain of 28,000. Employment
in the industry has increased by 240,000 over the past 12 months. Over the month,
job gains continued in general merchandise stores (+13,000) and in clothing and
clothing accessories stores (+11,000). Employment in sporting goods, hobby, book,
and music stores fell by 10,000.

In December, manufacturing employment expanded by 23,000, following 4 months of
little change. Employment increased in December in transportation equipment
(+9,000), fabricated metals (+6,000), and machinery (+5,000).

Mining employment rose by 7,000 over the month. Over the year, mining added
89,000 jobs.

Health care continued to add jobs in December (+23,000); employment in hospitals
increased by 10,000. Over the year, health care employment has risen by 315,000.

Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places
continued to trend up in December (+24,000). Over the year, food services and
drinking places has added 230,000 jobs.

Construction employment changed little in December. Within the industry,
nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 20,000 jobs over the month,
mostly offsetting losses over the prior 2 months.

Employment in professional and business services changed little in December for
the second month in a row. The industry added 42,000 jobs per month, on average,
during the first 10 months of 2011.

Government employment changed little in December but was down by 280,000 over
the year. Job losses in 2011 occurred in local government; state government,
excluding education; and the U.S. Postal Service.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased
by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours in December. The manufacturing workweek increased
by 0.1 hour to 40.5 hours. Factory overtime decreased by 0.1 hour to 3.2
hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on
private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours. (See tables B-2
and B-7.)

In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls rose by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $23.24. Over the past 12 months,
average hourly earnings have increased by 2.1 percent. In December, average
hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were
unchanged at $19.54. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised from
+100,000 to +112,000, and the change for November was revised from +120,000
to +100,000.

__________
The Employment Situation for January is scheduled to be released on
Friday, February 3, 2012, at 8:30 a.m. (EST).

Using Social Media in the Higher Education Job Search

Using Social Media in the Higher Education Job Search

by Jenna Spinelle

As the use of social media continues to grow, so too does its use in recruiting and job searching.

With Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many other tools in cyberspace, the need for both recruiters and job searchers to be strategic is greater than ever. Both job seekers and university employment professionals say that clear objectives and goals — not number of followers or fans — should drive social media efforts.

Jennifer Pedde, a Syracuse University graduate currently looking for a job in higher education, joined Twitter a year ago after hearing about its power as a professional connection tool.

“I lived abroad in Korea for two years and wanted to start making contacts when I came back,” Pedde said. “I found that it’s been the biggest help in my job search because it’s so easy to connect with other people — if you start following someone, chances are they’ll follow you back and respond to your messages.”

Pedde also participates in Twitter’s Job Hunt Chat, an event held every Monday at 8 p.m. where the community weighs on questions posed by job seekers. Although a Twitter account is required to participate in the chat, anyone can follow along by searching the hashtag #jobhuntchat on Twitter’ssearch engine.

Jacqui Washington, an Atlanta-based career coach, said she encourages her clients to use Twitter to connect with companies and, if possible, recruiters and hiring managers. She also maintains a Twitter account that she uses to find leads for her clients.

“I encourage people to think outside the box and work toward creating the job they want, rather than waiting for jobs to be posted,” Washington said. “These tools can help them take those steps.”

While Twitter provides quick connections and communications, LinkedIn allows job seekers a chance to list more detailed information about themselves and their companies, connect with current and past colleagues, and have longer conversations in groups geared toward specific professions and interests. Rebecca Martin, a career coach and founder of Dear Jane Inc., said an updated and polished LinkedIn profile is nearly as important as a resume in today’s job market.

“If you don’t have an updated LinkedIn profile, it really looks like you don’t know what’s going on,” Martin said. “Recruiters and hiring managers are starting to consider a LinkedIn profile just as important as a resume.”

Elements of a good profile, Martin said, include clearly-defined career summaries and objectives, information about non-work activities, and mentions of any awards or honors received.

“Most people don’t sell themselves enough,” Martin said. “If you don’t put the information out there, recruiters and hiring managers may never know about it.”

Pedde said she uses LinkedIn to connect with people she meets on Twitter, so that she can learn more about them and they can see more detailed information about her and her career objectives. Her social media efforts recently landed her a spot on “Extreme Candidate Makeover,” an online talk radio show where job seekers have their resumes reviewed by job coaches.

“They gave me a great set of tips and a lot of new ideas to think about and it was all because of a post I responded to on Twitter,” Pedde said.

Don’t Stop Your Job Searching During the Holidays! Companies Are Hiring in December and January!

Indeed provides jobs and hope for people!

Indeed provides jobs and hope for people!

I have been using Indeed.com for 5 years and have told thousands of people about it from all over the world. My clients are successful in their job search and one of the reasons is because they use Indeed.com. I have been a career coach for 14 years. I am committed to getting people back to work within 6 weeks to 2.5 months no matter what!  Indeed helps me meet my goals. I have been using the tool for 5 years.

Rebecca Martin

Dear jane Inc.

Indeed.com – provides jobs, finds the hidden job market and gets you back to work.

Best Job Search Site: Indeed

Below is an excerpt from an article Adam Pash, editor of Lifehacker.com wrote about Indeed.com

The web has changed the way you search when you find yourself in need of a new gig. Last week we asked you to share your favorite job search site, then we rounded up the most popular responses for a vote. Now we’re back with the winner.

Job search site Indeed, considered by many to be the “Google of job search”, led the pack with a commanding 47% of the vote. The rest of the competition was pretty tight, with LinkedIn at 19%, Craigslist at 14%, Monster at 12%, and Dice at 8%.

I couldn’t wait to blog about my favorite search engine Indeed. I love indeed. I can’t tell you how much I love indeed. It has truly revolutionized the way job seekers, recruiters, career coaches, hiring managers, human resource professionals, and the public relate to getting a job or posting jobs online. It’s easy, informative, fast, and definitely a one stop solution for finding jobs and candidates online. I can get salary information, learn about the good, bad and ugly on a company when I am engaging in the forums, I can find out about what’s really going on in a company because of how many job openings they have. Employers get hundreds of candidate resumes per hour coming right to their desktops. Job seekers find the hidden job market.

Job seekers can survey their professional environment without having to pay for Hoovers or Dunn and Bradstreet. In job search we call it “surveying your professional environment.” What does this mean? Well it means that you need to know what’s going on in your profession and in your local market. What’s happening with local companies.  Indeed will tell you everything. They will let you know who is hiring and what they are hiring for and how much they are paying.

Indeed will list where the job description came from, the salaries the company is paying and then you can go into the forum section and learn so much about the company from all the discussions. You can post questions and people who have worked or work for the company past and present will answer your questions. You can get a lot of information for free. You can also tell if the company is in a growth mode or going through major changes by the number of postings on indeed.com.

Job seekers learn so much from Indeed.com. Most people that have been employed for so long don’t even know how to write a resume or how to even get started. I tell them go to indeed.com and use the posted job descriptions as the cliff note version to build their first draft resume. Find job descriptions that match their backgrounds to get some ideas.

Also, there are so many job boards and internet resources for certain industries and professions. For example Indeed pulls from higheredjobs.com and idealist.org for the higher education field and the nonprofit field. So this helps job seekers who are focused in their job search. There are so many reasons to use Indeed.com. I could go on and on. I could spend my life on Indeed.com and never ever get bored of it.

Now of course I eat sleep and breathe job searching and career coaching. I am a former recruiter and headhunter and now a career coach. I am overly committed to helping my clients find jobs and get hired. I don’t promise it but I do make sure it happens. I guess you could say it’s in the DNA. Once a recruiter always a recruiter. That’s what makes me and dear jane unique. All of our career coaches and trainers are either former recruiters or human resource professionals that have been recruiters. Indeed makes our job so easy.

The information below was taken from Indeed.com’s website:

Indeed is the #1 job site worldwide, with over 50 million unique visitors and 1 billion job searches per month. Indeed is available in more than 50 countries and 26

Since 2004, Indeed has given job seekers free access to millions of jobs from thousands of company websites and job boards. As the leading pay-for-performance recruitment advertising network, Indeed drives millions of targeted applicants to jobs in every field and is the most cost-effective source of candidates for thousands of companies.

Indeed is a privately held company founded by Paul Forster and Rony Kahan, with investors including The New York Times Company, Allen & Company, and Union Square Ventures. Indeed have offices in Austin, TX, Mountain View, CA, and Stamford, CT. For more information about Indeed, see our blog and media coverage or contact.

About Indeed
Indeed is the #1 job site worldwide, with over 50 million unique visitors and 1 billion job searches per month. Indeed is available in more than 50 countries and 24 languages, covering 94% of global GDP. Since 2004, Indeed has given job seekers free access to millions of jobs from thousands of company websites and job boards. As the leading pay-for-performance recruitment advertising network, Indeed drives millions of targeted applicants to jobs in every field and is the most cost-effective source of candidates for thousands of companies. Indeed is a privately held company founded by Paul Forster and Rony Kahan, with investors including The New York Times Company, Allen & Company, and Union Square Ventures. Indeed have offices in Austin, TX, Mountain View, CA, and Stamford, CT.

Starting today, veterans and military spouses can upload their resumes at www.indeed.com/military. Employers can sign up to be notified when employer services launch.

Joining Forces is a national initiative led by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden to support military families in the areas of employment, education, and wellness. The initiative is a public/private partnership combining the efforts of government agencies with commitments from private companies to improve the lives of military families.

To learn more about Joining Forces, please visitwww.joiningforces.gov. For more information on Indeed Military, please visit www.indeed.com/military.

Below is the type of report dear jane Inc. receives monthly from the marketing department at Indeed.com. It is so inspiring and it’s very very different than what you are reading about in the newspapers and hearing on television.

Now you know why I don’t watch the news or read the paper. J As a career coach for the past 14 years and having been through the two of the worst economic downturns in the history of our nation since the great depression of 1929.  I would not be able to provide hope for people who feel hopeless during their career transitions.

I like to stay positive and read reports like this. I am not a Pollyanna I just choose to read the facts. I coach people into jobs everyday and utilizing a tool like Indeed.com allows me to be successful at getting people back to work quickly and we always have fun through what seems to most clients at the time to be a very painful process.

Indeed’s May Industry Employment Trends show job postings increased in twelve of thirteen industries last month.

Highlights:

• Job postings increased in all but one industry – real estate
• Transportation and manufacturing job postings increased the most over the last quarter
• Job seeker demand for construction jobs rose 21% over the year

Real estate job postings slump

Job postings continued to climb in May; the industries tracked by Indeed’s Industry Employment Trends increased by a combined average of 4% since April.

Job postings increased over the month in all but one industry, real estate.  Job postings in this underperforming industry declined 3% since April, 16% over the last quarter, and 11% in the last year.

Despite recent declines in real estate, construction job postings increased 5% in May – the industry’s fourth consecutive month-over-month gain.  The most popular keywords used to search for jobs in the construction industry last month were construction, welder, and electrician.

Job seeker clicks – a measure of labor interest – on construction jobs reached 5,826,5126 in May.  This represents a 21% increase in clicks compared to a year ago and a 2% increase over the prior month.  The three job titles that received the most job seeker clicks were project manager, project coordinator, and laborer.

Quarterly growth

Transportation and manufacturing had the largest percentage increase in job postings over the prior quarter at 33% and 20% respectively.

Hospitality job postings increased 15% quarter-over-quarter as the industry entered the summer travel season.  Summer job trends and search ideas are highlighted in our recent summer job search post.

May 2011 Industry Employment Trends

Execute! Execute! Execute! It’s important to keep your activity high in job search.

During your job search it’s so important to keep

a log, journal, or spreadsheet that documents

your job search activity. Resume submittals

cultivate interviews, interviews cultivate offers.

We don’t realize how much time we spend on other

things besides our job search. Stay focused and

you will get results.

Execute Your Strategy

In his Six Disciplines blog, Skip Reardon, a Certified Business Coach offers advice on strategy execution, leadership development, and business process improvement. In a recent post, he provides some fundamental principles about strategy and execution:

• Execution will always be more important than strategy.
• Actions will always speak louder than words.
• A fair-to-middling strategy – exceptionally executed – will almost always yield better bottom-line results than a great strategy poorly executed.
• A great strategy never executed (which happens a lot more than any of us would like to admit) is a lame exercise in futility.

Perhaps, the best (and funniest) example is from sports.

John McKay had a track record as the highly successful coach of the University of Southern California Trojans. He moved on to the NFL to become the first head coach of the expansion franchise Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where his team set a record by going winless in their first 26 games.

A sportswriter caught McKay right after a particularly ugly loss:

“Coach McKay, What do you think of your team’s execution?”

He responded: “I’m in favor of it.”

Practicing self-care is crucial during your job search – dear jane diary entries

The Importance of Self-Care during Your Job Search

To avoid total mutiny of body and soul during this process, I have had to initiate some serious self-care during this process.  After a few months of looking for a job in this economy, I find myself not wanting to read ONE MORE JOB AD.    If I have to upload one more resume, get contacted by one more insurance company about selling life insurance, or have to click on one more pop-up window for higher education, I may not be responsible for my own actions.

So, in addition to my regularly scheduled phone appointments with my dear Jane coach which are saving my sanity during this process, I have to actually schedule in some “mandatory” fun.    This includes anything that is fun for me…bookstores, parks, walks, movies…you name it…as long as it relaxes me and gives me a break from the task at hand.

I don’t expect this job search to last forever (thanks to dear Jane); but, in the meantime…I need to remember that I’m no use to myself or my future employer if I’m emotionally and mentally exhausted

before I even begin the job!

Knowledge is Power, diary entries from a dear jane client

Dear Jane Diaries:

It’s important to view each interview as an assignment versus a potential job until an actual job offer is made.  Having your expectations too high can set you up for disappointment and also block you from missing one of the most important elements of the interview itself…what it offers for future interviews.  In each interview – good or bad – leading to a job or not – is the seed of what to do next.

In one of my interviews, the prospective employer asked me questions and mentioned terms and companies I knew nothing about so instead of feeling bad about myself, I immediately made it my business to educate myself about those terms using Wikopedia and doing research on those companies following that interview.  What that led me to was MORE job opportunities in the companies he’d mentioned and more knowledge and skills in my job-searching toolkit.

Another interview recently led me to discover exactly what I AM willing to do as far as a commute is involved.  I tend to be pretty rigid as far as where I’ll work so when someone from San Francisco called, I wasn’t interested…until I checked out his company on the Internet and saw that it was a fantastic company.  That led me to actually do the math and the logistics on BART tickets, parking costs, time spent, etc…all things I had never done before dismissing the possibility out-of-hand.  So “willingness” has become another important tool in my kit.

In addition, I’ve begun using dear Jane’s recommendation of www.salaryexpert.com and www.salary.com under the job descriptions that fit my background to see what salaries are out there in the locations I’m interested in.  What an amazing “free” tool to find out what my skills are worth in the positions out there…

As with everything else in my job search, knowledge really IS power and the very least I expect to come out of this process with is a job…the more important thing is a deeper knowledge of myself.

1st Place in the Job Search Race

Happy New Year! It’s time to make Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!

David Bowie’s song , Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes, Turn and face the strain, Ch-ch-Changes…is playing in my head.  Now, anyone that knows me is reading this  entry and is shocked that I would even know about David Bowie’s songs, especially my husband who is a musician and thinks that I am musically challenged in every way possible. I would have to agree with him.

Because it’s a new year I wanted to share some interesting facts with you about job searchers and how  they think when they find themselves without a job or in a career transition.

1) They always visualize themselves in last place in the job search race.

Ok what does t his mean? It means that they feel that because they are unemployed that they have to take $10-20K less.

It means that they feel rejected, devalued, lost, and most of all insecure about their skillset. They will make a lot of concessions to hiring managers just to get their next job. It’s normal to feel this way but it won’t help your job search.

I ask my clients to do the following to overcome this type of thinking and behavior.

1) Visualize yourself in 1st place in your job search race.

What do I mean by this? When I was a kid  I loved to play sports. I wasn’t very good but I wanted to be.  I tried out for every sport in elementary and middle school. I loved to run track, play baseball and basketball.

I had a great attitude but I was an average player. I wasn’t a fast runner but I had a lot of spirit. I loved to swim and joined the Gilroy Gators swim team. Once again I was average. But when I stepped onto the block to dive into the water,  I always visualized myself finishing in 1st place. When I started running in the race and passed the baton to my running partner I always visualized myself finishing in first place. I ran as hard as I could. I never finished in first place in sports but that didn’t matter because I always believed in myself and never gave up.

So what does this mean to you and your job search? Don’t visualize yourself in last place when you start your job search.

1) Know that you deserve and can get the right job for you at the right time.

2) Know that you will get the right salary and earn your market value.

3) Know that you will find the right hiring manager and team to work with at your new company.

4) Know that their is a company out there waiting for you and ready to make you an offer.

5) Know that you can reject job offers.

6) Know that you are interviewing them and that you deserve to work with smart, kind, intelligent, professional and compassionate people.

7) Don’t give up!!!

I wish you success in 2011!

Rebecca, Career Coach/Advisor and your partner in this Job Search Race!

Authentic Cover Letters – It’s ok to be you!

I wanted to share one of our dear jane client’s cover letter with you and feel free to forward this sample to your friends and colleagues.  I have changed the names to protect the innocent and received permission from this client to share her cover letter with you.

What is amazing about this cover letter is that our client communicates her passion, dedication to her hobby/sports interests, and professionalism within this letter.

She is a stay at home mom re-entering the workforce and this job is 10 minutes from her home and she has never had any retail experience.

Based on her research of the company she realized that her personal and professional values are aligned with Patagonia’s values.

I love cover letters like this. Based on my former recruiting experience and now my coaching experience, I know that 50% of hiring managers and human resource professionals read cover letters and 50% of them don’t. It’s so important if you want your cover letter to be read to make it real, authentic and personable. It’s crucial to show the future hiring manager or hr representative that you have done your homework on the company you are applying for and that you have a real interest in working at the company you are targeting.

SAMPLE COVER LETTER BELOW

Jane Doe

1111 Doe Lane

Encinitas, Ca  92024

Patagonia                                                     August 2, 2010

2185 San Elijo Avenue

Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA  92007

John Does, Manager

Jane Doe, Assistant Manager

Dear Jane and John,

Patagonia in Cardiff first caught my eye because of my love of surfing and the store’s emphasis on surfing.  The special events, community enrichment and the inventory were of interest to me and I saw the benefits Patagonia was providing to our coastal area.

Now that my children are grown and I desire to reenter the work force, I looked for a company with a philosophy that matched mine.  I researched Patagonia and found a connection to the corporate values and operations, besides just the great products.  I appreciate the innovation and constant desire to improve products; the commitment to deal with factories that meet Patagonia standards; and the company’s choice to look for ways to be “green”.

In addition, I feel a connection to the people who make up Patagonia because I too am an active, environmentally conscious, outdoor loving person.  I wear Patagonia clothing and can personally attest to its durability, quality and style.

I would like to bring my current skills and past sales experience to the Patagonia Cardiff store as a part time employee.  I know I could add value to the team and look forward to the opportunity to work for Patagonia.  I am available immediately and have no schedule limitations. My completed application is attached. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Jane Doe

cell: 000-555-9999   email: doe@gmail.com

Warning Signs that your job search isn’t working!

The last time I read the labor statistics report it stated that millions of people were unemployed in CA alone and that 65% of the people had been unemployed for at least 1.5 years.

This is sad and it saddens me to know that people are suffering out there. They don’t need to suffer. Ok warning signs below will help you in your job search.

Your way: You have posted your resume on the job boards and no one is calling you.

The dear jane way: Recruiters and human resource professionals live on the job boards, however, they only look at the last two days of postings. So every three days you need to upload the SAME resume so you will stay at the top of the search engines.

Your way: You can’t get to the second interview.

The dear jane way: Contact us for our list of 34 questions and once you have answered them you will definitely advance to the second interview. www.clientservices@dearjane.info.

Your way: You never leave your home office or your house in job search.

The dear jane way: We expect our clients to work 4-5 hours a day on their job search. We also suggest that they put a schedule together and give themselves at least two-three hours of time away from the house to enjoy their day. Also, you can conduct your search at the nearest starbucks, peets, or diner.

Your way: You make a decision to leave the profession/career that you loved so much because you can’t get interview.

The dear jane way: Making decisions based on assumptions is not the right thing to do especially when you are in job search. Nobody said getting a job was easy. It takes consistency, persistence and hard work. We assume that if recruiters don’t call and we can’t get interviews that we should give it all up and head to the mountains. Before you do that invest the time and energy into your search.

Your way: You change your resume content every other day to please the other side (hiring managers, recruiters, and human resource professionals) and/or you submit 10 different resumes.

The dear jane way: As our clients at dear jane say, “1″ resume “3″ jobs. The only thing you need to tweek and customize is your summary of qualifications and your cover letter. That’s it. You don’t need 10 resumes because you really shouldn’t be applying to 10 different jobs.

Your way: You have a great conversation with a recruiter or human resource professional and then you never hear back from them.

The dear jane way: First of all we hear this about 10-20 times a day from our clients. Please remember to have a pen and piece of paper with you at all times when you are talking with a recruiter or hr professional. Make sure you ask for their name, email, phone number, website, etc. Ask them how you can stay in touch with them. Then don’t forget to call them and email them.

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