You’ve done everything you should to find a job and nothing has happened. If you’ve conducted research on employers in your area, written an up-to-date resume, networked with colleagues and friends, and replied to the openings for which you’re qualified, and still all you hear is silence, then it’s time to reinforce your job search. Sure, it’s frustrating and dispiriting, but the situation can be improved if you take action. In fact, the one course you must avoid is simply to continue doing the same old things over and over again. If you’ve given the standard methods your best effort and they aren’t working, then you have to adopt a new approach. Think of it as a power bar for your job search.

This “pick-you-up” has just six steps. It’s important that you do them all.  Don’t cherry pick the steps you like and ignore the rest. Do every one, even those that may push you a bit out of your comfort zone. That’s how this new approach works. It energizes your job search by sharpening strengths you already have but are not using effectively and adding new capabilities that will enhance your position in the job market. They’re all essential but if you want to hear something other than silence, follow these six steps.

Step 1.) Stay confident
Today’s job market is one of the most competitive in history. It’s not easy to capture a good position, let alone a great one, even if you’re doing everything right. Yes, you will hear stories about others who landed a dream position 15 minutes after they started looking. Remember two things about them: 1) they’re the exception to the rule; 2) the next time around they may not (and probably won’t) be so lucky.

Step 2.) Don’t get overconfident
To be truly competitive in this job market, you must be ahead of the curve in your profession, craft or trade.  How can you do that?

• If you haven’t taken a formal Education or training program in your field within the last five years, you are partially obsolete. Enroll in a developmental program right now (there are many offered online that you can take in the comfort of your own home) and then promote your commitment to staying up-to-date on your resume.  List the institution at which you’re enrolled and the name of the course you’re taking, followed by the phrase “In Progress.” That tells recruiters you’re committed to self-development, a trait most employers love to see.
  
• If you have kept yourself up-to-date in your field, get ahead of others who may have done so by taking supplemental courses that will make you an even more attractive candidate.  For example, if you speak English as a second language, enroll in a business English class; if you speak English as a primary language, enroll in a Spanish class or in a business writing class. The ability to communicate effectively in a pluralistic business environment is a potent competitive advantage in today’s job market.

Step 3.) Modernize your networking.
Traditional face-to-face networking is still an important component of any job search, and you should continue to invest time and effort in both making connections and contacts that can position you for a successful search and improving the skill with which you do so.  However, it’s now equally as important to stretch your networking into a new dimension — the Internet.  Networking online enables you to expand the number of people who know you and thus may be able to assist in your job search.

Where and how do you do it?  By joining the discussion forums that are available on sites operated by your professional association, your alumni organization and/or affinity group (e.g., sites for veterans, women in technology, African-Americans in finance). Limit your time investment to no more than 30 minutes a day, but do participate. The golden rule of networking is the same online as it is in the real world: you have to give, in order to get. Share your knowledge and experience with others so they will be inclined to share theirs — and the jobs they know about — with you.

Step 4.) Stop using a generic resume.
Recruiters know your resume was written on a word processing system, so they are well aware of how easy it is to modify the document. That fact has radically changed their expectations. They are no longer satisfied with a generic resume, accompanied by a cover letter that relates the resume to their specific opening.  Instead, they want the resume to be tailored to the position and the cover letter to highlight the key competitive differences that are described in the document and make you the candidate they should select.

Tailoring a resume to each job opening obviously takes time. Adopting this approach necessitates another change in your job search strategy. In essence, it forces you to abandon the scatter-shot method of application — applying for any opening where you are even partially qualified — and replace it with a more focused strategy in which you limit your efforts to those opportunities where you are truly competitive and most likely to be engaged by the work involved.

Step 5.) Start using more job boards.
There are more than 40,000 job boards currently in operation. For that reason, it’s important to use a range of these sites regularly.  I suggest that you put at least five of them to work for your job search:

• Two general purpose sites or job boards that post openings in a broad spectrum of professions, crafts and trades.  These might include the Employment section of your local newspaper site or Web sites, such as Monster.com.
  
• Three niche sites or job boards that focus on a specific career field, industry, geographic location or affinity group, such as Military.com/Careers

Finding a great opportunity and winning the race to capture it is a tough challenge for anyone in today’s highly competitive job market. If you’re not having the success you want, it’s time to move to a new approach … and add some power to your job search campaign.