We hear it all the time from frustrated job seekers: “I’ve tried everything but can’t find a good job.” It’s tough out there, and that’s the truth. But while I sympathize with the frustration and fear that come with a long, difficult job search or a bad-fit job (having lived through both), I want to say that there’s always something else to try.
So with that in mind, I put together a list of 51 job-seeking and career-development actions — some basic and some more “outside the box” — that you can try.
Not all these ideas will be right for you, but at least a couple of them should get you thinking about new job-search tactics or career-related New Year’s resolutions (because “find a new job” is a fine resolution but so massive that it’s hard to take action on).
Why not pick four or five and add them to your list?
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Find a volunteer opportunity (great for networking and resume building). (This suggestion was seconded by @jgiangrande on Twitter.)
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Make a top-five list of companies you’d like to work for, and research each one — write one-page report of your findings.
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Use your research to make a business proposal for your hiring — and then contact the company to make your case.
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Find a mentor.
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Be a mentor.
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Look into job shadowing — especially at a target employer.
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Ask a contact at one of your target companies for an informational interview.
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If you’re currently employed, make three development or career-advancement goals.
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Set up appointments to discuss your goals with your manager and/or someone in HR.
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Start a blog related to your career or industry.
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Start a blog related to one of your hobbies.
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Set a goal of updating your blog on a regular (or more frequent) basis.
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Find the blogs of influential people in your industry, and comment intelligently on posts.
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Research ways to gain your blog more traffic.
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Read three articles about resume best practices; then update your resume (don’t forget the resume uploaded to your pure-jobs.com profile!).
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Research job ads for positions you’d like, and note common keywords used. Make sure your resume includes these keywords.
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Create an untraditional version of your resume — for instance, a video resume or a graphical resume.
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If your resume has an “objective” statement, replace it with a summary statement.
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Write down your answers to 10 difficult interview questions.
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Record yourself answering 10 difficult interview questions, and practice until you love your answers. (Then choose ten more questions.)
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Prepare and practice your elevator speech.
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Create a personal-branding statement.
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Put your personal branding statement on all your online profiles and in your email signature.
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Update your profile information on Monster.com.
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“Find new efficient ways to communicate at work. E-mail can be slow. What’s the next big thing?” (This tip came from @corbs09 on Twitter)
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Create a job-search schedule — and stick to it!
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Read a book about leadership.
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Read a book about teamwork or collaboration.
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Ask a colleague you admire to recommend a professional-development book (then follow up by sending him or her your comments and thoughts).
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Read a book related to your industry.
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Ask contacts you admire to recommend some books related to your industry (then follow up by sending him or her your comments and thoughts).
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After you read a professional-development book, write a review or summary and share it with contacts.
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Start a professional-development book club with other job seekers or coworkers.
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Assess your professional network to make sure it’s in good shape.
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Complete your profiles on professional-networking sites and platforms.
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Find a way to help someone in your professional network (and repeat this tactic often — networking needs to have a lot of “give” for every “take”).
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Ask a career-related question on a question-and-answer site like Quora.
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Answer a career-related question on a site like Quora.
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Become a social networking junkie, and build career-related profiles on Facebook, the BeKnown Facebook app, and Twitter.
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“Constantly network online and in-person.” (This tip came from @kdevito on Twitter.)
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Set a monthly new-contacts goal — for example, five new contacts per month on BeKnown.
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“Set a goal for yourself and then network — find some connections to help get you where you want to be.” (This tip came from from @mike_kohn on Twitter.)
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Create a job-search club or group (online or real world), for mutual support.
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Create an online group related to your industry or career.
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Study a new language (or work on a language you might be a bit rusty in).
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Learn a new software program.
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Enroll in a public-speaking, acting, or improvisation group or class, to build confidence.
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Take a writing class.
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Finish a degree or certification program that’ll take you to the next stage in your career.
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Explore the idea of turning a hobby into a side business.
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Make sure you’re getting the most information you can from the Internet (with Web alerts and so on).
@purejobsearch Twitter followers for their thoughts.
What are your job-search tips or resolutions for the new year? Share them in the Comments section below!