WhereYouAreNow

Any way you put it—economic downturn, down economy, or the dreaded recession—things are tough right now. Companies have frozen or even lowered salaries, and some have even done away with employee benefits in order to stay afloat. But the people who aren’t getting raises, or are having to find their own health care are the lucky ones. There are millions of people out there who have lost their jobs, lost their homes, have lost the lives they were accustomed to living. Maybe you’re one of them, and if you are, that’s a shame. But now it’s time to get back out there and plan for your future.

Everyone knows job hunting can be stressful. It’s not fun, and there’s a lot of it that’s out of your control. The key is to focus on the things you can control. You can only blame the economy for your situation for so long. Are you doing everything you can to make yourself an attractive candidate? Are you making yourself stand out in this extremely competitive market? Sitting at your kitchen table, perusing the classifieds, and stuffing dozens of envelopes with resumes every day doesn’t cut it anymore. Here are some things you can do to gain an advantage over the competition, and get a job more quickly.

Spruce Up Your Resume

Let’s get one thing straight—your resume should not mirror your work history. They’re two different things. No hiring manager wants to read a six-page resume that lists every single job you’ve ever had, and every piece of software you’ve ever learned. Granted, if you’re just starting out, you may not have many jobs to list, so you will want to make the best of the experience you do have. But if you’ve been in the workforce for a while, you need to pare your resume down to one page, two tops.

Not only that, we’re at a point now where many resumes are not initially read by people. Companies run resumes through scanning software looking for certain keywords. If those keywords are not identified in your resume, it goes into the circular file, never to be read at all. The best thing you can do for yourself is to seek out a professional resume writing service. Resume pros know how to edit down a resume while keeping the most important information companies are looking for. They can also optimize your resume for those important keywords so you stand out from the crowd. Anything that gets you past the scanning software and into the door for an interview is a worthwhile investment.

Expand Your Search

You may get lucky and run across a gem in your local paper’s classifieds, but you can’t limit your job search to that page and expect to really get anywhere. Even using job listing Web sites isn’t enough anymore. There are so many other tools out there now, and if you’re not using them to find a job, you’re slacking. There’s no excuse not to when most of them are free.

Start with a LinkedIn profile. You’ll even find job listings there, some of which are exclusive to the site. Open a Twitter account and start following companies you want to work for, as well as industry leaders. You never know when someone will drop a job lead. And Facebook isn’t just for playing games and reminiscing about high school. Smart companies have pages on the site that you can follow and get their updates added to your News Feed. Use your Status to let your friends know you’re looking. If none of them are hiring, they may know someone who is. Just remember, passively following on any of these sites isn’t enough. You have to engage people to build a network that can produce job leads.

Become Your Own Boss

Starting a company used to mean getting a small business loan or some investors, finding office or warehouse space to rent or buy, and then filling that space with office furniture, equipment, and people. It was expensive, with a high failure rate, and an even higher stress rate. Now you can start a business for roughly ten bucks.

Okay, that’s oversimplifying it, but it’s not entirely inaccurate. You can buy an Internet domain for about ten dollars, and have a Web site set up in about an hour. You don’t need to start with an expensive designer or programmer. You can get going with free tools such as a blogging platform, a free blog theme, and a handful of plugins. And you don’t necessarily have to be selling an Internet-based service, either. Start a site for your jewelry-making business, or your lawn care service. Whatever it is you decide to do to either follow your passion, or just make ends meet until you find another job, the barrier to entry has been lowered dramatically by the Internet.

Above all, don’t give up. But don’t just sit around waiting for things to change, either. Take control of what you can, let go of what you can’t, and build your own future instead of waiting for someone to do it for you.

Leslie Williams is a writer for Jobfox Resumes, the largest resume writing service online. She specializes in using social media to connect to the right job.