In recent months, the job market has become increasingly competitive. But even as the economy slows, and there are increasing numbers of job seekers in the job market, there are many professionals who have been incredibly successful in conducting fast, effective job searches. What do they have in common? How are they doing it? Here are nine tips to speed your own job search and drive it to a fast, successful conclusion.

Know what you want and go after it. Starting a job search without knowing what you want will almost certainly end in frustration. Think about it: If you don’t know what you want and what your job target is, how will you know who to contact and how to conduct your search? If you are uncertain about your career goals, it is critical that you spend some time and energy now – before launching your search – on self-introspection and analysis. Knowing what YOU want, what YOU are passionate about, and what YOU bring to the table will provide you with a confidence that simply can’t and won’t be matched by many of your competitors in the job market. This is the crucial first step to any job search and is essential for long-term career success as well.

Quitting a Job: Tips to Handle the Situation

Quitting a job is not an easy thing to do, especially if you have been in employment for long. Moving to a new job for better prospects or other reasons is not uncommon. However, during this transition phase, you must take care of certain key aspects to ensure that the relationship between you and your employer does not turn sour. You never know when you might need them again. Who better than A. Harrison Barnes of Employment Crossing to help you with effective career advice in this regard?

There are literally thousands of opportunities out there for individuals seeking employment today. The job market appears to be extremely narrow at a first glance but that is because more and more companies are looking for temporary employees rather than permanent employees wishing to sign a long-term contract. It does not matter whether you have a skill or not, an agency can offer you employment to suit you. With a few good job tips for temporary employment, you will have work before you know it!

Most human resources departments have outsourced their employment to external agencies in the recent past as they have found this method of hiring more effective and economical in the long term. Temping agencies often offer a comprehensive service to help individuals to get a job, including job tips for temporary employment.

If you knew something wasn’t working, would you keep doing it, expecting the results to change? For most people the answer would be no, but for the majority of people looking for jobs, this is exactly what they are doing. They are submitting resumes in the same old fashion and getting no replies. They are attending job fairs and never getting any return calls. Stop this madness now and learn the new approach towards getting a job.

Don’t wait for the human resource department to give you a call. Don’t wait for that email response. Call them back after a day to see if they received your resume. Then schedule a time to call them back 4-5 business days later. Be persistence without sounding desperate.

Stop sending resumes without meeting with the humans behind the job postings. Have you ever been hired by computer? No! So this idea that you can send resumes all day and expect a job, is nonsense. The computer is useful for finding job openings but a human is who will hire you. Pick up the phone and talk to a human about a job.

Build your network of friends. There are jobs but you need to meet the people. Spend 2 hours a day inviting your network to get coffee. Keep what works and toss out the rest. Think of the job search as a job and aim for efficiency. Have more than one cover letter on hand. Create resumes with different themes and objectives. If you sent out 10 resumes, five with your website address and five without a website, and the five with your website received the most attention, then you should know what tactic is working. Eliminate the garbage from the previous days and work with the stuff that brought you closer to a human hiring you.

The human element of job searching might seem simple and basic but a lot of people still spend the majority of their day, wasting away on computer, without it getting them any closer to a job. It is time to get social with your job search. Use what works in finding a job and discard the rest.