If you're feeling discouraged about your job search, you might achieve better results with one simple change to your process: diversify your approach. Polls indicate that more than half the people who employed only one strategy to look for jobs lost their momentum and abandoned their search after two months; while those who incorporated several strategies stayed the course until they found an acceptable position.

It may seem like an easy path to your next job to sit at your computer and surf the Internet. But, I'm sorry to say that a computer-based job search is typically not very effective if it's your only course of action. Furthermore, it is an approach that keeps you isolated and out of touch with individuals who could encourage you and keep you motivated in your efforts to find new work.

I suggest spending no more than an hour each day reviewing on line job postings and perhaps another hour with resume submissions and researching prospective employers' websites. Divide the rest of your day into a variety of activities, including ones that could have an indirect impact on your jobs search success by lifting your spirits or helping to relieve stress.

Below is a list of the primary ways people find jobs, with the first four by far the most effective. Select one or two to add to your job search process—doing that just might increase your success rate as well as improve your outlook.

1. Get clear on what you do well and what you enjoy doing. Then identify where in the marketplace those skills are needed. Conduct informational interviews with people who have these jobs to determine if there is a match for you. Ask for names of more people to speak with who are in this field.
2. Make cold calls and/or knock on doors of organizations or companies of interest to you and where you could add value to determine if they have openings.
3. Ask for job leads from family, friends, former colleagues and acquaintances.
4. Attend a group organized for people in the job search where networking is encouraged and practiced.
5. Apply for jobs advertised in the newspaper, trade journals or seen on line.
6. Go to private employment agencies.
7. Send out unsolicited resumes to random employers. (It is estimated that only one job offer results from sending out 1700 resumes.)

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