The days of door to door job applications are dead. To get in front of the right hiring managers, you have to take slightly more strategic approaches. These strategies include all of the same tactics found in traditional marketing efforts, plus a few from the world of internet marketing. When properly applied, these basic strategies will place you squarely in front of hiring managers that may lead to your next position.

Finding your next employer can be challenging, especially if your job hunt is limited to blind posts on job boards or cold calls to network connections. However, basic market analysis will go a long way to improve your odds. Some of the best sources for market information during a job hunt are lists maintained by organizations like Dun and Bradstreet or D&B. These types of lists provide accurate information pertaining to the fiscal performance and market of various companies.

Searching these data sources for companies in your local market or industry will identify a number of potential employers. If you take the information a bit further, you can rank employers by gross product, number of employees, or even office locations. This approach will allow you to prioritize employers by potential and target the most likely companies first. This prioritized list can serve as a plan of attack, guiding your job search efforts.

Some people consider this sufficient planning. In most markets they would be correct. However, in the current economic climate, jobs are scarce and employers are picky. It is wise to establish every possible market advantage before approaching any potential employer. Once a priority list has been created, it is easy to find additional contacts within the company using linkedIn or other social networking tools.

Often times these additional contacts will provide insight into the needs of the company. They could also serve as references later in the process. If you are really lucky, they may even arrange a personal interview with the hiring manager. Identifying one-well connected individual on the inside of a target company can do more for your job search than twenty job applications.

If you are unable to connect inside the company, another powerful source of information is the job boards themselves. Reviewing current or past positions within a company can help you gauge the company’s style and needs. It can also help you mold your resume to fit these needs, increasing your appeal to the hiring manager.

Finding a job is much like anything else, putting in the initial planning and research will be handsomely rewarded in the long run. In this case, understanding the needs of the target company, tweaking your resume to fit those needs, and building on existing connections are three of the most effective types of preparation you can commit to. If done well, you will be ready to present your background to the potential hiring manager and have a high degree of success in moving to the next level.

It’s not always easy to get up the courage to hand your resume off to one of your target companies. Some people just get to embarrassed or nervous to reach out and ask for the job. That is where resume cards can help. A resume card looks similar to a business card, but instead of pitching your employer, it pitches your skills. Fortunately, it feels just like trading business cards instead of pushing for a job. This approach allows you to focus on networking and building relationships, but leaves the people you meet with a bit of information about your skills and target job.

Resume cards can come in many designs or you can choose to create your own unique design. Just remember that you want to keep your resume card short and to the point. If you put too much information on your resume card, it could end up looking cluttered and could be hard to read.

What should a resume card include?
Contact information must be on the card. Your email, phone number, and fax number must be included to make the card look and feel like a regular business card.

In addition to the contact information on your regular business cards, you should also include social networking information. For instance, if you have an account created on linkedIn, Twitter, or other networking sites you will want to include links to these on your resume card.

If your resume is readily available online, include a link to that as well.

If you have a professional blog that, it would be wise to include that as well.

When to use a resume card:
When you are sending out paper copies of your resume it is a good idea to include your resume card. Your resume card can serve a couple purposes: It will help your resume stand out a little bit more. It will also give the employer a quick reference to your resume and contact information. It also creates one extra discussion point for the employer.

When you are at networking events, make sure you have plenty of resume cards on hand to pass out. At most networking events, almost everyone has a card on hand to exchange. This is the perfect time to pass out your resume without creating an uncomfortable situation. Then when people get back to their office the next day, they will see your resume card amongst the business cards.

Resume cards are a great way to present your resume or to give a teaser of your resume without creating an awkward situation. Just remember when you hand them out that you will have to spend your own money to restock them!

Hopefully you have kept your receipts if you have been unemployed in the past year. Some individuals are going to skip out on opting for a professional CPA to complete their taxes this year and try their hand at this dirty little task. If you are one who is opting out of paying a professional to do your taxes, you need to refresh yourself on what you can write off from your job search.

Hopefully you kept a very detailed record of your job search expenses, because it is about to pay off! Keep in mind that you should refresh yourself on your local IRS laws before you complete your taxes. In this recession the last thing you need is to get hit with an audit or penalties.
Let’s start with the basics:

How much did you spend on your resume? Yes, that is right. You can write off your resume expenses. This includes professional writers you sought to tweak your resume. It even includes supplies like paper, envelopes, stamps, ink, and of course any other related expenses you have when it comes to your resume. Did you pay for resume cards? If so you can proudly write this expense off as well!

Did you pay out of pocket to go on an interview? If you did, you’re not alone. Many job seekers have had to pay for travel, gas, mileage, parking, or at least suit cleaning costs before interviewing for a job. If you had to pay out of pocket and did not get reimbursed by the company, you can claim this as a related job search expense.

Are you paying to stay on job boards? Most job boards are requiring monthly or bi monthly payments to become an active member of their site. If you are a job seeker who has paid to stay on these job boards you can deduct this expense as well.

Are you working from home or have you started to freelance while unemployed? If so, you will have plenty of write offs related to funding, marketing, and starting your own business! However, if you started a business you may want to seriously consider hiring an accountant.

If you had to purchase a new phone or a land line for your job search you can deduct that expense as well.

Remember that you will need proof and/or documentation of all expenses for these write offs to be ligament. Also remember that if you have been reimbursed by a company for any of these expenses, you may not write that particular expense off.

Hopefully you will be able to receive some of the money back that you have invested in your job search!

Necessary Disclaimer: Please note, I am not a professional account or CPA, only a fellow job seeker looking to save money while struggling through a job hunt. That said, the advice in this article should not be seen as a source of accounting advice, but only potential ideas for identifying possible tax write offs. Consult a CPA or current State and Federal tax laws before attempting to use any of the suggestions in this article.