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It takes time to find a job and being realistic about how long it
takes is important. However, there are ways to significantly speed up the
process. Being prepared and having a plan can turn a daunting task into simple
step by step process.

To begin, do your research. Although a lot job industries have been
suffering in the recent economy, there are plenty of industries which have had
job growth or a shortage of workers. If you can find such an industry, that
interests you, it would be the ideal place to begin.

Once you have an industry of interest, begin to tailor your resume. Answer
how can I positively affect the bottom line for my employers and how do I
illustrate that on my resume. Become relevant. A potential employer will be
very impressed by a resume that states, clearly, how you have positively
affected the bottom line for others in similar situations. Becoming relevant
can mean careful wording and persuasion or it could mean picking up a simple
skill or two. If all that stands in your way for a job is learning a simple
skill, learn it. There is little work involved to learn Microsoft PowerPoint
and Excel and these simple skills are in high demand (high supply as well).
Online classes are an easy and effective way to increase a skill set that may
be relevant to an industry of interest.

Assuming all goes well with your resume there is still the interview. The
best way to prepare for an interview is to role play. Get a couple friends
together and brainstorm different questions an employer might ask. Once you
have a substantial list of questions, split up into pairs and take turns
interviewing each other. Fifteen to twenty minutes a piece should be plenty of
time. Afterwards, breakdown the hard questions. Brainstorm different responses
to the questions the group found to be most difficult. Make sure you find a
response to works for you specifically. It doesn't make much sense to answer a
question with a reference to a time you went skydiving or taught your mother
how to dance if those references aren't real.

Once the interview and resume processes are revamped, it might be time to
reconsider the types of jobs to which you'll apply. If you keep getting denied
from the jobs you want, ask yourself why. In certain cases it may mean you
don't have the necessary experience to obtain a full-time position in that
field. In that case try taking multiple part-time of freelance jobs. Not only
does this offer a unique form of job security (get fired from one job you still
have the other), but it allows you to significantly increase the content of
your resume as well as the content of your brain.

Even with all these techniques it can take three months or longer to
acquire a suitable job. So be on your toes and ready to strike at any
opportunity.