With the U.S. economy in need of dire help and employers cinching up the payroll belts, the job market is effectively a barren wasteland, even for those with college and professional degrees. However, your inability to land that dream job may just mean you need to start marketing yourself in a number of ways that are so simple you’ll kick yourself for not doing so earlier, before you started living on Ramen noodles and Koolaid packets.

There shouldn’t be a single person currently employed that is unaware of the standard procedure for finding a job. At least, everyone should be familiar with the accepted standard for making oneself available for new employment. That process involves crafting a resume, and then contacting potential employers that have openings listed in the newspaper, on professional boards, or on sites like CareerBuilder.com.

But getting a job just isn’t that easy, contrary to what Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com would have you believe. The reason for this is that you, like half of the rest of the world, has bought into such websites’ universal propaganda, which would tell you that you are somehow technologically and professionally more relevant than the rest of your uneducated and unconnected competitors.

If you didn’t know, there are millions upon millions of people who have posted their resumes on such “leading” job listings sites, ranging from the lowest scum to emerge from beneath a scraggly rock to the girl or guy who outperformed you in every class during college. Face it: you’re just one within the masses.

So with the economy on the fritz and the job market looking about as plush as the Sahara, media outlets have started publishing far-fetched ideas and pleasant-sounding, rainbows-and-butterflies how-to’s to make you believe you can be different, you can set yourself apart. CNN, a media group I respect greatly for remaining largely politically neutral, just published such a piece documenting how a select few have managed to secure the jobs they want, even with times being as bad as they are.

I don’t know about you, but I am skeptical of any claim that sitting on the median of a highway in a business suit will make you look more appealing to employers. I am similarly in disbelief that unemployed individuals can simply walk into the office of the employer they choose and say, “you need me!” and land a job.

I’m not the only one who thinks you have to do more than just post a resume. Aaron Strout coined the term “Hiring 2.0,” which refers to the way employers can use social media to more effectively learn about potential employees, as well as keep in contact with them for future openings. Social media and social networks are another way, in addition to traditional methods, for employers to really gauge what you’re all about.

If you use social media but don’t intend your accounts to be poured over by potential employers, you’re in for a reality check. And if you aren’t using social media and networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn to make yourself known in a Web 2.0 world, you are making a choice to struggle with millions of people for a very limited number of job listings in the paper and on job listing sites.

Do yourself a favor and start thinking about your job search from a new perspective. In fact, don’t even think about it as an end to a means. Add a social media layer to your job hunt, and you will most likely be pleasantly surprised with your results. Don’t settle for mediocrity; a failing economy and barricaded job market demand that you start thinking and acting differently from the rest of the pack, and the solution is only a matter of a few mouse clicks away.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 3:43 am under Internet, Social Media, Tips and advice, Web2.0.

Read more entries by Triston McIntyre.
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