There are a lot of job hunting resources out there offering a lot of advice. Often times, one resource will directly contradict another with the advice they give. A lot of people are offering a lot of advice, but not all of it is good. It can be tough to separate the bad advice from the good, so we’ve compiled a list of eight different pieces of bad advice you’ve probably heard before.

1. Never Mention Money

This one is just silly. Sooner or later during the interview process money is going to come up. Your potential employer is going to want to know what you made at your previous jobs, and what your salary expectations are should they choose to hire you. You can’t avoid talking about money during a job interview. It’s best to take the bull by the horns when it comes to discussing money. When the topic comes up, be straightforward, and up front about what your expectations are, and what your previous employer paid. It’s better to have a frank discussion about money during the interview and get those details hammered out than it is to be surprised when the employer makes you a low offer.

2. Send Your Resume Via Normal Means

A lot of job hunting resources will tell you to stick to sending in your resume via normal channels, like email, or by handing it in in person. We live in a world full of different ways to communicate with one another, and with companies. Sending a resume via Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin can be extremely effective, especially if you make contact with the right person. When you deliver a resume through normal channels, there’s a good chance it will get tossed in a pile with a lot of other resumes that probably look fairly similar to yours. If you make friends with someone at the company on Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin, and send them your resume, your resume will get some personal attention from whoever you send it to. You always want your resume to stand out from the crowd, and sending it in via a non-conventional delivery method can help it to do just that.

3. Forget The Paper Resume

Don’t be quick to overlook the paper resume. If you actually send in a physical resume, it will definitely get opened, looked at, and placed in a pile with other resumes up for consideration. When you send a resume by email, there’s always a small chance that it will get caught up in a spam filter, or wind up being redirected to the wrong person. A paper resume also offers the hiring manager something tangible that they can hold, and often times, that will grab someone’s attention more than an email. If you like, you can actually send both a paper resume, and an email one. It might be a little redundant, but better safe than sorry.

4. You HAVE To Share Your References Immediately

This isn’t actually true. Many people will tell you that it looks suspicious to an employer if you don’t want to share your references right off the bad, but the truth of it is that if you politely decline, and let them know you’ll be happy to share your references after the interview, most employers won’t hold that against you. That being said, be prepared to back up your claim that you don’t mind sharing references. Once the interview is done with, you’re going to have to hold up your end of the bargain. If you don’t feel like your references will reflect as well on you as you’d like, holding them back until after the interview gives you a chance to impress the interviewer with your knowledge of the job, and your skill set. That way, if your references do reflect poorly on you, you will have already given the interviewer a chance to get to know you before getting that negative input.

5. Don’t Include A Summary On Your Resume

A lot of job hunting resources tell you tl leave the summary off of your resume in favor of including more factual data about yourself and your work history. This isn’t the best piece of advice. Including a summary on your resume gives you the opportunity to describe yourself in detail, and to tailor your resume to the specific position and company you’re applying with. If you’re going to include a summary, make sure to do just that. Don’t write a generic summary that each and every employer will see, but rather write a new summary for each new position you’re applying for. By creating a custom summary for each position you apply for, you’re showing the interviewer that you spent some time on your resume, and that you take the job seriously.

6. Share Your Entire Work History

Sharing your entire work history may actually work against you rather than for you. If your resume has a lot of jobs listed on it that aren’t directly related to the one you’re applying for, you might be doing more harm than good. Showing off jobs that aren’t relevant to the job you’re applying for doesn’t give the potential employer any valuable information about you. Instead of including everything you’ve ever done, only include the jobs that are directly relevant to the one you’re applying for. List positions that you’ve held in the same industry, or in the same position as the one you’re applying for. If you’ve held a job that gave you a skill you will need if you get hired, throw that in as well, but don’t include anything that isn’t related to the job you’re applying for. If it’s not related to the job you’re applying for, it’s just wasted space on your resume that could have been filled with useful information.

7. Include A Lot Of Industry Lingo

Corporate speak is boring to read. That’s a fact of life. Including a lot of industry lingo on your resume might sound like a great way to show that you understand the company, and the industry you’re applying to work in, but in actuality, it’s just going to bore the reader. They’re already a part of that industry, and they hear all of that corporate jargon on a daily basis. Filling your resume with it isn’t going to impress them. Instead, try to keep your resume friendly but professional. Include a word or two of jargon when necessary, but other than that, keep it simple, and professional. The interviewer is way more likely to remember a well written resume than one filled with jargon.

8. Always Take The First Call From A Potential Employer

In a perfect world, you’d be ready at any time, and in any place to take the call from your potential employer. In reality, schedules get hectic, and you may not know when to expect the call. It’s better to ask the potential employer if you can call them back later  than it is to take the call when you’re unprepared for it. If you’re busy, just say so, and ask if you can call them back. They’ll understand, and they’ll be happy to take your call later in the day.

This is just some of the bad advice you’re likely to run into on your job search. Don’t believe everything you read, and keep all of the good advice listed above in mind as you job hunt.

When you submit your resume to a company, it’s important to remember that it’s going to be one of many. A highly desired position can receive dozens, or even hundreds of applicants, and your resume is the only thing that can set you apart from the crowd in the eyes of the employer. There are some important things to keep in mind when you’re crafting your resume that can help you set yourself apart from the crowd.

Keep It Clean

If you take nothing else away from this article, you should at least remember to keep your resume easy to read and understand. Avoid using non-standard fonts. A resume written with a script font can be difficult to read, and if a difficult-to-read resume shows up in a large pile of resumes, it’s likely to get overlooked. It’s also important that your resume be formatted correctly. There are a number of acceptable formats you can use, and we’re not going to try and touch on each one here. The important thing to remember is that you want to use an easy-to-understand format that does a good job of showing off your unique strengths.

Keep It Professional

If you’re sending a hard copy of your resume to your potential employer, make sure to send it on plain, high quality stationary. It might seem like a good idea to use colored paper, or stationary with a design, or pattern on it, but these things will definitely be viewed as unprofessional by your potential employer. This might sound like an obvious piece of advice, but don’t send your resume on stationary with your current employer’s letterhead on it. Again, your potential employer will see this as an unprofessional move, because you obviously printed out your resume on company time if it has the company letterhead on it. If that’s how you conduct business at your current job, a new employer is unlikely to assume you’ll do better work for them.

Proofread It

Before you send your resume to a potential employer, take some time to proofread it. If your potential employer finds mistakes on your resume, it will reflect badly on you. Your resume is your means to sell yourself before the interview, and being careless with it, or leaving mistakes on it will give the impression that you don’t take pride in your work, or that you don’t bother double checking your work. In other words, employers want to know that you want the job enough to spend some time on your resume, don’t let them down.

Contact Information

Be sure to include any and all relevant contact information on your resume. You should try to include your physical address, your email address, your mobile phone number, and your land line phone number. If you maintain several cell phones or email addresses, only provide the one you’re most likely to be reachable at on your resume. This might seem like obvious advice, but you’d be surprised at how many people leave some of that information off of their resume. If the company you interviewed with wants to offer you a job, they shouldn’t have to track you down to do so. By giving them all of your contact information, you’re making it easy for them to reach you by whatever method they prefer.

Work History

Be sure to include a comprehensive list of your past employment on your resume. You should always start with your most recent employer and work your way back from there. If you’ve held jobs that weren’t directly related to your current career path, it’s OK to leave them out if, and only if doing so gives you room to add another job to the list that is related to your current career path. It’s important to show a steady stream of work, but it’s more important to show your potential employer that you’re right for the job. You don’t have to go overboard listing jobs you’ve held. If you list three or four, that will be enough, as long as the rest of the resume is strong.

Sell Yourself The Right Way

Your resume is a great way to sell yourself to a potential employer, but you have to do that through facts, and not through a sales pitch. For example, if under an entry in your work history, you list something along the lines of “Increased sales by 30%” that’s great. That’s a fact that can be verified, and quantified by the potential employer. If, on the other hand, you put something like “Did an extremely good job of making sales” your resume is going to look weak to the potential employer. That statement isn’t based in fact. It’s an opinion of your performance, and there’s nothing of substance to back it up.

Your resume is your way of introducing yourself to a potential employer. Keep it professional, easy to understand, and informative, and you’ll get the job interviews you’re looking for with ease.

This is great to use to get ahead of other employees while searching for the best job.

Go to www.underhandedguerillatactics.com

These are great social networking sites to use while looking for a job.  Employers are using these sites to look for employees.

Go to:  www.facebook.com; www.linkedin.com; and www.twitter.com

This is a good overview about how to use your social networking sites.

Click on www.socialnetworkingoverview.com