Ramp up your job search in new year

Good news: the U.S. unemployment rate has been steadily dropping, and closed November at just 4.6 percent. As in recent years, the fastest-growing occupations are in technology, health care, and professional and business services.
To ensure that you’re well-prepared to take advantage of new opportunities, here are five critical steps to take immediately:
Update your résumé. Read your résumé closely, with a focus on your current or most recent job, and see what new material you can add. Think about all you accomplished in 2016 – new skills, projects, awards, and so on – and showcase that material. Be sure to also update your summary if there’s new and valuable information to add.
Write new job search letters. It’s time to refresh your messages in your cover letters, e-notes, networking letters, recruiter letters and all other job search correspondence. See what you can do to strengthen the impact of your letters to attract prospective employers to you.
Strengthen your LinkedIn profile. Update and enhance your profile content, and add video clips, PDF files, graphics and other multimedia materials. These additions make your profile come to life with actual demonstrations of what you can do and how well.
Help recruiters find you. LinkedIn has added a great new feature where you can indicate your interest in opportunities from recruiters. Just click on the Jobs tab (main menu), click on the Preferences tab, and turn on the “Let Recruiters Know You’re Open” button.
Expand your network. Who are the new people you’ve met, worked with, worked for and/or interacted with over the past year? Be sure to add them to your networking database and reach out to them with your updated résumé, letter and link to your LinkedIn profile. Your goal is to get to know who they know who might be interested in a candidate with your qualifications.

Wendy Enelow is co-author of “Modernize Your Résumé: Get Noticed ... Get Hired” and “Expert Résumés for Military-to-Civilian Transitions.”