At StartWire, we believe you deserve to be treated well by your potential employers, regardless of whether you are selected for the job! This is why we offer a free way to get status updates on your job applications from over 7,000 companies.

We also think you should communicate with your potential employer to make sure that they’ve seen your application. This is why we recommend you follow-up with employers to confirm your application within two weeks. If you’ve received an interview, we also advocate for thoughtful thank you notes.

But what should you do if you don’t hear back from the employer at all after you’ve sent in your application, or if the feedback you receive simply says “you are no longer under consideration”?

We think it’s worth following up with every employer you apply to — at least once. Here’s our short guide on what to say and when in awkward situations:

If you’ve applied for a job and it’s been re-posted:

• Don’t assume the employer isn’t interested. Instead, call HR or the hiring manager and summarize your skills: “I see you’ve re-listed the Director of Marketing position that I applied for in June. I’m (name) and I have over 10 years experience in the field. Would you like for me to submit my credentials again?”
• When to do this: Within three days of the job being re-posted. (Note: All jobs on the StartWire site are less than two weeks old. Do not be alarmed if they are re-posted. Employers often re-post simply to receive fresh interest in the job listing while a search is under way.
• When not to do this: If you’ve given up on the job, and have decided you are no longer interested.

If you’ve been told you are no longer “under consideration”:

• What to say: Thank you for letting me know of your decision on my application. While disappointed, I remain interested in exploring other opportunities at your company especially as I am so impressed with your work in __________. I continue to feel that I could contribute in ________ department. What’s the best way to stay in touch? And in the interim, is there anything I can do for you to help increase awareness of your _____________ (insert product or service that organization is known for)?
• When to do this: Within three days of receiving your rejection letter. Read our past articles to learn how to respond if you think you were seen as overqualified or under-qualified.
• When not to do this: If you don’t like the company or feel that you wouldn’t want to work for them, either!

If you haven’t heard back after an interview:

• What to say: Thanks again for your consideration for __________ position. I am writing to let you know that I remain interested. Please let me know if you have need of receiving any additional materials.
• When to do this: Follow-up on your thank you note either two business days before the anticipated decision deadline or shortly after the deadline date has passed.
• When not to do this: If you’ve followed up once by phone and e-mail, don’t follow-up again. You don’t want to be seen as a stalker or desperately needing this job. (Note: Apply for other jobs while you wait to hear back, too!)
  There’s one exception to this rule: If you receive another job offer, you can call and let them know you have the offer — and you can say, “I remain interested in your job, but need to let the organization that has extended me an offer know by ______ date. Can you tell me whether or not this fits into your hiring timeline for the position?” (If they really want you, they will often speed up the process, but don’t make up an offer just to make it happen.)

Do you have any questions or thoughts on these strategies? What’s worked for you? Share.

IT’S COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS SEASON, AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. THE REAL WORLD AWAITS, BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE TERRIBLE. HERE ARE WAYS TO SHARPEN THAT POST-COLLEGE JOB SEARCH.

It’s graduation season and employment is weighing heavily on the minds of college grads across America–some, in fact, have said they’ve already given up on the job hunt.

For those worried grads, the job outlook is mixed. The good news is that despite the tough job market, unemployment for college graduates in April was 3.9 percent–nearly half of the overall unemployment rate of 7.5 percent, according to the Labor Department report released last week. However, there is evidence that the reduction was driven by high-skilled job seekers (those with Bachelor’s degrees) moving into low-skill jobs, such as file clerks, waitresses, and, of course, baristas.

Certainly, the intended profession that you selected in college may be more difficult to land these days and the career path may look a little differently than you imagined freshman year, but great opportunities are still out there for the savvy job seeker. Here are five common mistakes new college grads make in their quest for a job and smarter ways to navigate a post-graduation job search in today’s market… [Read more]

The above article is StartWire’s guest post at Fast Company. Continue reading at Fast Company.

One of the easiest ways to stand out in a job search is to follow-up and showcase the depth of your interest and area of expertise. Many people overlook this step after receiving an automated “Thank you for applying. Don’t call us, we will call you” e-mail less than five minutes after they’ve applied for a job. Today, we’re going to show you why this is a mistake and how to fix it after you’ve initially applied for a job. (In a later post, we will tell you how to follow up after an interview.)

Why Not Following Up is a Mistake

While it may not always appear this way, most organizations are as focused and interested in hiring the right candidate as you are in finding the right company to work for. In an era when most resume reviews are done in 15 seconds or less, your follow-up can make you memorable and move your resume straight to the top of the application pile to review- especially if you’ve applied over a week after the job was posted. (Our advice on this? The early bird gets the job.)

Bottom Line: Following up after you’ve applied demonstrates interest, commitment, and initiative — all criteria employers like to see when they hire.

How and When to Follow Up

There’s nothing worse than cold calling a potential employer — only to find that the job you applied for has been filled. Therefore, the first step in the follow-up process is to make sure the job is still available. Fortunately, there are two easy ways to do this:

1. If you have a free StartWire account,  you can track your job in StartWire– and get an automatic update on your application status via text or email. (This information is available for positions listed at over 7,000 organizations.)
2. Check the job listing you initially saw on the organization’s website. If the position is gone, it’s quite possible it has been filled.

After you’ve verified that the job is still available, isolate and identify your goal for the follow-up. What do you want your potential recruiter or hiring manager to know about you? Ideally, you want to convey your expertise and fit for the job — as well as demonstrate your continued interest in the job.

To follow-up, choose the medium that suits you best.

Are you a natural on the phone? Call the potential organization after hours and use the organization’s automated directory to land in the right voice mailbox. Record a message that doesn’t just say the job you applied for, but that also gives a ten word overview of your past experience that fits the job. “Hi, this is Ivanna Job. I’m calling to follow-up on my October 5 application for the Green Belt Six Sigma Project Manager. I can offer you a Black Belt in Six Sigma and I live not five miles from your facility. I remain interested in the job and can be reached at ____________.”

Are you great with research and words? Write a follow-up and email the recruiting contact or likely hiring manager. Once you’ve identified the right person to contact, you can google *@organization.com to find out how the organization assigns names to people. For example, if you are applying for a job with John Doe at Acme Food and you know that Acme Food assigns emails with a first initial and last name — you can guess that Mr. Springfield’s address is jdoe@acmefood.com

Just as in the above example, your follow-up should include a very brief mention of how you are qualified for the job. Extra credit for congratulating the organization on a recent news mention. (Example: Congratulations on your first-place finish for The Candidate Experience Awards.)

Regardless of how you follow-up, we recommend doing it within two weeks of your application date — and making sure it’s perfect. If in doubt on the phone message, hit the # message and re-record until you are satisfied. If you are writing, use formal language (no text shorthand) — and have a friend proofread it after you hit spell check! Spell one thing wrong in an e-mail and you may knock yourself out of the applicant pool if you’ve applied to work under a Spelling Bee champion.

Remember that oft-quoted Woody Allen quip, “70% of success in life is showing up?” That doesn’t work in the job search process. You need to stand out as a professional. Follow these simple steps and you will!

Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs, which provides legitimate, professional telecommuting and work from home jobs that promote work-life balance.

Are you considering a transition to or looking for resources on work from home jobs? Where do you begin the search, and how do you find safe, reliable job listings? We got a chance to conduct a follow-up interview with Sara Sutton Fell, the founder and CEO of FlexJobs to learn more about telecommuting roles, tips on how to spot spam listings, and the dynamic of work from home jobs today.

To recap, Sara Fells first started FlexJobs when she was pregnant with her first child and searching for a job that would allow her to balance her home and work life. Finding a number of telecommuting scams instead, she was inspired to find a resource for others that would allow reliable, legitimate job offerings. Thus, FlexJobs was born and is the helpful resource it is today for many job seekers searching for telecommuting roles. Find part one of the interview here.

1. How has the environment of work from home jobs changed from the start of FlexJobs to its current day?

Back in 2007 when we founded FlexJobs, working from home was just starting to become part of most people’s professional worlds. People may have known someone (or knew someone who knew someone) who worked from home, but it was still relatively new. Today, working from home is a common strategy used by companies looking to recruit and retain the best professionals, and the chances are very good that we all know someone who works from home at least part of the time. To give you some perspective, in 2009, we regularly posted about 4,000 available job listings on our site (including telecommuting and other flexible jobs). Today, we’re consistently posting over 13,000 available jobs.

2. Work from home jobs change the traditional office dynamic. Instead of spending all of one’s working hours in a group of co-workers, a person working from home has more flexibility in when and how to connect. What are some ways to maintain strong communication while working from home? How does this flexibility benefit workers?

I honestly think that communicating with coworkers when you work from home is very similar to when you work from an office. At least over the last several years, office-bound workers communicate through phone and email most of the time, with in-person meetings and impromptu stop-bys also included.

So the main trick is to figure out what parts of communication are missed when you work from home, and figure out ways to supplement those. Informal conversations in hallways and break rooms are a good example. Instead of this, telecommuters have to consciously make the decision to start “small talk” conversations with each other. Good managers of telecommuters are, on a daily basis, looking for ways to start these casual conversations.

Tools like instant messenger, company message boards like Yammer, and traditional tools like phone and e-mail are all great ways to encourage these types of conversations. At FlexJobs, our team talks regularly through Yammer and has lively discussions about food, movies, family, vacations, and other water-cooler topics. And we manage to fit in some great, collaborative, work-related conversations, too!

3. What would you describe is the main benefit of changing to a telecommuting role based on your personal experience?

There are two answers for this – one for employers and one for employees.

As an employee, I have to say the main benefit is freedom or control. The ability to trade your daily commute for a home office means more time for whatever it is you want out of life- family, hobbies, friends, you name it. It may not seem like much, but because I work from home, I’m able to bring our two young sons to school, and pick them up when their school day is done. These moments are priceless to me and it’s because I work from home that I get to enjoy them.

For employers, the benefits have to do with productivity and cost-savings. Several studies have come out over the last couple years clearly showing that telecommuters are more productive, more efficient, more satisfied, and less likely to quit than office-bound professionals. And employers, by letting their workforce work from home, save huge amounts on real estate, technology, turnover, and missed productivity.

4. Spam and false advertising are one of the biggest complaints of job seekers looking for work from home positions. How can they spot a bad job listing? How does FlexJobs help job seekers find quality jobs?

Scam jobs take many forms, so it’s important for job seekers looking for telecommuting or work from home jobs to do their homework and stay aware. Here are some of the ways to spot a scam job:

1. Be careful of the keywords you use to search. “Work from home” is a phrase associated with lots of scams and pyramid schemes. Instead, try safer words like “remote work,” “telework,” and “telecommuting.”

2. Be aware of the warning signs of scam jobs: Jobs are almost certainly a scam if they promise easy money for easy work, if they require you to “invest” or pay a fee to get the job, or if they use all capitalized letters or lots of !!! and $$$ punctuation.

3. Know the most-used scams: Common work-from-home scams include repackaging products, survey taking, stuffing envelopes, and building crafts. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

4. Be cautious about unsolicited e-mails: E-mails from unknown sources that promise to find you work-from-home jobs should be ignored completely, and of course deleted.

5. If you think you’ve found a scam, ask yourself these questions to be sure:

• Is the hiring company’s name listed in the job listing?
• Do you need to pay to get the job?
• Does the job listing sound too good to be true?
• Does the company ask you to provide your social security number, driver’s license number, credit card number, or bank information?
• Does the job sound like any of the following common work at home scams? Unsolicited contact, wire transfer, stuffing envelopes, data entry, assembly work, multi-level marketing or pyramid scheme, shipping manager, rebate processor

FlexJobs’ mission is to provide job seekers with a safer job search experience while they look for telecommuting jobs and other flexible jobs. We have a team of job researchers who spend a combined 50+ hours every day searching for legitimate telecommuting jobs. They weed through scams to find new job listings and employers, then screen each employer to make sure they’re a legitimate company offering a real job. Only then is the job posted to FlexJobs, so job seekers who use our site are guaranteed to find only legitimate telecommuting and flexible jobs.

5. How have employer attitudes changed towards work from home jobs in recent years? What has caused more employers to offer flexible jobs to their employees?

For one, technology has advanced by leaps and bounds so it’s much easier for employers to have a remote workforce. Internet speeds are much better, personal computers and business networks are very advanced, and the average professional’s knowledge of and competence with office technology has greatly improved.

Management styles have also changed which is necessary for a thriving at-home employee base. Employers rely less on the “I need to see you working to know you’re working” model and managers are better prepared to manage employees remotely.

And finally, employers are seeing huge cost benefits to offering flexible jobs. The Telework Research Network has an inspiring list of the cost benefits of letting employees telecommute – http://www.teleworkresearchnetwork.com/resources/costs-benefits.

Here in New England, the snow has a memory. You can still see tracks in the yard and open space, days after roads have been plowed and driveways have been cleared. You can tell where people and animals have been — and you can often see what they’ve done and left behind.

As temperatures rise or new storm fronts blow in, snow tracks disappear. But all of us leave a footprint that has a much longer life span online — in fact, many people continue to have a digital presence online after they die.  From casual conversations with friends, to comments on message boards, political donations and charity 5K runs, your activities will often show up in Google search results of your name.

Why does this matter? Conducting a Google search on candidates has become a standard practice: in fact, 90% of executive recruiters say they conduct online research of potential candidates (ExecuNet). Up to 70% of employers who use LinkedIn say they’ve chosen not to hire based on what they’ve found out about a candidate online, but only 27% give people the opportunity to redress any negative search results that are found.

If you are currently looking for a job, what people find in a Google search of your name matters. If search results for your name yield positive results that demonstrate your skills, interests, and experience, employers say it can help you get hired. If your search results include racy pictures, derogatory comments, or potentially illegal activities — you can potentially find yourself in the “reject pile.”

Here are five strategies you can use to protect your own online reputation:

1. Find out who you share your name with and share information accordingly.

Do you share your name with a few other people? If yes, consider including your middle name in your profile — or another variation of your name that you use.

For example, if your name is “Dave Matthews” and you are a CPA — you might want to be “David [middle name] Matthews, CPA” in any professional profiles posted online.

If you share your name with someone who’s been in legal trouble or in the court system, know why they are in the news — and tell potential employers who interview you “it wasn’t me.”

2. Know the results of a Google search on your name — and help people find your professional information.

Ever notice how ads on Google appear to be linked to your interests? It’s no coincidence. The ads that are returned to you are based on your own interests based on prior search results. (You can edit or remove your preferences here.)

Just as the ads you see are based on your interests and search patterns, you’ll receive search results generated from past clicks and your location. This means that what you see when you Google your name isn’t the same as what an employer sees — or what your friends across the country see.

Here’s a good general rule of thumb for having a professional presence on Google:  At least 1 of the top 5 search results for your name should relate to your professional interests. If you create and maintain a strong LinkedIn profile, this alone will help you significantly — as LinkedIn has high visibility in search results.

3. Keep your Facebook profile clean — and scan it for inappropriate content.

Facebook’s privacy policies are ever changing and hard to pin down. Even if you limit your content only to your friends, it can end being visible to others.

One way to make sure your content stays clear? Screen it with Secure.Me, a free tool that scans your Facebook profile. Secure.me can help protect you from viruses and give you advice on what to keep private. (It will also alert you to content that others could find questionable — so you can decide what to keep and what to discard.)

We hope you’ve found these tips to be helpful. Let us know if you use and recommend any others!

Today’s post is a nod to Valentine’s Day, a day that may be the most emotionally charged holiday on the American calendar. If you’re in love and you are loved, Valentine’s Day can feel like the most wonderful day of the year. If you’re single and would prefer not to be, Valentine’s Day can feel lonely and isolating. You may feel the same way about Monday: If you like what you do, you may look forward to Monday. If you don’t, you may dread it!

We see strong parallels between job search and dating: Both are fundamentally awkward processes in which you can make big decisions in a short amount of time – based on first impressions and the answers to a handful of questions.

Many employers make hiring decisions for full-time positions after spending less than two hours with a candidate. Can you imagine deciding to spend 40 hours or more with a person every week – after one date? It’s like deciding to move in with someone you just met!

We created StartWire to help you have an easier experience in your job search. Here are five strategies you can use in your work life – borrow as you see fit if you’d like to adapt for your love life.

1. Remember that who you choose to spend your time with is a mutually selective process: You get to choose whether to accept job offers, just as employers get to choose if they want to work with you! As you interview for jobs, take a minute to observe others and assess your environment: Are the people you meet people you can see yourself working with on a daily basis? Do people who work together appear to like each other and get along?  Can you see yourself feeling happy doing the type of work they would like you to do?
2. When you like someone, it’s okay to tell them. Just as people often respond positively to compliments when dating, saying why you like a company may help you land a job offer. Have you purchased and enjoyed one of the company’s products? Do you admire programs and initiatives they sponsor or the community work they do as volunteers? If you see something, say something – on your cover letter, in a thank you note, or on their Facebook page. Sincere compliments often build good feelings.
3. Let your friends know what you’re looking for – and ask for help when you need it. Do you have a skill that comes easily to you – and a strong idea of the type of work environment you’d like to work in? Give people you know a sense of what you’re looking for so that they can help you – especially if you’ve already applied. Getting props from others – and a referral into a job – is a faster way to get hired than doing it alone.
4. Until you decide to be exclusive, play the field. Just as employers typically look at more than one candidate for a position, it’s okay for you to look at more than one job. Focusing on only one opportunity at a time can leave you feeling like a swooning seventh grader in the throes of unrequited love. Do you find yourself staring at your phone, checking your email every 15 minutes, and wondering when someone will have the decency to follow-up as days turn into weeks? Sign-up for StartWire’s free service that enables you to get updates on your application status. The service is now available for over 8,200 employers. Then use our Express Apply feature to identify other positions of interest – and apply.
5. Get out of the house. Many job seekers find that the simple act of adding a volunteer position to their resume results in more callbacks from potential employers. Attend events related to your field – or areas of interest. The more activities you participate in, the more you’ll meet people who can help you achieve your goals.

These are five strategies that we find useful. Do you have any observations or tips that have worked for you? Share.

Good news! Over the weekend, visionary groundhog Punxsutawney Phil emerged from the ground and saw his shadow predicting an early spring…and six fewer weeks of winter.

Despite the good news, February can still feel like a cold and dark month — especially if you’re in the midst of a job search and waiting to hear back from employers. Here at StartWire’s headquarters, we’re still short on daylight. Today, our sun rose at 7:01 am and will set at 5:05. We’ll gain an average of 4 minutes of daylight every day — and see sunsets at 5:30 by month’s end. Still it’s a long time in the dark. (You can chart your own daylight here.)

Groundhog or no groundhog, one of the biggest challenges you may face in your own job search is getting out from your own shadow. The psychological process of applying and not hearing back promptly can be exhausting and can take an emotional toll on you. Just as many people experience Seasonal Affective Disorder when there is a smaller amount of light, it’s not unusual for job seekers to experience depression or feel sad.  (Here are some of our suggestions on action steps you can take to deal with the blues.)

People often associate the blues with inaction — sleeping a lot or not being proactive. But, there can also be another side of it in the job search process: Do you find yourself feeling less sure of yourself?  Do you ever sit with your shoulders hunched over? Cross your arms when approached by strangers? Cover your mouth when you talk?

Are you hiding in your own shadow?

Don’t. It could cost you your next job offer.

Your non-verbal communication skills are as important — if not more important — than your words. In fact, it is estimated that up to 93% of communication effectiveness is determined by non-verbal cues… How you stand, speak, and gesture can make a tremendous difference in how your actions and words are interpreted by other people.

Fortunately, you can use a few simple techniques to stand taller, feel more confident, and make a stronger impression in person.

Social psychologist Amy Cuddy, a professor at Harvard Business School, has developed a two-minute routine you can use to stand taller, feel more confident — and get out of your own shadow. If you’ve got 20 minutes, watch her video here:

If you want the highlights, here are a few tips:

1. Anything that you do to make you smaller, takes away your power in the eyes of others. This includes crossing your arms or legs and touching your face or neck.
2. When you stand “wide,” make sweeping gestures with your arms — you appear more powerful.
3. If you don’t feel powerful, one way to get there and increase your confidence is to fake it till you make it. One way to do this is to make yourself smile. To try this, put a pen lengthwise between your teeth and hold on to it for a minute. Feel better?
4. Striking a powerful pose for as little as two minutes, can improve your confidence — and your performance. You can try it anytime — including before your next job interview.

Try it out and let us know how it works for you!

Whether you’re a football fan or not, chances are good that you’ve heard – and will hear more – stories about players, plays, personal and team triumphs before Super Bowl XLVII comes to a close on Sunday.

You’ll also likely hear stories this week about the latest U.S. Unemployment numbers, slated for release this Friday, February 1.

We’re not saying we see a direct connection between the NFL and unemployment numbers, but here are three tips from our “Silver Linings Playbook” for the job search.

1.  You’re more likely to make the team if you come recommended.

It is estimated that only five percent of NFL players made the team as a walk-on. Just as the vast majority of NFL players get drafted, you have a better chance of getting a job offer if a friend, former colleague or networking connection recommends you for the position. How much more likely? The New York Times reports that employers are setting target goals to recruit up to 50% of new employees based on referrals from current employees.

For tips on how to get a referral inside the company even if you don’t know anyone, click here.

Don’t forget to check out StartWire’s built-in free tool that recommends potential sources of referral based on your LinkedIn network.

2. Professional players – and teams – frequently lose on the road to success.

Here’s a piece of trivia you’ll hear over and over – the Ravens (1-0) and the 49ers (5-0) each come to the Super Bowl undefeated in the Big Game. But each team lost three or more games over the course of the season, and it’s been over ten years since either team took the field for a Super Bowl.

Unless you are applying for jobs that you are over-qualified for – or if no one else applies – you are going to experience the pain of loss.  You are going to be turned down for some of the jobs you apply for, just like some of the passes in football go down in the history books as incompletes or fumbles. It’s part of the process.

Would it make you feel better to know how often this occurs on the football field? Even the winners are accustomed to loss. Of the teams who have played more than one Super Bowl, only the San Francisco 49’ers have a perfect record for the Big Game – and they’ll put that on the line on Sunday.

3. Focus on jobs you want with discipline and determination – and it’s quite likely you’ll get a shot at interviewing. Just don’t give up.

Think some teams are doomed to have a Charlie Brown life? Or that it’s all about employer contracts and buying wins? Consider this: 28 of the NFL’s 32 teams have played in a Super Bowl. That’s 87% of all NFL teams! Not bad, eh?

Get out there, and keep trying!

Now pass the guacamole and chips. Tell us, how can we help you achieve your goals?

Sometimes the best way to catch the attention of a potential employer is to be straight-forward and honest — even if your skills and experience don’t line up perfectly with an employer’s preferences to hire for a position.

For a great example of how one job seeker used this technique, check out this piece in The Huffington Post, which provides screenshots of a cover letter that caused executives across Wall Street to lean forward, chuckle — and reach for their phones to schedule an interview. What led to all this attention?  A candid, direct approach.

Here’s an excerpt from the letter.

Here are 3 strategies this job seeker uses:

1. He acknowledges his understanding of the culture in which hiring takes place and is direct about saying that he’s a long shot for the job…

Why this works: Many Wall Street banks recruit at a small number of schools to select a majority of their summer hires. By acknowledging the situation, he makes it clear that he understands how the hiring process often works.

2. He asks for the company to give him full attention and consideration.
I am aware it is highly unusual for undergraduates from average universities like [mine] to intern at [company] but nevertheless I was hoping you might make an exception.

Why this works: He’s polite and direct in asking for the reader’s time.

3. He doesn’t sugarcoat his experience.
I won’t waste your time inflating my credentials, throwing around exaggerated job titles…

Why this works: He shares that he has good grades and some past experience without repeating or exaggerating his resume. His direct approach plays to the type of field that he works in, as Wall Street bankers are famous for being blunt, working in fast-paced environments, and communicating with short, direct language.

Can this approach work for anyone in their job search? Probably not. Many organizations will likely shake their heads at a line such as [I am not] feeding you a line of crap about how my past experience and skill set align perfectly with…[the job].

That said, soften your tone and there are a few good strategies in this cover letter that can work for you — especially if you have gaps in your resume between positions, have taken time off to take care of family, children or yourself, and want to work in a new field or one you haven’t worked in recently.

Here are three lessons we can take away from this letter:

1. It’s okay to be direct about why you’re applying for a job. You don’t need to offer to work for next to nothing, but showing your raw enthusiasm to learn about a new field or career path is a positive way to show your potential fit for a job.

Action Strategy: Match the tone of your letter to the tone of the industry you wish to work in. If you want to work in a job that requires strict confidentiality, don’t gossip or be overly chatty. If you want to work in a sales role, it’s okay to use a persuasive tone.

2. It’s better to be friendly than arrogant. If you market yourself as a rock star who knows the job being offered inside out — despite not having any experience in the field — it can hurt you even if you get the job since you won’t have the skills and experience you need. Instead, present yourself as someone who has some of the requirements for the job, and show that you’ve thought through the skills you have — and what you hope to gain. Many employers hire for personality, aptitude, and attitude first, and then train you on what you need to know to get the job done.

Action Strategy: Create a simple outline that highlights 1-2 ways you fit the job description instead of providing long paragraphs that say you’ve already got the skills and experiences for the job.

You Seek

5+ years of experience in ____________
Full knowledge of FileMakerPro

I Offer

3 years of experience in ___, with training in ______
Extensive experience in database management using Access and the ability to learn FileMaker. (In my job at _______, I taught myself ___________.)

3. Use your cover letter to answer any hanging questions an employer may have about your resume.

Did you leave your job early because you got chicken pox in your 30’s? Take three years off to take care of an elderly parent or a small child? Take a job that was the wrong fit?

Action Strategy: Address gaps or trouble spots in employment in a direct and honest way. Don’t embellish the story. Simply say what happened in a neutral tone — example: My mother had lung cancer and I resigned my position to take care of her. I am no longer serving as her caretaker.

Try these three strategies and let us know how they work for you.

Looking for a new job without a perfect work history? You’re not alone…Even legendary leaders Lou Holtz, Steve Jobs, and Michael Bloomberg have been fired! And as for the widely-quoted statistic that most Americans can expect to work in at least 11 jobs over the course of a lifetime…it’s also been said that most people can expect to be fired or laid-off once or twice.

As with many things in life, it’s not how you fall down — but how you get back up on your feet that ultimately matters most. We scoured the web for different perspectives on how to get back up if you’ve run into an awkward situation with a former boss or employer. Here are five different strategies on how you can turn your own career lemon into lemonade:

1. Get distance and the perspective of time. Then preserve relationships if you can.

Rough work experience can leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Give yourself time to process it — and when you do speak of it, avoid making a face!

“Don’t do anything rash or bitter. As satisfying as it might be to send former co-workers or client lists an email about everything that’s wrong with that company, don’t do it. You need to protect your reputation now more than ever, and a bitter, hostile exit will make that impossible…

…Think about who you want to keep in touch with from your last job—not just co-workers, but clients and vendors too. Reach out to them. A good way to mitigate awkwardness with former co-workers who might be unsure how to handle your firing: Tell them what you liked about working with them and why they are good at what they do. People will be impressed by your classiness.”

– Alison Green, U.S. News.  Ten Things You Should Do Immediately After Getting Fired

2. You should hear (and see) how they’ll talk about you.

“If you have been fired or terminated, check with your former employer and ask what information they will give out when they get a call to verify your work history. If they do give out more information than the basics, what they say may be negotiable and it can’t hurt to ask. When you left under difficult circumstances, you could ask someone you know to call and check your references; that way you’ll know what information is going to come out. Or, you can also use a reference checking service to check on what will be disclosed to future employers.”

– Alison Doyle, What Can Employers Say About Former Employees?

3. Don’t say why you left on your resume.

“The general rule when discussing having lost a job is to be honest but brief. Note that there’s no need to list how you left a job on a resume, but be prepared for the question to occur in an interview. It really helps to have a standard answer available so you can comfortably answer the question, and then move on to other more positive topics.”

– WiseGEEK, Should I Tell a Potential Employer that I was Fired from a Job?

Focus on the what instead of the when and where.

Have a long gap between jobs? Create “a resume that highlights qualifications rather than work history.”

– Elisabeth Sanders-Park, author of No One is Unemployable and The Six Reasons You’ll Get the Job.

4. When asked about your career lemon, be brief and objective.

“The economy has pushed many talented professionals into the workforce, so don’t be ashamed to simply explain that you were a part of a downsizing. If you were fired for performance issues, it’s best to merely say you “parted ways” and refocus the discussion on how your skill set matches the current position.”

– Tony Lee, CareerCast, The Ten Toughest Interview Questions and How to Answer Them

5. Hold your head up high.

“People who are laid off and people who get fired should follow the same rules as people who quit. You should just act like you quit. The world does not need to hear what the terms of departure are. People just want to know what you are doing with your life and how you fit in with them.”

– Penelope Trunk, The Best Way to Deal with Getting Fired

Do you have other suggestions and strategies for avoiding negative pitfalls with past employers?

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