Your resume may not be helping. The problem is that employers want to know what you can do for them and are just not all that interested in what you did in school, so you need to tailor your resume to convince them that all that experience you gained in school and all that knowledge really does transfer to the workplace. Some tips:

State your Goals – As a new graduate your resume has to feature a good, targeted objective statement. Whether you add a formal objective section or reference it in a qualifications summary is up to you, but whichever you choose avoid the kind of flowery jargon laden nonsense that too many new college grads tend to use. Investing a few dollars to have a resume writing service come up with a good one for you is a wise move if you are not sure how to put your aspirations into words.

Highlight the Positive – If you have little in the way of real world work experience your academic achievements should be highlighted in as positive a way as possible. And that doesn’t just mean stating your GPA, or mentioning the fact that you made the Dean’s list (although that certainly won’t hurt) Did you do an internship while you were in school? If so make sure you mention it. Did you win Employee of the month at the restaurant you were waiting tables at to pay the bills? Mention that too. Although the job duties may not be related to the job you are chasing now such things do go some way to demonstrating your worth as an employee in general.

Pick the Right Format – A traditional chronological resume format, which emphasizes employment history, rarely works well for a new college graduate. A functional resume, which highlights all those academic achievements and unique skills that you can bring to the table will be far more successful. Again, if you are not sure that you have done a great job by yourself consider hiring someone to do take your rough draft and polish it into a resume that will really help you land that all important first job.

Too Much of a Good Thing – Preparing to go on an interview is not like preparing to go on a date. Your beau may love that expensive perfume you wear but your interviewer may not. Not only might they be allergic (a lot of people are) but human beings tend to equate certain smells with specific memories so if you show up slathered in the same cologne as your interviewer’s terrible ex used to wear she may subconsciously mark you as doubtful right away.

Clamming Up – An interview candidate who simply won’t talk, or who answers each query with a “yes, no or maybe” really frustrates many interviewers. Most interviewers these days ask deliberately open ended questions in order to try to learn as much as they can about the candidate in the short timespan they have. Go to your interview prepared to speak and keep a question or two in mind yourself when the inevitable ‘Now it’s your turn to ask questions,’ line comes up at the conclusion of your interview.

Using Slang – Even if an interviewer may occasionally use slang themselves in their everyday lives (and most of us do from time to time) they do not want to hear at an interview. Another big interviewer’s pet peeve? Candidates who say “like” or “uh” in every second sentence.

Lack of Eye Contact – You probably are very nervous but avoiding making eye contact with your interviewer because of that fact just does not give the right impression at all. If you really have problems maintaining direct eye contact with someone in tense situations try focusing on his third eye, just above and between the person’s two eyes.

Little White Lies – Every candidate wants to impress their interviewer but lying – even if they are little white lies or slight exaggerations – is never the way to do it. Do not be tempted to over embellish your accomplishments or leave certain things out that you should have revealed, since even if the interviewer does not catch it (which many experienced ones will very easily) chances are that a background check will.

• A female candidate included a letter of recommendation – from her mother.
• A candidate explained (as he should) the reason for a gap in his employment history. He took three months out to mourn the death of his cat.
• Another candidate tackled the always sticky issue of a criminal record. He stole a pig, but it was, he went on to assure recruiters, only a really small pig.
• A gentleman listed one of his hobbies ( a no no these days in itself) as sitting on a levee at night watching the alligators.

All very funny, but in a job market that is still rather tight do gimmicks (and humor) actually work when you are trying to stand out from the masses? Once in a while you will hear a tale or read a news story about how a clever trick piqued a recruiter’s interest and helped the poor candidate get the job but in the real world it’s rare. On the whole whatever the industry, such things will not get you job. More likely you will become an anecdote for the recruiter you targeted to share after dinner at some future event (or to share with a national survey) but that will do little for your personal career prospects.

Keep it Short and Sweet – You are writing a cover letter, not your autobiography. A pleasant greeting, a few lines summarizing the highlights of your resume and a polite closing requesting an interview is quite sufficient. Any longer than that and a recruiter is likely to lose interest and move on to the next application in their pile.

Never use a canned cover letter – If you are going to send a cover letter take the time to actually write one that is specific to the job you applying for, not just the same missive sent out again and again to dozens of different potential employers. Human Resources personnel and recruiters tend to be able spot these a mile off and your application is likely to be passed over right away.

Be mindful of your tone –A cover letter is a missive from one professional to another and the tone should be professional yet relaxed. Don’t be funny, ridiculously wordy or over flattering. Most importantly though confident is good but cocky is very bad. You want the recruiter to read your cover letter and come away with the impression that you may indeed be a helpful, useful addition to their team, not that the author believes that they are living on Mount Olympus and deigning to come down to work with mere mortals!

Proofread – Failing to proofread the cover letter they are sending out is a mistake made by many a job hunter. They have worked to develop a flawless resume and then ruin the whole thing by attaching a cover letter that is badly written and has grammar and/or spelling mistakes. Keep jargon to a minimum as well, as excessive use of it just tends to make the recruiters head spin.

1. I will ask my friends and relatives to give me an honest critique of my resume and cover letter, and listen to their feedback, even if it stings.
2. I will ask those same people to “mock interview” me, and ask them to be as critical as they can.
3. When I find an attractive job opportunity I will apply immediately, no more procrastination.
4. I will do more research about the industries I want to work in, and the companies that appeal to me.
5. I will spend more time networking, both online and off.
6. I will be brave enough to make that follow up call after I have interviewed for a position.
7. I will open my mind to avenues beyond the obvious in an attempt to find the best and most interesting opportunities.
8. I will really examine my finances and see if I can consider a lower paying position that could be a stepping stone to something bigger.

TwitterJobSeach.com allows you to enter simple search terms – executive assistant New York, marketing in Maine and so on and so forth – then displays all the posts found on Twitter that may contain the lead to the job you hunting for. But how effective a tool is it really?  Savvy Talent staff decided to put the new search engine to the test.

Inputting a fairly common search term “executive assistant, Dallas” returned hundreds of results. Many were tweets from job boards around the Internet but that does save time hitting every job site on the Web looking for your search terms.

A general search was not that accurate; why did a secretary’s position in London come up? There was no mention of Dallas or indeed the Lone Star State itself on the Tweet or the Twitter account it came from.  Using the advanced search options helped narrow the field a little and was not too difficult to navigate.

All in all TwitterJobSearch is a useful little application to add to your arsenal of jobseeking  tools but should be used as just a part of your overall quest to find employment, not the only site you check.

• Holiday events are great for networking as well as catching up with friends and relatives you have perhaps not seen all year. Do not be obnoxious about your job search when speaking to people at these gatherings but do put it out there that you are looking for work. Help may come from unexpected quarters.
• Send holiday cards with a “micro resume” enclosed (a newer trend, a micro resume contains the salient points of a resume and contact information printed on a business card) to all the hiring managers you may have interviewed with recently. Also send them out to any well connected friends you may have neglected to connect with recently.
• Create a job search plan that contains at least one thing for you to accomplish every day in your search.  It is easy for a jobseeker to become disheartened around the holidays, so maintaining focus is essential.
• Consider taking seasonal employment to tide you through the financially draining holidays. Many temp agencies see an increase in the number of assignment they have available around the holidays, as employees take their annual vacations or companies struggle to close out all their yearend tasks on time.
• Volunteer – Many non profits seek extra help around the holidays.  This is a great networking opportunity, a way to stay busy and active, resume builder, and not to mention the satisfaction that can be gained by doing something nice for other people.