Some general pointers off the top of my head.
1) Be active, not passive.
The passive method of job hunting involves just blindly sending out a mass of resumes to anyone willing to accept it, and waiting for the phone to ring.
The active method of job hunting involves calling up the company, eventually speaking with a hiring manager, sending him your resume (in person if possible), and convincing him to take some time for an interview.
If I were to make up some random statistic right now, I'd say that about 90-95% of people looking for jobs use the passive method. That means if you're using the passive method as well, you're competing with 90-95% of the job hunters out there. If you use the active method however, you're only competing with the remaining 5-10%, with a distinct competitive edge over those using the passive method.
2) Learn to talk to people on the phone.
The phone is your friend. The phone is what gets you past the distance barrier, past the security guard at the front door, and if you're good enough, past Helga, the gatekeeper secretary.
For some, talking on the phone is a natural talent no matter who they're talking to. For others, they can be a stammering mess. It's quite the skill to be able to cold call a complete stranger, and ask him for a piece of his time for an interview. It's also a skill to be able to sweet talk your way past the barriers companies set up so that you can actually speak with the manager who will actually hire you, which brings me to my next point.
3) Try to avoid HR like the plague.
Most times, dealing with Human Resources (HR) is inevitable, but for those with the skill, getting past HR can save you a boat load of time and energy, and can increase your chances of landing a job.
The purpose of HR is not to get you an interview. The purpose of HR is to weed out all the candidates they deem 'unsuitable', and pass the remaining names on to the hiring manager who will then set up an interview, and if he likes you, hire you (hence the name 'hiring manager').
It's important to note here that, first of all,
in most companies, HR has no hiring capability. Its the hiring manager (or the manager that you will be working under, be he an R&D Manager, QA Manager, etc...) that has the power to recommend you be hired. HR is just there to fill out the paperwork.
Secondly, HR's vision of what makes the perfect candidate could be completely different from what the hiring manager's vision of the perfect candidate is. After all, HR is looking for how well you fit into the company's culture. The hiring manager is more interested in whether you can actually do your job.
Since it's usually the hiring manager who will hire you, you want to make sure you fall into his vision of what he feels would be a good fit for the company.
4) Customize your resume for each individual situation.
As was mentioned above:
Quote:
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Rather than sending out generic resumes, send out resumes that are geared to the job you are applying for.
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And I couldn't have said it better myself.
5) Everyone is part of your network.
To elaborate on a point that was previously made, don't just look at professional contacts as a source for your network. Sometimes the best sources come from within. Your Mom might know a real-estate agent, who knows a guy who's friends with the R&D Manager for IBM.
That's a loose analogy, but the point is, don't brush someone off as not being a potential source for your network just because they don't have any technical expertise, or work in the industry.
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Finally, one of the things that always pisses me off about job advice, even that coming from so called 'experts' is they always give good advice (i.e. speak with the hiring manager, not HR), but they
never tell you how to do it. So, on that note, if you're interested in a really good book that helped me when I was down on my luck, then head on over to (link->)
College Grad Job Hunter(<-link). Yes, I know it sounds like it's geared towards college and university students, and for the most part it is. However, some of the techniques the guy talks about (i.e. how to actually get a hold of the hiring manager) are very useful to all people looking for jobs.
And above all, this in no way applies to all situations. I've had this happen before, but if anyone disagrees with this, please don't starting calling me an idiot, and proceed to educate me on the intricacies of how you think the world actually works. If these methods were all rock solid principles, they wouldn't be called advice.