Can you get a fresh start on your job search?

Your well-meaning parents, friends, and even your spouses have led you down the path to perpetual unemployment .Everyone, right or wrong, wants to give you their opinion of the best way to land a job…..

 These are some you should ignore:

1. Keep applying

For different jobs, yes. For the same job, no. Appyling over and over may have actually been a good idea at some point, before electronic applications became widely used. Paper applications are easily misplaced, or lost in a big stack, but that’s not the case anymore.

Over time, the paper application has been phased out and replaced by electronic applications. Sometimes these are emailed directly to hiring managers. Sometimes they’re sorted and stored by sophisticated software called an Applicant Tracking System. This system allow employers to keep applications on file, where they can be easily retrieved and reviewed. There’s no need to apply more than once every 90 days or so, and in many cases you won’t be able to. It is more likely to annoy a hiring manager than show persistence.

2. Employers never check your history

This just flat out isn’t true. Employers are willing to spend the big bucks on hiring the right people, and they do. Background checking is a nearly $1 billion dollar per year industry, and that doesn’t include drug, credit and reference checks.

If the prospect of a background check concerns you, the best thing you can do for yourself is be honest. 80 percent of employers will check your background in some way, so lying will only get you caught during the interview process, or fired if you somehow make it through.

3. You have to have a fancy resume

Most hourly jobs don’t require a resume. While resume writing is definitely a good skill to develop, and a tool to have in your toolbox, it’s by no means required. Employers will tell you if you need to bring your resume to an interview.

If they do ask for one, don’t freak out. It’s an easy and straightforward process to turn your Snagajob profile into a resume. Take the time you would have spent sweating over your resume and start preparing for interview questions instead.

4. They aren’t hiring

Jobseekers often say “I saw this posted online, but I called the location and they aren’t hiring.” That’s true sometimes, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t submit your application. Sometimes the location might be hiring and the person who answers the phone might not be the hiring manager.

Hiring statuses can change by the minute. Employers never know when someone will quit, get fired or get promoted, so they choose to leave jobs posted so they can always look for the next superstar (like you)!

Now that we’ve cleared up these old myths for you, you can get a fresh start on your job search.