Get Hired In Four Easy Steps

You can get a job offer, with a few smart strategies and a heavy dose of hard work.

(Getty Images)

Despite what some think, landing a job during a recession is not an impossible feat. There are openings out there, and the search for top talent is ongoing. Increased competition may slim your chances, certainly, but it won't stamp them out. You can get an offer, with a few smart strategies and a heavy dose of hard work.

Just ask Kendra Trahan of Winter Garden, Fla. A regional sales director for four years at Bausch & Lomb until the lens company's recent reorganization (it has been shedding jobs globally after moving out of the public sector in 2007), Trahan says she saw the writing on the wall long before she was officially laid off in June. She had already been reading up on 2.0 resume-building and job-hunting tactics.

Trahan also hired a personal marketing service, ITS of Denver, Colo., to develop a job-search business plan and refresh her resume. Instead of a chronological listing of her previous positions and responsibilities, agent Larry Michele advised her to create a new CV that focused on her skills and accomplishments. He also suggested she use specific keywords in her resume to optimize search software on employment Web sites. Trahan uploaded her revised resume to about a dozen sites and sent it out in targeted mailings to companies with open sales or training manager slots.

One hit. An HR manager of Salix Pharmaceuticals in Orlando, Fla., scheduled her for an interview for a sales manager position on July 10. Trahan was one of seven top candidates, and impressed by her confidence and background, the manager asked her to attend a series of interviews at the North Carolina headquarters a few days later. Trahan got the names of the six people she'd be meeting with and got busy. She researched the company, its products and the interviewers, wrote up questions for each person and outlined a business plan for the position.