5 Ways to Find The Job of Your Dreams

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5 Ways to land a great job.

Let's face it, we all want to find the job of our dreams, but where should you start? As jobs become more difficult to find, it can become more of a challenge. In times like this, it's more important than ever to think creatively and look for other ways to find out about job openings and get your foot in the door with companies you really want to work for.

It's important to try several ways and combine tactics to maximize your results because sticking with only one method will only give you a portion of the story.

Here are 5 great ways to find the job you really want:

• Online Job Boards - There are many different types of online job boards, some are large and have job listings from across the country while others serve smaller niches. For example, a job board like Monster.com lists jobs in many cities across the country, and job boards like PhillyJobs.com serve a specified geographic area. There are also sites like Educationjobsite.com that serve specific industries. Whichever type you use, job boards are a great way to get information about job listings. The larger ones tend to have more applicants for every job listing, making it more of a challenge to have your resume stand out, while the industry specific boards might leave out other job listings in related industries that you might be interested in. Job boards are a great tool, and they are the best place to start, but they shouldn't be your only resource.

• Networking - Talking with people you know about job leads is a great way to find a job, but your success rate depends on the information and contacts you and your network have. You can use social networking sites like Linkedin or Twitter to boost your network and make it easier to connect with others. Networking in conjunction with other job tools, such as job boards, can make landing the job you want a little easier.

• Career consultants - These consultants don't actually get you a job, but they help you brand yourself and market yourself effectively. Basically, they work to market you to employers. These types of consultants are mostly used by people who are looking for high paying jobs, for example, at the executive level. For people who aren't looking for jobs at that level and who can't afford or don't want to spend a lot of money, you can work on branding yourself on your own.

• Recruiters and employment agencies - Recruiters, or Headhunters, are hired by companies to find people to fill their job openings. They are paid by the companies, not by the employees. Often, employment agencies will hire people for temporary assignments and then the companies might offer full-time employment at a later date. Both recruiters and employment agencies are worth looking into, because there is no fee for the job seeker and they may be able to offer opportunities that you hadn't considered.

• Internships - Especially for students, internships are a great way to get some real world job experience in their desired field. Although the majority of internships are only for the summer and are unpaid, there are also some that last longer or offer a small salary. In recent years, the majority of college interns have been offered jobs with the company they interned with, so it is a worthwhile investment. The downside to interning is that if you depend on a summer job to get through the school year, taking an unpaid position can be difficult.

There are many ways to find the right job, these are just meant to be a start to help you decide which ways will work the best for you. The best thing that any job seeker can do in order to increase their odds of finding the right job is to combine different strategies and follow up on every lead.

What strategies do you think work the best? Are there some that I left off of the list? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for ManufacturingWorkersBlog. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.