• In a news group recently, I read an e-mail from one of their members commenting on the usefulness of various on-line systems. One in particular, CareerBuilder, got particularly low marks as a viable place to find jobs. A number of other members of this group, in turn, piled on and amplified the criticism of this specific site.

• I’ve written about a networking group that concentrates only on networking, because “networking” is how 80% of the jobs are found. The efforts of this group were confined to networking, and an underlying attitude seemed to be that other methods of finding jobs were ineffective.

Now, both of these assertions – that certain job sites aren’t worth using, and that networking is the only way to find a job -- may have truth in them, but believing in them too literally, as some people do, will have a negative impact on a good job search and may actually cause you to miss out on a job.

My point here is that it’s possible to limit your range of options, and by thinking this way, you consequently limit the range of actions you take. That, in short, limits your chances of finding a new job.

I still think back to my own personal experience, when I had been looking through the Philadelphia Inquirer, among other on-line listings, once a week with well-regimented regularity.

Most of the time, because I wanted a senior executive marketing position, I felt discouraged because there were none to be found. With each succeeding week, when I looked, I became more and more discouraged. Finally, I recall saying to my wife, “I’m sick of looking in the classifieds and on-line listings. They don’t advertise senior management positions there. They never advertise them. They’re only in the hidden job market, and it’s wasted time to do anything but networking.” I really was at the point of not looking at the listings.

Well, of course, the next week a listing popped up for – you guessed it – the job of Marketing Director for MG Industries, and of course I responded to it. As I did so, I still had a sinking feeling in my stomach that this was all an awful waste of time, writing a cover letter and cutting and pasting my resume, and that the real candidate had already been chosen because they knew someone who knew somebody else who had “networked” in and had already chosen for the position. Nevertheless, I grudgingly did the work and sent it off.

And – you guessed it, again – I got asked to come in for an interview and was subsequently offered the job.

So, please (my apologies if I sound repetitious, but this is a terribly important point), don’t cut down your paths of action, don’t limit the ways in which you search for a job, don’t let those disturbing negative inner voices restrict the avenues you pursue. The rule is: All it takes is one job out there that provides a match for your experience and talents.

Attitude: The effect it has

Job search: Denial

Job skills: Denial

Job search: Dispair

Job search: Competition

Eliminating job friction

Intense job search focus

Being flexible

Sales and job hunting

Unhook your ego from your job

Magic of three