4 Ways to beat the competition

1) Jobvite reports that 67% of respondents used Facebook to find a job. In contrast, another Jobvite survey found that 87% of hiring professionals use LinkedIn. That's a huge mismatch. You want to align your job search with the preferred sources by recruiters, and that is LinkedIn. 2) Update all your social profiles with professional information. Potential employers are searching for talent within social networks or Googling potential candidates.You can shine professionally as well as increase the odds of being discovered if you take just a few minutes and update all your social networking profiles with branded, keyword-rich information.

3) Do your research during the application process. You will be asked questions like, "Why do you want to work here?" or "What do you know about our company?" Top candidates know to to answer these questions because they've conducted company research. Conducting online research is fine, but don't stop there. Referrals are the top source companies use for firing new employees. Learn about the company by asking people you know about the company's reputation and always have conversations with employees.

4) It's not one-one-done. The days of a career with one employer or holding a single job are shifting a job-hopping and moonlighting. Job-hopping isn't always a bad things, especially early in your career. Changing jobs can result in greater salary increases than you'd receive by staying with one employers, new skills and expanded networks.