Job hunting stinks. There’s almost nothing fun about it. Yet to be most successful it must be endured – in fact, embraced with fervor! How do you rev yourself up for a task you don’t enjoy? Maybe some or even all of these strategies will work for you:

• Visualize the end result. Every day, before you start your job search activities, imagine yourself in your new dream job – what you’ll be doing, how you’ll be feeling, how it will differ from your last job or your current unemployment. With your “eyes on the prize,” you’ll feel much more enthusiastic about what you need to go through to get there.
• Make a to-do-list. For some people, there’s nothing more satisfying than checking off items accomplished. Start each day with an ambitious yet realistic list of activities, and check them off as you complete them. At the end of the day, you can bask in a feeling of accomplishment even if you didn’t (yet) land your new job.
• Do the tough stuff first. What do you hate to do most? Call network contacts, write cover letters, research companies, refresh your resume, refine your elevator pitch? Whatever it is, get the elephant out of the way by doing that first. Everything else will seem much easier.
• Vary your activities. Moving from one task to another rather than remaining rooted all day will give you fresh perspectives and change your energy level.
• Reward yourself. Don’t be too easy on yourself, but when you’ve accomplished a certain number of tasks or persevered through a difficult assignment, give yourself a tangible reward. You’ve earned it! Try not to make it food too often, though, or you’ll have to double up your efforts on the next item.
• Get some exercise. Regular exercise makes you feel healthier, stronger, happier, and more optimistic. Build gym time or outdoor activities into your life a least four to five times a week. It can be one of the most energizing and important parts of your day.
• Build a support network. We all need to vent from time to time, and a sympathetic ear and supportive shoulder can make the world of difference. Your network ideally should include people who are savvy about your professional aspirations and the business world in which you operate. Not only can they give you genuine help and support, they can serve as a sounding board and sometimes a devil’s advocate. You should have complete trust in your inner circle.

Finally, recognize when/if you get stuck and have resources to help pull you out. While you can expect some emotional ups and downs, if you find you are seriously depressed or unable to make any progress, don’t wallow too long. A counselor or coach might be the perfect addition to your inner circle.

I feel like I should have written this post on Independence Day. But I just came across a terrific article in Peter Weddle’s newsletter about the importance of pursuing our dreams – especially during a tough hiring market. I love what Peter has to say about happiness:

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“Recent research indicates that happiness is a cognitive, not an emotional state. It occurs when we overcome a challenge we view as meaningful and worthy. In other words, we are tested in a way that produces our best efforts, that stretches us to perform at our peak and even beyond that point, beyond our own expectations of what we can do. And, the only place such challenges routinely occur is at work. ”

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My feelings exactly. So much of how we feel about ourselves and our lives relates to our careers. We owe it to ourselves (and to our loved ones) to find that Happiness and let it carry over to the rest of our lives, rather than letting disappointment or unhappiness or frustration at work extend to our home lives.

So go ahead – pursue your own Happiness. It’s the American way!

Culling the “top 100″ from a field of probably hundreds of thousands was a mighty effort, and Eric Shannon (who runs LatPro.com and DiversityJobs.com) has generously shared his findings here.

On the same topic, Jason Alba offers some very sage advice about using job boards, from the first-hand experience of someone who spent “60 hours a week” job-boarding and thought he was running a productive job search.

Key takeaways:

• Choose a handful (not dozens or hundreds) of job boards that offer a good selection of jobs in your target areas. The more specialized, the better, in general.
• Use technology tools to make your job board activity (reviewing and responding to ads) as quick and efficient as possible. Set up email alerts around tight parameters, and have a quick process for tailoring and sending your cover letter and resume.
• Integrate your job board activity with other, less passive, job search strategies. If one of your target companies is advertising, mine your network to get a connection rather than simply zapping off a resume.
• Realize that time spent on the job boards is time not spent in more active and fruitful activities. So (1) limit your time and (2) don’t count job-boarding as a “real” job search effort.
• Don’t get frustrated when you don’t hear back even when you are a 100% match for a posted position. Given the enormous response that ads draw, employers might be looking for 110% (and you don’t even know what that elusive extra 10% is) or might simply have garnered a strong candidate pool from the first wave of responses.

Yesterday I spoke with a client who has been in an active job search about six weeks. He called for a quick “tune up” to be sure he’s maximizing his opportunities. We agreed that he is doing everything right – targeting his companies, finding the right people to talk to, making direct contact, arranging meetings, discussing how he can add value to the organization. He sets a benchmark of 6 direct-contact phone calls daily. In these six weeks he’s had 2 third interviews (flown to HQ cities) but was not selected for those jobs.

We fine-tuned his message a bit to better explain his reason for looking, but all in all he’s doing everything right and I predict it will simply be a matter of time before he lands a great opportunity.

Formula: Preparation + Method + Gumption + Perseverance = Interviews + (eventually) Offers

VisualCV.com gives you the chance to build a unique web portfolio – a richer, more compelling version of your traditional paper/Word resume. You can add graphics, documents, audio and video files and go from telling about what you’ve done to showing… and selling.

The site recently held a “best VisualCV contest,” and not only are the winning entries inspiring, they have also led to job offers!

Oh… and the best part? You can build and host your VisualCV for free. No fees, no ads, no sponsorships.

I have been affiliated with the company since the planning stages – I’m on the advisory board and I wrote an “Insider’s Guide” for creating a powerful VisualCV. (It’s a free download.) So yes, I guess I am biased! But I haven’t seen anything that comes close to the ease and value of this free portfolio service. Not to mention the other value-added benefits that include connecting with employers, recruiters, and others.

Kathy Simmons over at Netshare has an insightful post about the importance of “niche networking” in your job search. I love the analogy to the “Long Tail“concept… how, in our increasingly individualized society, people are looking for “one thing” (not “anything”) and can easily find it.

Just as you should use niche networking, be sure you are “niching” your career goal. Know precisely what you do best, where you can bring the most value, and the environment in which you can excel. Then, target your search toward those opportunities – and don’t settle for less! There is a perfect (or near perfect) fit for everyone, but only by clearly establishing those all important fit factors ahead of time will you be able to (a) look for it and (b) know it when you find it.

Wow, what a concept: Subject Presidential candidates to the same intense, rigorous examination that executives go through during the interview process. In perusing the list of leadership questions assembled by the Center for Public Leadership (Harvard/Kennedy School of Government) and The Ken Blanchard Companies, I noticed that many of them are behavior-based questions, framed like this:

• Tell me about a time when…
• Give me an example of…

As I wrote in my book, How to Choose the Right Person for the Right Job Every Time (McGraw-Hill, 2005; Lori Davila, co-author), behavior-based interviews have been proven to be measurably more effective than conventional interviews. In one study, conventional interviews led to selection of the best candidate just 19% of the time, while behavior-based interviews boosted that rate to 75%!

The power of behavior-based questions is that they require candidates to provide specific, relevant examples from past experience that demonstrate the competency that is being sought. With this type of question, candidates can’t get away with the same old “stump speech” or provide a non-answer – as politicians are so adept at doing.

As a candidate, you can boost your interview performance by preparing behavior-based responses – brief stories that describe the Situation, Action, and Results you took in a variety of challenging circumstances throughout your career. Your specific answers will be much more memorable and credible than many candidates’ vague, general, or memorized “canned” responses.

Now if we could only get the political candidates to do the same thing…

Sometimes when you read/hear advice from us career “experts,”  you probably say to yourself, “yeah, but what do they know? When have they ever been in career transition?”

But here’s the story of one executive who lost his job and – with a great attitude, discipline, and determination – launched himself into a job search that was quickly successful. His advice is, in my opinion, spot on – and probably a lot easier to take than the pontificating of the “experts”!

OK, you’re fired up to “network” to kick your job search into high gear. But what, exactly, do you do? Whom do you call? What do you say? My friend and colleague Debra Feldman has written an outstanding post over at CareerHub about how to “Network Purposefully.” This is a great start and will give you a clear sense of direction and many concrete steps.

But before you launch into action, be sure you are ready with the right weapons: a compelling message (what you’ll say when you call) and a powerful resume (to reinforce your message and lay the groundwork for further discussion).

One of my many gigs is writing for Recruiting Trends newsletter. It is lots of fun and gives me the opportunity to present the “candidate perspective” to recruiting professionals.

My most recent article made the case for active candidates. After all, when you switch from “not looking” to “looking,” what has changed except your status? You bring the same expertise, knowledge, accomplishments, skills, and value to your next employer. I have heard so often of executives being passed over by recruiters because they weren’t “sourced” by the recruiter. Seems awfully foolish and shortsighted to me.