The most strategically written cover letter and résumé won’t be of much value if you don’t know what to do with them. Try these 5 tips in addition to responding to newspaper ads and searching online job boards.

1. Why not have jobs of interest come to you? Create a Google Alert. http://www.google.com/alerts This will save you time and send relevant available positions right to your inbox. Use the correct wording such as “Logistics Coordinator Job Calgary, Alberta”. Set the search parameters to all categories: “News”, “Web”, “Blogs”, “Comprehensive”, “Video” and “Groups”. Of course you can create as many of these customized alerts as you wish. You’ll need a Gmail email address for this which should be branded to your first and last name

2.  Create an account on www.twitter.com Yes I know you can follow celebrities, sports stars, and a host of other famous people, but more and more companies are using twitter to post their job openings. There is space dedicated for a brief bio. You can follow www.hirecanadianmilitary.com by searching for “CanMilVetJobs” There is always excellent advice there for vets. You can follow recruiters, HR departments, and career gurus such as me “audreyprenzel”.

3.  Get on www.linkedin.com! Recruiters call it the world’s biggest passive candidate database. I call it a smart way to network with people who matter. With 55 million users in 200+ countries and with executives from all Fortune 500 companies, how can it not be smart? What is LinkedIn? It’s a huge multi-lingual online professional network with a host of groups. These groups can be joined by a number of classifications including alumni, corporation, conference, networking, non-profit, and professional fields. You can ask a question in the theme-linked Q & A area, or answer questions and gain professional credibility. There are always job postings and many of them are ONLY posted on LinkedIn. Take advantage of being able to post your résumé in your profile. You can create a daily status to let others know what you are doing or offering. You can recommend the work of others and in turn, others can recommend your performance. My profile is http://www.linkedin.com/in/audreyprenzel and you are certainly welcome to connect with me and see my careers industry contacts. Here is their own overview of the site: http://press.linkedin.com/about

4. Blog either for yourself or someone else. This creates online visibility in your chosen field, which in turn gives you exposure, credibility and an enhanced network of relevant contacts. Former military professionals I know have had particular success blogging about issues and news within the human resources, technology and logistics fields.

5.  Are you on Facebook? If not, you should be because www.facebook.com is not just for your kids. There are groups of interest, a.k.a. excellent networking opportunities. There are various applications you can apply to your profile that list jobs and create email alerts. The other very simple feature to consider is to tap directly into your contacts and ask if they know anybody who can benefit from a skill-set like yours. By asking for help this way, you are not only accessing your contacts, you are accessing all of your contacts’ contacts. I will invite you to check out my group “Military to Civvie Street: Job Insight”.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step so get started today!

Audrey Prenzel, CARW, CEIC, B.A., B.Ed., is the founder of Résumé Resources. Audrey is proud to be hirecanadianmilitary.com’s career expert. She has numerous accountabilities with Career Directors International as their Military Transition Expert Program Leader, Aerospace/Defence Program Leader, Canadian Advisor, and Director of International Relations. You can order the book, “Military to Civvie Street” or contact Audrey directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it