There is certainly a lot of information available regarding how to properly manage your job search. Sometimes, the obvious things get overlooked and it can be easy to forget things that should be adhered to when looking for a new job. Here are several hints that I remind candidates when I'm helping them with their job search.

1. Companies Hire People Who They Like

All things being equal, hiring managers will hire people that they like.

If there are two candidates for a job with equal skills but with different personalities one candidate comes across as a likeable and happy person, the other candidate comes across as arrogant and aloof the likeable and happy candidate will most likely be hired.

Sure, you need to bring the appropriate skills and experience to the table but do you think a smart hiring manager is going to bring someone on board who they think might disrupt their other employees and cause trouble if they are hired?

One of the job search tips that people forget is the importance of personality in the decision-making process. Employers are hiring a person, so remember to let them know your personality and who you are.

2. Companies Hire People to Solve a Problem or Fill a Need

Companies dont hire because they have an empty desk, they hire someone because they have a problem or need that needs to be addressed.

Your goal right through the job search process - from writing your cover letter/resume to completing the reference checks - is to let the employer know you are the single best person that can solve their problem(s).

Employers don't know want to know what you've done.

Employers want to know what you will do for them.

Your cover letter and resume and the interview process is used to determine who is most suited to fix this problem or need.

Also, always be sure to address the needs of the company in your resume and during the interview process. Focus on what the company needs from you, not on what you want from them.

3. Have a Sense of Urgency

Timing is everything and this certainly applies when searching for a job.

Sitting back and waiting for a job to land in your lap is not going to happen. You cant afford to wait for things to happen because chances are that once you start applying for jobs, youll be waiting for the company to respond.

When you are waiting for a response from a company, you are at their mercy because they are working on their schedule at that point.

Ive seen cases where a hiring company Im working with comes to me looking to hire someone and tells me that they are desperate to find this person and theyd like to hire them as soon as possible. I find them several great candidates that I send them...

then they tell me that the hiring manager has gone on holiday for two weeks and they cant do anything until that person returns.

Unless the company is truly desperate to hire someone perhaps in the case where the person who previously held the job quit suddenly or was fired you are probably going to work off of their schedule so you might be waiting around as it is so having a sense of urgency early in your job search is the best way to go.

Treat your job search with a sense of urgency. Also, don't confuse urgency with desperation.

4. The Early Bird Gets The Job

Email has made it so easy for people to submit resumes quickly, hiring managers often use various techniques to quickly cull the submissions they receive down to a short list.

Ive actually heard of hiring managers who will pick up a stack of recently submitted resumes and simply making their short list from that pile.

If you happen to send your resume in several days later, you wont be considered!

When a job posting has a deadline, believe it. By the time the deadline passes, the hiring manager probably has more than enough resumes to read through and they might have already starting putting a short list together.

Unless there is a specific reason why youd wait until the last minute to submit your resume, ensure it arrives as early as possible.