Get Hired Stay Hired blog discussing professional resume writing and all things career related.

The bad news is, jobseekers make career damaging mistakes every day. The good news is, most of these are easily prevented with a little effort if good habits are carefully practiced.

Avoid these common problems to optimize your job search:

~   Not submitting resumes in the requested format. Many companies haven’t upgraded to Word 2007, so don’t accept the .docx format. Know how to convert your resume to PDF and ASCII also.

~   Neglecting to send thank you notes. According to the CareerBuilder.com survey, “How to Get in the Front Door,” nearly 15% of managers wouldn’t hire someone who didn’t send a thank you note, while 32% said they would, but would think less of the candidate. Why risk it?

~   Having resume grammar errors. This shows up year after year as one of the top 10 resume mistakes that managers and recruiters hate. Don’t just rely on spell check; read your resume backwards to help you focus, and have several friends serve as proofreaders.

~   Refusing to hire professional help. Many job seekers would never attempt to calculate their taxes or sew an interview suit; they turn to an expert. Yet, they won’t invest in vitally important career assistance, or do so only after prolonged unemployment, reducing the ROI.

~   Not exercising due diligence when hiring professional help. The career industry is mainly unregulated, so the burden is on the job seeker to verify with the major career organizations that the professional they hire is legitimate and certified. A quick search up-front will reap long-term benefits.

~   Relying on job boards to locate openings. The overwhelming majority of positions are secured through networking. If you are mainly searching online for your next job, the hit-ratio will be low.

~   Failing to ask questions during an interview. While many job seekers spend hours studying interview answers, they forget to prepare thoughtful questions to ask the interviewer.

~   Disregarding LinkedIn. The first place most recruiters and managers go to look for candidates is LinkedIn. It is a necessary component of the modern job search, there is no way around it.

Looking for employment in a down market is especially challenging. Make sure you don’t miss a single opportunity to make a great impression and advance to the job offer by following these tips.