Chances are the majority of job seekers in the healthcare IT industry have been employed before. The whole process -- resume writing, applying, interviewing, etc. -- isn’t new and hasn’t really changed much. It’s not a magical or foolproof process either. If you’ve been on the job market for a while and aren’t having success, it’s time to look at what you’ve been doing and it might be time for a reboot.

Go back to the basics.

Look at your resume again and have a peer review it too. Is the objective generic? Are you highlighting the right skills for the positions you’re applying for? Review it as if you are an HR person or recruiter who usually gives resumes a ten second cursory glance. What stands out?

Are you applying for the right positions? You might be under or over qualified. Be realistic.

I recently helped my teenage son with his job search. He’s still in high school and doesn’t have any prior work experience. His dad and I role-played on interviewing him and advised him on how he should present himself including attire, body language, speaking clearly, listening to the questions being asked and being able to respond without a lot of “ums” and “uhs”.

We also emphasized the importance of following up on his application. I put together a spreadsheet for him (he looked at me like I had three heads) to track where he applied, when the application was submitted, and for which position.  There was a column for a contact person and we filled in the date he should follow up. It’s a delicate balance; don’t follow up too early or too late. Don’t follow up too much. Do Human Resources departments have a stalker file?

This is rudimentary advice if you’re seasoned in the job seeking process, but it took helping a rookie to realize how easy it is to become lax and overlook the basics. Starting fresh can resuscitate an ailing job search.

E.J. Fechenda is the Audience Data Manager for MedTech Media. Since 2008 she has helped manage Healthcare Finance JobSpot and Healthcare IT JobSpot - now merged with HIMSS JobMine. She is not a Human Resources professional, nor a healthcare expert, but over the years she's accumulated a lot of feedback and insight from both job seekers and employers alike. Each week E.J. will deliver a blog based on this information. One week will be employer focused and the next week, job seeker focused.