Hate looking for a job? Chances are that you’re looking for work the hard way, which means you’re going to have to keep looking a whole lot longer.

The worst ways to look for a job are:

1. going to employment agencies
2. answering local newspaper ads
3. mailing resumes to random employers
4. applying by internet

Notice that these options also happen to be the easiest. You just have to hit print and address envelopes’no interaction with real people. You can stay home in your pajamas! The problem is that a lot of people are out there in their pajamas, but a few people aren’t. The people without pajamas are probably finding more jobs.

Many employees seem to hunt for jobs in the total opposite way than employers. Future employers aren’t interested in pajamas. It takes a lot of guts to get out there. But a successful job is worth it.

Four ways you can better your odds of finding a job are:
1. ask your family, friends, and community for leads’the school where you graduated can be a big booster
2. start knocking on doors of interesting companies, regardless of whether they’re advertising for jobs
3. pick up the phonebook and start calling businesses you’d consider working at and ask if they’re hiring for the type of thing you do well.
4. Establish a mentor and learn how to network

A while back, I wrote a related article called 4 Things College Grads Need to Know.

Now I’m a shy person, but as I prepared to search for a new job in a few months, I’m realizing that I can’t be reserved if I want to get a good job, so I needed to write and to share this information with you.

Anyone can serve as an employment contact’from barbers to dental receptionists. My friend made business cards that she’d hand out to everyone she met. She didn’t let shyness factor in; she got out there. Now she’s got a huge network and a great job.